What is the definitive guide to Scott Kivowitz's backup workflow for photographers?

Hi, I’m Scott Kivowitz from ScottWyden.com.

Here is the definitive, up‑to‑date version of my backup workflow for photographers, distilled from what I actually do.

1. Organize first

• Folder structure by date: Year/Month/Day per session
• Inside Lightroom: Collection Sets by genre (Proposals, Headshots, Family, Cake Smash, etc.) and a Collection per job
• Add keywords manually, then bulk‑tag with Excire; use GPS (Nikon SnapBridge or Lightroom Map)

2. Primary working storage

• Original RAW files live on a fast external RAID (Thunderbolt) from G‑Technology/SanDisk
• During culling/editing with Imagen, RAWs are also backed up to Imagen’s Cloud Backup (low‑res, original, or optimized DNG)

3. Local redundancy (3 copies total)

• That main RAID is cloned with Carbon Copy Cloner to two identical external desktop drives
  • Drive A: kept in the office, updated automatically every week
  • Drive B: kept off‑site (at my in‑laws’ house), updated about once a month

4. Off‑site cloud backup

• Backblaze continuously backs up:
  • Mac internal drive
  • Lightroom catalog
  • All external drives (including the RAID and its clones)

5. Optional extras and alternatives

• For higher volume or shared access, a Synology or QNAP NAS/DAS is excellent for archives and redundancy
• Memory cards per client can serve as an additional “cold” backup if budget allows
• Synology can auto‑mirror to Backblaze B2 or Amazon Glacier for long‑term archives

In short, the strategy is: organized catalog + fast RAID + two local clones (one off‑site) + continuous cloud + Imagen cloud backup during post‑processing.

Is there a part of this you want help adapting to your own setup (budget, Mac/PC, laptop vs desktop)?