Storing photos

[debih]

Right you computer bods.

I have realised that I need to do something with all my digital photos. I am going through the process of sorting them all out and downloading some to the Truprint website to get some books printed but at the moment my photos from 2008 onwards are only stored on my laptop and my digital photos pre 2008 are on a memory stick.

I know, I know, I'm asking for trouble.

So what is the best way to store them. We don't have a desktop so I was wondering about an external hard drive. But what do I need. Does it have to be compatible with my laptop? Are they safe if they are stored on a disc or would a hard drive be better?

[cruiser2]

I thought you were a genius with computers. Or is it just cooking and other mundane things. At least you keep putting photos on here. I have managed to put copy an email onto the Fun board at the first attempt. Have to follow the instructions slowly one finger-sometimes two or three at a time.

[Workingman]

Debih, it is one of those suck it and see problems.

For organising your photos and albums on your computer there are such things as Faststone Image Viewer, Picasa, Irfan View, XnView and so on. Most are free for personal use, but there are many more. Whatever you decide is a personal choice. See this list for a quick comparison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compariso ... ge_viewers

As to where you store them, well that again is personal choice:

If you put them on CD/DVD and finalise the CD/DVD they are safe as houses as they cannot be overwritten. CDs are also cheap and just about every CD player now reads and writes to them.

A USB pen is also safe so long as it is password protected, or has a password protected area on it where you keep the photos, but they are easy to lose.

The same applies to an external HD, except that they are harder to lose.

You could also buy photo paper and print your own, but it works out expensive though it is OK for doing small runs. There is plenty of free layout software for you to get multiple prints from one sheet.

[debih]

When you say a USB pen do you mean a memory stick dongle thing.

(I'm so computer savvy!).

I might stick with cd's - I have loads of them. How do I protect them from being copied over - is it easy?

[Workingman]

USB (stick, pen, dongle, memory, flash) drive: all the same.

Once you put files on a CD they are already safe, but you can keep adding more until it is full. However, at any time, you can finalize the CD, closing it to any other additions or modifications.

My method is to title a CD by year e.g. 2013, and then add folders of files/photos as the year goes on - Easter, Becky's Birthday, Summer Hols, that sort of thing. When it is full, or after Christmas I finalize it then everything is completely safe.

Files on CDs can be copied over to any computer, and even be worked on. However, they cannot be added back to a finalized CD, but they can be added back to an unfinalized CD so long as they are given another filename.

[debih]

I think I will go for the discs then as I have about 50 unused ones in the cupboard. I like the idea of doing it as I go along - I just need to get myself organised now!

[Suff]

Hi Debih,

As WM says, CD is safe as houses, so long as you don't scratch them. There was some question as to whether the dye would degrade over time, but it appears that they are good for about 90 years.

CD-RW can be re-written as can DVD-RW. You might want to consider DVD-R but that's up to you. CD's carry about 700mbytes, DVD-R (I don't like +r, never have), carry about 4,500 mbytes and dual layer dvd-r carry about 8,500 mbytes. It's up to you.

Memory sticks are, again, fine if you write them once and store them. If your machine can support usb and is of Windows XP or higher, then it will always read them.

I prefer hard drives for storage, but you have to consider that the mtbf (mean time between failure), is about 57 years. That, however, is not the realistic figure, I have loads of hard drives which failed in the 5-7 year bracket. So if you are going the hard drive route, then you need more than one and you need to cycle them every 4 or 5 years if you want to be absolutely certain that they are going to last. Of course if you simply pack them in a box they should be fine for a LONG time.

Personally, if it were me and I had decided to go with CD or DVD, I would make two copies. One which is in use and one which is stored in a safe dry place and never touched. After, of course, I had verified that they wrote correctly. You would be surprised at the number of hours I've spent trying to recover partially damaged CD or DVD media. That silver or gold film on top of them is not for decoration, it's the mirror which reflects the laser from the underside. Scratch it and some of the data is lost. Because of the reducing use of CD and DVD media, the tools which can recover data from damaged disks are slowly dying out, meaning if you lose it you lose it.

Digital media is essentially immortal. So long as you protect it and keep perfect copies.....

Just a few thoughts.

[Workingman]

Just to add.....

If you want to print a single picture, or maybe a few, say to put in a frame as a present, the option to print on photo paper is worthwhile. It works out a lot cheaper than most other ways.

I did this with the photo of Becks I put on the photo board.