Saving Digital Photo files for long-term

[Billy]

In the past, get the prints developed, save the negatives.

Now, with digital, wondering how do folks save their image files, so that they'll have them "forever". With 20-plus-inch computer screens being so common, many of us get our photos printed much less often, and instead just view/show them on screen.

How do you save them....Computer hard drive, backup CD/DVD, flash, external hard drive, .... ?

 

[David Metsky]

How do you save them....Computer hard drive, backup CD/DVD, flash, external hard drive, .... ?

External hard drive and DVDs. External drive for mass storage, DVDs for backup. I might switch to Blue Ray for backups when I get my next laptop.

Flash is not a backup medium, neither is another hard drive. When I switch to new backup mediums I copy all my old backups to the new medium so you're not left with unreadable ZIP disks or RL02 cassettes.

 

[nartreb]

The longevity of DVD-Rs is unknown. I use 'em myself, but anything I really value long-term I also upload to at least one website. That way somebody else is doing a totally independent back-up, and it's truly off-site.

 

[DougPaul]

When I switch to new backup mediums I copy all my old backups to the new medium so you're not left with unreadable ZIP disks or RL02 cassettes.

Media have finite (physical) lifetimes and finite support lifetimes. Copying the data to the next generation storage device can be more than just a good idea--it can be essential for both reasons.

BTW, CDs are more reliable than DVD (and probably also Blue-ray. CDs were designed as data storage devices with error correction, DVDs were designed as video devices for which skips are acceptable. My guess is that Blue-ray is more like DVD than CD.


There is useful info on the topic in http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18695 and http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28047.

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

The longevity of DVD-Rs is unknown.

A risk with any medium. For a study, see:

"Stability Comparison of Recordable Optical Discs--A Study of Error Rates in Harsh Conditions", by Slattery, Lu, Zheng, Byers, and Tang (all at NIST). 2004.

Original location: http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/gipwg/StabilityStudy.pdf.

However the file no longer exists on the original server, but I found a copy in the internet archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20051217012412/http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/gipwg/StabilityStudy.pdf.

Doug

 

[bikehikeskifish]

or RL02 cassettes.

Wow Dave, you're showing your age. Then again, so am I since I actually know what an RL02 is. In fact, I still have a collection of the ring magnets from them. 10MB at about 5 pounds!

Tim

 

[smitty77]

Media have finite (physical) lifetimes and finite support lifetimes. Copying the data to the next generation storage device can be more than just a good idea--it can be essential for both reasons.

We recently had this come up at work where we wanted to access some old info from the previous automation system. The data was stored on tape backup, but not 1 computer in the company still had a tape drive.

Which reminds me, I have a few zip disks to convert to newer media. Check your backups every so often!

 

[Tom Rankin]

Hmmm, let's see, I've used:

Paper tape!
Cassette tapes
8" floppies!
5" floppies
3" floppies
Zip disks
Hard drives
Cds
Dvds
Memory Sticks/CF cards/SD Cards/etc.
1GB IBM Hard Drive in a CF card - It still works!

Currently using 'offsite' 1 TB (1000 GIG) USB Hard Drive (that cost about $100)

 

[DrJJFate]

I use a 250GB external HD for active back-ups. Twice a month I slide recent files over to it. Twice a year, I save all photos to CDs.

 

[Peakbagr]

I use twin 250GBs, one for active use, one for backup. Also backup 1x week to external HD and periodically backup all but photos to a flash drive.

New computer coming before too long. Twin 1TB HDs with a large external HD. Been waiting for the next generation of back media to emerge in lieu of choosing between CDs, DVDs or other.

Really been pondering whether to go to an online service as one person mentioned. Has anyone done a comparison of the best in terms of company stability, security, cost, capacity and ease of use?

BTW, great thread Billy.

Peakbagr

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

I just have mine on DVDs. I've been thinking of burning onto gold or silver DVDs. Supposedly 100 year life. Does this sound good enough?

 

[Papa Bear]

I just have mine on DVDs. I've been thinking of burning onto gold or silver DVDs. Supposedly 100 year life. Does this sound good enough?

The lifetime sound good, but in 100 years (make that 20) I doubt there will be a device left on earth that can read them.

The only solution is to continuously back them up to the latest medium every 5 years or so. When you die, you grandchildren will forget to do it, so the stuff will all be lost. But they'll still have those old Kodachrome prints in the albums in your attic!

Look carefully at this cover from a recent New Yorker
http://content.archives.newyorker.c...Yorker/2009_06_08/webimages/page0000001_4.jpg

 

[DougPaul]

The only solution is to continuously back them up to the latest medium every 5 years or so.

And when you make a new copy (or any backup), do you read it and compare it to the previous copy or the original? Media, drives, and software can all fail...

If you don't, you can write a bad backup and have unrecoverable data when the time comes to read it.


Making two copies (stored in different places) and checking them periodically is also good practice. Hopefully if one fails, you can detect it in time to get the data from the other copy.

Doug

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. That NY magazine gets the point across too!

 

[Grumpy]

My stuff is saved on DVDs, CDs, and to a portable external hard drive.

A friend converts all his RAW files to Digital Negative format, for longer term recoverability. This addresses software issues, but not storage device/media issues.

The other day I was going through files of material shot 40 and more years ago. Negatives (B&W) good as the day they were processed originally, and most prints, likewise. And this stuff has been stored under anything but “archival” conditions. Color materials have not proved themselves to be as stable. I wonder about the useful longevity of my digital files, but at senior citizen age do not a fret a lot over the issue, although perhaps I should.

I fear that our photographic output is becoming ephemeral rather a permanent record for history.

G.

 

[Neil]

Pictures stored on EHD's would be susceptible to destruction due to radiation from say, heavy sunspot activity, wouldn't they?

 

[Tom Rankin]

Pictures stored on EHD's would be susceptible to destruction due to radiation from say, heavy sunspot activity, wouldn't they?

A lot of things can get zapped by radiation. If there is enough radiation, those lovely old prints of Aunt Hilda could go up in smoke too!

 

[DougPaul]

Pictures stored on EHD's would be susceptible to destruction due to radiation from say, heavy sunspot activity, wouldn't they?

Obviously depends on the type and amount of radiation.

Not much radiation from sunspots reaches the earth's surface, so I wouldn't worry about it.

However, magnetic domains can decay with time--an occasional rewrite can help. (This can be done by reading each data block and re-writing it in the exact same location on the disk.)

Doug

 

[Neil]

What if the sun goes Nova?

 

[DougPaul]

What if the sun goes Nova?

If it does, I'm not going to worry about my phots--digital or film...

(Or if you prefer, you can call it extreme global warming. )

Doug