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Xadrea — How to Backup Digital Artwork
Published: 2011-05-19 19:49:50 +0000 UTC; Views: 7126; Favourites: 159; Downloads: 170
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Description
huge file is huge! but it should have everything u need to get started on saving and backing up digital artwork!
EDIT 4/17/12: since the creation of this tutorial, another lovely way to back up work via dA has been made available, and that thing is sta.sh! You get two gigs of space to backup files to your heart's content, premium members get 10 gigs. Learn more here:[link]
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Comments: 54
I hope #DeviantArt have a back-up feature aside from putting them in da storage. I mean, I want to back-up and download my everything here in da (includes artworks (with descriptions), journals, and as well my profile design) all in one click.. Twitter have the feature like that where you can download an archive of all your tweets and everything.. Also, Friendster did that years ago before it restarted the website.. So I hope DeviantArt will create that amazing feature
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You'd probably do best by uploading things to sta.sh 
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Is there a way to save the Deviation's Description on the file itself?
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Well, that would be text so you could theoretically save it in a word processor like Microsoft Word.
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Darn, I wish there was an easier way. Orz
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That is the easiest way to save any kind of text document...haven't you ever typed anything in a word processor?
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I was hoping for a simplified way that could put everything in one place. But it seems there isn't many options for this.
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There's nothing keeping you from saving both and image file and the corresponding text file together in one location such as a flash drive or cloud storage folder. I have image lists with artwork dimensions that are text files saved in the same folder as the images they go along with. It's only as complicated as you make it
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What about storing in dropbox and skydrive etc?
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Both of those are also excellent options for storing images and data online
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I do this a lot...you nevah know... 
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Nice tutorial!
I usually send my digital works to my own email to back em up c:
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ah! I hadn't thought of that! that's also a method to use!
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under submit, go to the end of the drop down menu to "manage deviations" and click it. it will take you to a page that has a list of all of your deviations. just click the box next to the deviation title then click "store" to store the image. do note that it will appear in your gallery as a locked image
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Also, just something to add from one of my prof's: saving 3 copies on 1 flash drive / hard drive counts as being saved in 1 place. Since if that thing fails, you lose all three copies.
(Just some advise I try to fallow, having it on multiple physical things not just copies all in different places on one hard drive)
Over all simple, keeps to the point, and I'd have to basically agree. Nice tutorial.
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oh i said to have them saved in different places as well. the reason for multiple copies on one device is because it is so very easy to accidentally delete something by accident, or for individual files to corrupt for no reason at all
you really can never be too safe with digital files, i swear it happens when you least expect it
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sometimes when people say places they count folders as places. Sorry.
But yes, human error is the number one reason for digital data destruction. I've done it more times than I like, not through deleting but by saving over the wrong things and stuff like that. I save out version of my pieces: drawing.psd, drawing2.psd, drawing3.psd, drawing4.psd, etc. After wither I feel I've been working for a long time or when I'm about to make a major change, I save toa new number, make it, and save.
It's also to counter photoshop file header corruption (basically the file can't be opened even though your picture is still fine 
But yes, can never be too careful. I mean heck the power could go out or the computer could crash, then you've lost everything since your last save.
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lol yeah, i cant tell u how many times ive done accidental overwrites > < i wish all programs had settings which would save your most recent image automatically before it closes. i had corel painter for a while and it had an automatic backup file of images i created
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I've never tried painter so I wouldn't really know. In Photoshop if you try to close the program while you have something unsaved open it asks if you want to save, but sometimes I hit yes and over write the file and then i'm like **** (the word varies, but they all mean the same thing). The computer will always do just what you tell it to do, even if that's not what you wanted it to do (doesn't matter if it's art, programming, or 3D models).
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lol i getcha, i've done that with school projects (of all things) in ps 
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you're welcome! glad you found it helpful!
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Pretty usefull tips.
Just a wish, when you make your next tutorial (for watermarks), do you think you could give any tips for theft protection (not only digital, but copyright or something). Thats something ive always been curious about.
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of course! anti theft protection and watermarking go hand in hand in most cases so it will definitely be included in that tutorial!
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I've featured this in my journal; dA Updates - Recent and Upcoming 
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I forgot you could use DA's storage system as an impropt backup. But it is pretty annoying that they decided to include those little safe icons as opposed to just really taking it out altogether from the gallery like before.
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yeah, i think that's one of the things that they could change ^ ^ i mean it would come in handy as a last resort, especially if u no longer had the original image file on ur computer
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You can also use some free online backup sites that are secure like Offsitebox.com (1GB free), Box.net (5GB free), or similar.
They don't usually offer a lot of free space, but you can always upgrade or just have an account on each of the sites.
Backing up is definitely the key though.
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i'll add those links into my artist comments so everyone can see
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Thanks for the tutorial! I always save my file once in a while but sometimes my photoshop will crash and close......=.=....but I don't save WIP O.o....I will try saving WIP so I can edit anything I don't like ^^~
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you're welcome!
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but I hate it when I save~ my photoshop will crash D: then I have to do it all over again.....T^T
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oh my! maybe u should have ur computer's OS updated, that helps sometimes ^ ^
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I am using a MacBook so I think that causes the problem ^^"
Thanks for your advice
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You can use dA for storage? Didn't know that.
You missed Google Documents as archive storage! Only you can view the files (unless you give others the option to view them), so it is far more secure than photobucket or whatever. Aaaand, if you have a gmail account, it is connected to it
Anyway, a helpful tutorial overall
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yup u sure can ^ ^, it's handy if you have work that you're storing temporarily, otherwise i wouldn't leave it that way lol, it just looks odd to have a ton of little safe icons in ur gallery instead of images
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another great tutorial :iconXandea: ^^' my external hardrive broke and i lost almost all my games V.V so i back up, what i am backing up from now one LOLZ
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Backup backup backup is a mantra one must use when doing anything on a computer.
i've seen enough people that wanted there data recovered after a format or hdd crash ><
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