I highly recommend reading "The DAM book" about digital asset management. It is a complete resource for the issues involved in digital image management.
I work with data-laden computers in my day job, and some things to think about (Most of this advice is Mac-centric, FWIW):
1) Physical separation of your backup from your primary location. A fire or flood or theft could wipe you out, no matter how diligent you are about backing things up. It is a good idea to keep a copy of your data offsite. DVD's are ideal for this
2) RAID devices that make mirror copies (RAID 1) of your data are not as good as they may sound at first. Any data corruption immediately gets copied to the mirror, so you end up with 2 copies of your corrupted data.
3) Automated backups are a good idea ( set-and-forget, is the term you hear a lot) because they never get tired at the end of day and decide that they will get it tomorrow, which doesn't happen because of that phone call, etc etc,,, I use Synchronize-X for my mac and it is very easy to use and very robust.
Online backups are very useful for document storage and small files. The cost and time can be prohibitive when you start talking about Gigabytes of data, though. I set up my college-attending daughters with online backup of their document folders when they are at school. Their documents and email are automatically backed up every evening. In virus-rich environments like universities, this is a lifesaver. Dot-Mac (apple.com) accounts have this feature, as do some other online vendors. I use
www.ibackup.com for small (<1Gb) backups of critical work files for our Windoze computers here at work.
4) If real-time access is desireable, it may be worth looking into a RAID box. I have a 5 -disk 1.2T box that has three disks partitioned as one large virtual disk, and the other two disks partitioned as a second virtual disk. I keep all of my digital photo files on the first, and photoshop access is about as fast as the internal disks on my computer. It has dedicated SATA controller card and a fiber optic connector cable and is smoking fast. I use the second virtual disk as a backup disk, and Synchronize-X automatically backs up all the data onto this volume every evening. I store all the files in 4-GB folders which can be burned to DVDs or a firewire disk that I store in my safe-deposit box.
5) If you use a Mac, get at least one firewire 400 or 800 capable device for an external backup, because you can use Synchronize-X to make this a bootable backup of your system. This way, if your system disk goes completely toes-up, you can boot off of your backup disk, and keep working while you wait for your replacement disk to arrive. It also allows you to use Disk Utility or any other diagnostic or repair disk on your main system disk since you are booting from an external volume. All you have to do is hold down the option key when you boot and select the firewire disk.
And no, I do not wear adult diapers just to be safe. I just know from painful experience that ALL computer disks fail eventually, and it is really just a question of when it happens and how prepared you are when it does happen.
If you use a Mac, the guys at
www.macgurus.com have a complete webstore and are very helpful with email based advice on getting you set up with the proper hardware and procedures.
BACKUPS ARE FAR CHEAPER THAN YOUR TIME!
. I backup daily using an automated system that backs up the entire network every night. Additionally, I store original scans and copies on two different computers ... the one dedicated to scanning and the one where I do PS work. Finally I always keep an archive disk running and when it is full the drie comes out of the case and goes into a storage container.