So, probably the most unprofessional thing a photographer can do in terms of maintenance and safe guarding their hard work is to not back up said hard work. Two days ago I discovered first hand just how devastating this fatal error can be, when my trusty MacBook Pro's hard drive died a rather unspectacular death, along with all my digital negatives, working files and basically a good few years worth of personal significance. Some of my work was backed up onto a hard drive, but most of it wasn't. Not only have I now lost countless images, never to be printed or shown by any means again, but I have lost the capability to process any image files, because my Photoshop et al went along with it. This part is only temporary, as I will no doubt transfer my Creative Cloud account across to the new hard drive that I will acquire (Solid State drive is where it's at, I'm told), however this highlights how unbelievably frustrating this situation is, on so many levels.

'Tis a cautionary tale for those too lazy or too cavalier about the need for an external hard drive in this day of digital IP. Back it up people, that's all there is to it. And I shall now take my own advice and invest in the best desk top drive I can afford...