rleonetti Loc: Portland, Oregon

The problem I fear was illustrated this last month when Apple updated IOS to 8.3: four of the five leading--absolutely essential--chart programs used by pilots quit working and left them helpless.

So, I happen to use an iMac and run Aperture (which is likely to become Light Room) but in both cases the programs store the photos in a proprietary format. I automatically back up the Library to another drive, but what happens if the program stops working--like the airplane programs did--how do I retrieve my photos?

Would appreciate thoughts and help!!

Do what? Export all as jpegs to another drive, but then I loose the original photo. It is also a slow process with thousands of photos.

I have something wrong here: what should the process be to preserve my photos for all time so that even if the programs die or change, I still have them?

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

I save all my photos as 16 bit TIFF files - its a common file, and even if it eventually becomes obsolete the files should be able to be saved to a different file type in time to save them.

Dr.db Loc: Central Point, OR

I second that - TIFF masters here, too, for many years now.

SueMac Loc: Box Elder, SD

You say that Aperture is storing your photos. How did you get your photos into Aperture? Where are the original photos? If you transferred your photos to your computer and then have Aperture "store the originals", they still should be on your HD. It's been a long time since I've used Aperture, but can you do a R mouse click on a pix and see if there is a line that says "show in Finder"? Hopefully you moved your orig. pix from the memory card to your computer and just didn't first put them in Aperture.

If you moved them to your computer first, you should be able to find them on the HD and back them up to an ext. HD. They won't have all your adjustments, but at least you won't loose them. By exporting using JPG (or TIFF) as mentioned, you won't loose your originals. This makes a separate copy of your pix.

I don't use Aperture, but do use LR and I keep a copy of the originals and a finished JPG copy on several ext. HD. so hopefully I won't loose them.

brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky

When you say "archive", do you really mean a "backup" of your images? Archiving implies to me that "this is stuff I really don't want to throw away, but I don't want to see them on a regular basis". A backup says "I want to protect these files so I'll have them when my hard drive crashes".

I understand the recommendations to store as TIFF files, but my workflow dictates that I keep the original raw image so that any edits I want to do in the future will be possible. If the file is stored in any format other than raw, it means any edits to that point are "baked in" and cannot go back to the original raw.

Assuming you want to perform a "backup" instead of "archiving", I recommend doing some reading to help understand the process. Every good piece of backup software provides functionality to make copies of your important files (whether images or Word documents or whatever) by performing a backup. That software keeps track of where you stored your backup files. Therefore, when time comes to 'restore' those files, it'll know where to go get them, and where to put them during the restore.

I have never used Aperture, but I believe it works a bit differently than LR in the way it stores your images. I may be completely wrong in this assumption. But, with LR, you store your files where YOU decide to store them, letting LR know that location as you do so (during the Import). And, incidentally, there's nothing proprietary about the files stored with LR. You can store them as a CR2, NEF, etc. I choose to convert to DNG (digital negative), which is an open format, available to anyone developing software, but in so doing, I get to store all of my edits in the DNG file, instead of having the XMP sidecar files.

Perhaps an example would be better. I install all of my applications on my C: drive (Windows 8.1 machine). I also have a D: drive where I put all of my data, such as photo images. I recently bought a new machine and had to completely set it up, installing all my applications and restoring all my data. This scenario was the same as if my old PC had completely rolled over and died (as you indicated in your post). Because I had all of my data backed up, I simply performed a restore of my data to the D: drive. The next time I ran LR, I pointed it at the catalog on my D: drive and it opened up all my images, just as it had done on my old machine.

It must be assumed that even if your software, or your computer, rolls over and dies, you will re-construct everything back to where it was before the crash. Meaning, you'll install your software, get it running, then restore your data so that software has something to work with.

It isn't a pleasant experience. It never is!! But, it isn't doomsday, if the precautions have been taken. Sure hope this helps!

James Slick Loc: Pittsburgh,PA

:thumbup:

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Convert your raw files to DNG files. It is a universal raw format that, hopefully, all raw converters of the future will be able to convert. The TIFF suggestion is a good one, but you will not have the raw file and there will be limitations on what you can do with it. As far as archiving forever - forget about it. All former archival methods have been superseded. Tape drive, floppy disks, now even CDs and DVDs are turning out to have a limited lifespan. Even paper prints have a limited life.