I used Claude to unravel an issue that information facilities helped trigger for my images enterprise. It’s saved me 1000’s.

I’ve been working professionally as a photographer since about 2006, and for many of my profession, I barely had to consider the worth of laborious drives. They have been a primary value of doing enterprise.

Now, I’ve to be strategic about each drive I purchase.

I began noticing a spike in hard drive prices towards the top of 2025. When I went again by way of my receipts, I discovered that I’d paid $400 for a 4-terabyte drive in 2022. Today, a comparable drive prices round $1,200.

When I tallied up what I’d paid in 2025 for drives, it was over $20,000. That’s why I stopped buying them solely this yr.

Luckily, I’ve collected a whole lot of laborious drives over my profession. Every new job, I’d merely purchase just a few extra. So, 20 years and 1000’s of jobs later, I’ve turn out to be one thing of a hard-drive hoarder and that behavior is lastly paying off.

Commercial photography requires a variety of storage. I often want three or 4 moveable drives for a job, and typically as many as 5 or 6. And as a result of a shopper may come again three years later to resume the property, I’ve to maintain the information lengthy after a shoot is over.

On a current marketing campaign that concerned each video and nonetheless images, shopping for that quantity of latest drives would have value me $4,000 to $5,000.

That was cash I did not wish to spend.

So, I used Claude to help me construct a program that catalogs what’s saved throughout my drives. Now, I can seek for a file, discover each drive that comprises a duplicate, and work out what I can safely delete to unencumber area.

Instead of manually organizing a whole lot of drives, I can basically have a dialog with my archive. It’s saved me days, if not weeks, value of labor.

The irony is not misplaced on me: I imagine demand from the information facilities powering AI is one purpose storage has gotten so expensive, after which I flip round and use Claude to assist me keep away from spending 1000’s of {dollars} on new drives.

How lengthy I can maintain avoiding new laborious drives depends upon how a lot work is available in.

If I’m taking pictures solely nonetheless images, I can most likely maintain this going for some time. Video is totally different. I’m primarily employed to shoot video and stills collectively, and people jobs require a lot storage that ultimately I’ll want extra drives.

Also, my enterprise is down about 30% from its peak in 2023. Last yr was significantly tough, and this yr has been roughly flat in contrast with final yr.

I do not blame all of that on the promoting trade. Earlier in my profession, I labored 10- or 13-hour days, answered emails at midnight and on weekends, and made myself terribly accessible.

Now I’ve two younger daughters, and I’m extra more likely to spend my time at a soccer sport or taking considered one of them someplace. So after I take a look at that decline, I do know a few of it displays a choice I’ve made to spend less time working.

The value of doing enterprise has gone up whereas, in my expertise, firms and companies are reallocating their budgets or spending much less on some conventional images and promoting work.

I additionally do not count on hard-drive costs merely to return to what I used to be used to paying. My guess is that ultimately one other producer may step in to serve shoppers who want cheaper storage.

Until then, I’m going to maintain being resourceful with what I’ve. If work picks up, I’ll most likely have to begin shopping for drives once more. If it would not, I could make these a whole lot of outdated drives final loads longer.