Monday (14-November-2011) — New Jersey

Colorado News: Saint Catherine Chapel.

I saw a report on the news today that the conference center at the Catholic retreat at Saint Malo behind the Saint Catherine Chapel on Rt 7 in Colorado near Rocky Mountain National Park burned down today. Apparently, the fire did not impact the chapel. It is a great photo location, with Mt Meeker in the background. In most of my images at this location, I used the chapel to hide the conference center. This image is from December 2007, not today. I also saw a weather report that the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains had a significant wind storm, with winds up to 90 mph. I assume the high winds impacted the fire.

Saint Catherine Chapel and Mt. Meeker, Rocky Mountain National Park. (David J Mathre)
Saint Catherine Chapel and Mt. Meeker, Rocky Mountain National Park. (David J Mathre)

 

Sunday (13-November-2011) — New Jersey

Technology Update: Drobo Storage Device Restored!

I’d previously posted that it was taking a long time for my Drobo B800i storage device to update after adding two additional 3 TB drives. The update never completed (after 12+ days), and appeared to need to restart after the multiple power failure after the early snow storm (and ultimately 42 hours of outage). I finally gave up, and decided to reset the device and restore my image database from backups. For the most part this went well, just took time. However, one of my primary backup devices, a Western Digital 2 TB MyBook devices failed. During the restore process, the process stalled. At first, I thought it was an overheating problem, so let the device cool before restarting. This was repeated several times. I even used the Western Digital “Data Lifeguard” program to check the device – and the device passed with no errors. Ultimately, I got a message that I needed to format the device before I could use it. OUCH!!!

OK — no problem, I have other backups. I went to the other backup that I keep in the house, the original RAW files stored on Western Digital Passport drives. These were my original external storage devices (160 GB, 240 GB, 500 GB, 750 GB, 1 TB) that I used since I started getting into digital photography. Unfortunately, one of the drives containing the data lost on the MyBook device was not recognized. STARTING TO PANIC!! — this included images from ANPAT 9 including image from a once in a lifetime trip to Alaska.

I guess that I am paranoid about data storage. I keep three, and sometimes four backups of key data, and some of the data is stored off-site (away from home). The third backup, I keep at work. I went and picked it up this weekend (3 hour round trip) and I was able to restore the data to my primary Drobo device. I am still running a full comparison (using Program Match — 32 bit CRC mode) since some of the earlier data restored from the failed drive may have been corrupted.

The thing that I did loose was any current metadata, or processing data for the images since I was going back to the original RAW files saved from the camera.

Bottom Line — One backup is not enough!! Primary media can fail, backup media can fail (hard drives fail). Primary media can be lost (fire, theft, other disasters etc). Technology moves forward, and old backup devices become obsolete. I am currently dealing with nearly 500 K (7 TB) images, and need to future proof my storage and back-up work-flow. Need to keep all of this in focus when devising a backup storage protocol.

I plan to get back to reviewing and processing images soon, so I can share images again!!

Saturday (05-November-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky Over New Jersey: Time-lapse Video of the Stars, Star Trails and the Moon.

It was clear and I had several cameras out capturing the night sky. I used the images to create a time-lapse video.

Friday (04-November-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Astronomy in New Jersey: Sun and Moon.

The sky was clear so I took my telescope out. First to see the big sunspot (AR 1339), and then later the waxing gibbous moon. The Questar telescope comes with a solar filter to safely view the sun and sunspots.

Sun with Sunspot AR 1339. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7" telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sun with Sunspot AR 1339. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7″ telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (69%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7" telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (69%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7″ telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (03-November-2011) — New Jersey

Retirement Planning

I spent the day an Executive Retirement Planning Seminar at the corporate headquarters in Whitehouse Station. My long-term plans had been to work until I was at least 60, and probably 65. After the seminar, I ran the numbers. It was an eye-opening exercise, but it does looks like I can think about retirement earlier where I can spend more time on travel and photography. 🙂 🙂 🙂