Storage Media
Aug 23, 2017 16:27:34 #
Over the years since digital cameras, I have stored my photos on various media. 51/2 floppy, 3" floppy, Zip disks, CDs. Every time I change computers or upgrade, I seem to lose a lot of photos. Then I went to Mac and lost more. I have also moved a lot and lost some media. I still do have a few CDs but they do not read on the current version of Mac. I am majorly disgusted! My question, is there a media storage out there that could conceivably work well into the future? And yet, accept photos from 1998 onward. I have lost everything before that except what I had printed. Thank you for any advice. Has anyone else come across this problem?
Aug 23, 2017 16:33:14 #
ricardo7
Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile
When I was teaching, I told my students that if they had photographs they really
wanted to last, make archival prints and store properly. I have family photographs
from the late 19th century happily existing as prints.
wanted to last, make archival prints and store properly. I have family photographs
from the late 19th century happily existing as prints.
Aug 23, 2017 16:56:42 #
It has also happened to me whenever I upgrade my computer and move all the files, I seem to lose photos. Now I save them in 3 places...on a hard drive, on a backup hard drive and on a 2nd external drive, and some are even on flash drives...I get with the different media I still have some on floppy's (3 1/2).
Bob
Bob
Aug 23, 2017 18:08:53 #
I saved mine on an external hard drive too, but even that requires software inherent to it to read it.
Aug 23, 2017 18:57:59 #
I know printing is probably the best option, but surely in this electronic world there would be another way.
Aug 23, 2017 19:51:55 #
A JPEG is a JPEG (or a raw is a raw) regardless of the media it's stored on - the file doesn't change. The issue you apparently have is being able to read the older generation media when you update HW or OSs. I currently use MDisks for archive, but who knows how long this format will last. My suggestion is to copy your important files from your old media to the new one whenever you change media or OS - maybe every 10 years or so. Alternately, if you put it in "the cloud" and download from there, it will be immaterial to you what media it's stored on.
Aug 23, 2017 19:53:41 #
Aug 24, 2017 05:54:48 #
NMGal wrote:
Over the years since digital cameras, I have store... (show quote)
There are two types of media - short-term transfer media and long term archival. Everything other than good-old mechanical hard drives should be considered transfer. Any media that requires another device to read it, like a CD, floppy disk, even an M-Disk is subject to long term longevity limited by the reading/writing device. Burnable CDs and DVDs also suffer from the recording process, which changes the properties of the media when you record on it, shortening it's useful life. They are not considered reliable after more than 7-8 yrs, though there are exceptions.
Losing files when making changes in hardware or software platforms is a matter of care when making the changes - you move things over and compare and validate to ensure that nothing was left behind. I have files that I created on my original 8088 machine in the mid 80s that are still archived on a hard drive, and they have suvived almost 2 dozen upgrades.
Aug 24, 2017 06:04:52 #
NMGal wrote:
Over the years since digital cameras, I have store... (show quote)
You seem to have really bad luck. I've never had anything get lost from a hard drive. You need at least two external drives as backups. I have to externals where I backup seven folders of data: Pictures, Music, Files, etc. I also have Network Attached Storage (NAS). The chance of losing anything is remote.
As for the medium itself, hard drives or SSDs are the standard. You can print images, of course, but are you willing to print thousands?
Aug 24, 2017 07:42:49 #
NMGal wrote:
Over the years since digital cameras, I have store... (show quote)
The media you still have could probably be extracted by someone who specializes in that kind of recovery. Perhaps someone else can suggest where to find that type of service.
As for losing images, I have experienced that as well. But it happened when I did not fully understand the process. As Gene51 said, it requires making sure nothing was missed. The images are there until the media is re-formatted, so it is always possible to go back in and retrieve those images.
Every system has its quirks, and being aware of those can help with the transfer. Just using LR has its pitfalls! And I suspect Mac does too. Hope you can solve your problem!
Aug 24, 2017 10:42:21 #
Ed Chu
Loc: Las Vegas NV
hilarious; I thought it was my imagination when this happened to me, but, apparently not; data fiies ( not just pics ) seem to get lost when you just copy to another drive; you almost have to copy sub-drives to make sure you get everything
Aug 24, 2017 10:45:21 #
Thank you all. I am not a computer person so don't completely understand why most photos transfer to storage devices and not all of them.
Aug 24, 2017 11:03:27 #
NMGal wrote:
I know printing is probably the best option, but surely in this electronic world there would be another way.
I'm a Windows user and retired IT. Prints correctly stored would last the longest and could be scanned and moved to whatever you had electronically later. Since you're now on a Mac, what about iCloud? There's also GoogleCloud and Amazon Cloud. I use MS OneDrive so that I can download photos to whatever device I need.
Aug 24, 2017 17:36:27 #
The problem with making prints is that unless you use archival materials for printing and storage, they won't last. That means using pigmented ink, rag fine art paper, no buffered materials that have had buffering chemicals added to them to make them "acid free" - the buffering salts leach out and can have negative effects on prints.
Better to store them on multiple drives, which are spun up at least 2x a year to keep the data fresh. Prints should be a backup, not a primary storage. Just another opinion from a retired IT guy, active in the industry since 1983.
Better to store them on multiple drives, which are spun up at least 2x a year to keep the data fresh. Prints should be a backup, not a primary storage. Just another opinion from a retired IT guy, active in the industry since 1983.
Aug 24, 2017 18:14:18 #
What is "spun up"? Do you mean use the drive to back up photos twice a year or just plug it in and look at photos? I am thinking along the line of a USB stick. Would an external hard drive be better? Thanks. Barbara
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.