You have a good start. That Tamron is a great walking around lens. You have done it right, getting some decent glass and a good body. Many here will tell you lenses are far more important than camera bodies, as long as the body has the features you need. Glad you're here. Good luck!

Even though you are using Picasa to organize your photos, they are on your hard drive. Locate the folder with your photos and just copy them to your flash drive. I'm a computer repair guy, if it's a Windows computer, they will probably be under your Pictures folder. I would highly recommend getting organized outside of Picasa, so you can move on to other software down the road if the need arises. My own system has a folder for each year under the Pictures folder and then a folder for each shoot within the yearly folders. Hire a teenager to help if you need to. Even of Picasa eventually goes away, you will have some rudimentary organization that will help you find stuff in the future. Good luck!

My boxes are becoming a problem as well...

I also have the Sigma 150-600 C and use it a lot, but the thought of lugging it through the jungle, and the strong chance of afternoon rains (the definition of jungle includes this everywhere I've been that has a jungle) would keep me from packing it. I have the Sigma 18-300 C and it does a very admirable job as a walking around lens. I don't think you'll miss much, other than not carrying what amounts to half a bowling ball with you, when you add up monopod, monopod head and lens. While I can shoot at 600mm hand held braced up against a tree or other solid object, a monopod or tripod is really a necessity and would be one more thing to carry. I have an OP/tech sling harness that makes hiking a breeze. I think you'll enjoy yourself more and get better spur of the moment shots with the shorter lens combo. Good luck, looking forward to seeing your images!

Computer guy here. An overwhelming number of my upgrades have gone very smoothly with only a few programs needing to be reinstalled or hardware compatibility issues that couldn't be overcome, but you can roll back to previous OS for 30 days. With that said, Microsoft DOES warn you to back up before doing something as major as a complete OS replacement, so losing thousands of photos is not on them. I remember a time in the not too distant past when the average Granny would never even consider doing an OS upgrade without my services. It's been good for my business, straightening out hangnails and forgotten passwords after these consumer installs get a little botched. The upgrade is free until June, I'd wait until the last minute for anyone concerned about problems, Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers are fixing things with each passing update cycle. Good luck everybody!

You might try Spinrite from GRC.com. It's worked miracles before for me, but then again I'm a believer and lay hands on every keyboard before I start. Prayer might be a good thing even if you don't believe and there happens to be a God who cares ;-) Either way, good luck and Happy New year!

I'm a computer guy, professionally recovering data for over 20 years and unless the hard drive is encrypted, I've never had a problem getting data from a drive by mounting it as a slave (more politically correct these days to call it a secondary drive!). Data recovery from a corrupted drive is very expensive, true. Bit not so much for a drive that is intact, password or not. My 2 cents. Good luck with your current project.

I also vote for reset. It has magically made my cameras new again when I've found a way to program in totally incompatible settings.

I concur with Jerry. Refurb D7100 was going for $499 before Christmas. Use the even more extra cash on better glass. Note that this is coming from a happy D7200 owner. You can always get a D7200 down the road when the price drops because its rumored replacement FINALLY comes out...

I was so sick of waiting for the D7200 to ever materialize from the rumor mill that I almost popped for a refurb D7100 to tide me over. Luckily, the D7200 actually appeared just in the nick of time. I do a lot of birds in flight/wildlife, so the bigger buffer and faster processor are the big draws for me. I second the notion of playing with your ISO or go to Auto ISO and set an upper limit on it that will still be sharp on the D7100, like maybe 3200 or 6400. In your shoes, I'd get better glass too, as others have suggested. Good luck.

I started on a Nikon superzoom when I wanted to go above and beyond plain point and shoot, a P90 to be exact. I've progressed to DSLRs over the years, but still carry a P600 as my backup. My advice is to let the amazing computer that is in every modern camera teach you. You probably have 40 Scene modes built into that camera. And Auto. Let the camera choose what to do, then study the settings it chose. Begin to work in Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and finally Manual mode as you figure things out. I still "cheat" this way with a D7200 to get a good starting point, then I take more control to accomplish the look I want. Lots of good book recommendations here at the Hog, immerse yourself. Glad you're here...

Nice first post. Enjoy your time here, learn what you can and pay it forward. It's a friendly place!

Glad you're here. It's a great forum to learn and share with others. Make the most of it!

Good luck. I started with a D5200 and learned a lot about DSLR photography here at the Hog and from Tony Northrup's Kindle book, Stunning Digital Photography. It's the best $10 you'll ever spend, I still use it as a field reference on my smartphone. Also, Scott Kelby and Bryan Peterson are wonderful authors and always get recommended around here. Welcome aboard...

Welcome aboard. Enjoy your time here, it's a great place to learn and share...