Protect your clients' once-in-a-lifetime footage. A practical guide to the 3-2-1 rule, hardware, cloud storage, and disaster recovery.
3 copies, 2 different storage types, 1 offsite — adapted specifically for videography workflows.
NAS models (Synology, QNAP), editing SSDs, NAS drives (IronWolf, WD Red), portable backup drives.
Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Glacier, Google Drive — price per TB, egress fees, and recommendations.
Complete folder structure template, file naming convention, and per-wedding organization workflow.
How long to keep raw footage, project files, and exports. Annual cost calculations for 30-wedding workflows.
What to do when NAS fails, cloud goes down, drives get stolen, or you accidentally delete a project.
Cloud Storage Comparison:
Budget-friendly setup: NAS + Backblaze B2 = ~$1,480/year for full 3-2-1 coverage (30 weddings)
...includes step-by-step archive workflow, folder templates, and disaster recovery plan
Wedding footage is irreplaceable. A hard drive failure, accidental deletion, or theft can mean losing months of work — and your client's most important memories. A proper backup strategy isn't paranoia; it's a professional requirement.
The 3-2-1 rule is the industry standard: three copies, two storage types, one offsite. This guide walks you through implementing it with hardware recommendations, cloud pricing, and a step-by-step workflow you can start using today.
A typical wedding generates 400-800 GB of data (raw footage, project files, and exports). At 30 weddings per year, that's 12-24 TB annually. Use our Video File Size Calculator to estimate your specific storage needs based on your shooting specs.
For long-term delivery and client access, platforms like OurStoria handle the streaming and download infrastructure so you can focus on archiving raw footage locally.