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06/26/2009 06:33:30 PM · #1 |
Being that we are living profoundly in a digital age, it is imperative that I share with you my concerns about how to keep your images safe for future generations to have the opportunity of viewing your catalog of work. In the past there were negatives, positives (slides) and prints which, if taken care of and stored properly, could survive several decades without serious degradation. Today we are hit by a number of possible dangers that could erase for eternity any of those images that were captured for posterity and meant so much to you, your loved ones, businesses and archives wishing to preserve the image which mirrors the social fabric of the day.
I became keenly aware of this problem when I converted to digital image capture. It is not practical for me to print all of the work I have done and thus had to find a way of minimizing the possibility of losing my works. There are many ways ones could safeguard their images. There is CD, which I find very problematic to say the least. DVD’s which I find equally troublesome, DAT, which is a wonderful medium, but, try to find a DAT player today. I archive my work on about 8 (eight), yes 8 external and internal hard drives in two different locations. I make it a practice to save all of the final retouched published images of mine on all of these devices and store to all of them religiously when a job has been completed. I.e. post production included. I save my Raw images on to at least 3 to 4 external hard drives as well.
Many consider this as over kill. But imagine the thought of losing your archives to some electrical anomaly. In some ways it would be akin to losing your identity. All of those images that were an expression of your world view, lost for ever.
It is for this reason that I HIGHLY recommend that you save your images and any other important files to at least 2 hard drives or 3 for that extra measure of security. Eventually “Cloud Systems” might be the way to go, but imagine for some reason that the internet is down for an extended period of time and access to your precious files is impossible. So for now, until Crystal Quartz storage becomes the norm, I sincerely hope that you take my advice. As the old adage states; “Better Safe than Sorry.”
//www.benjaminkanarekblog.com/?p=354
Message edited by author 2009-06-26 19:01:35.
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06/26/2009 09:04:49 PM · #2 |
| another excellent post from the real world; thanks, bk! |
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06/26/2009 09:31:20 PM · #3 |
| My concern is the always rapidly-changing technology. What's the popular storage system of today may be the inaccessable dodo in 10 years. |
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06/26/2009 09:40:15 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by BeeCee:
My concern is the always rapidly-changing technology. What's the popular storage system of today may be the inaccessable dodo in 10 years. |
that's why you have to always be moving things forward. and the longer you do this photography thing, the more monstrous the task shall become...
Message edited by author 2009-06-27 00:28:50. |
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06/26/2009 09:50:48 PM · #5 |
very well put...
I have now lost 3 hard drives to failure, 1 external and 2 macbook HDs... The External I had mirrored so no problem, the macbooks however i lost a month's worth of data each shot because I did not update often enough.
I just picked up the internet application "Dropbox" which is a folder on my desktop that is mirrored online, accessible from anywhere, up to 2gb. I began putting all my finished .PSD's in there and other important data in addition to regular back ups to make sure I never lose another picture again.
This last failure wasn't terrible I only lost a few pics that I really liked but the one before I lost an entire roadtrip out west and camping and all that... still got the DPC size images and 10 or so HQ sepia prints, but I will never be able to go back and reedit (unless i drop $1500).
I will echo the chorus, BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!
It is not a question of 'if' but 'when'. |
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06/26/2009 09:54:37 PM · #6 |
I use Mobile Me, but the cloud does not have enough storage space for what I have. I mean I am looking at over a Tera byte of information. Clouds are great for file sharing on a short term basis, Word and Power Point presentations and smaller JPEG's. There is no way I can store all my stuff on a cloud system. Not yet at least. I figure with 8 HD's, I am pretty well covered.
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06/27/2009 12:26:38 AM · #7 |
| here's another storage option |
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07/01/2009 11:19:33 AM · #8 |
Seems like a pretty good system. However, I feel better having my HS's in close proximity.
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07/01/2009 11:41:45 AM · #9 |
Printing important photos and storing them correctly is the only true long-term solution. I have family snapshots here which are 60 to 70 years old. Admittedly the colour has faded, but they have lasted. In fact, I think the film negative was the ultimate long-term storage solution!
There are a few aspects to the problems of digital storage;
1) File formats becoming obsolete (especially RAW formats)
2) Deterioration of material (The integrity of magnetic surfaces deteriorates over time, as do CDs and DVDs)
3) Online / Cloud storage - Only good for as long as the hosting company stays in business. And in 100 years, who's going to remember what grandad's login name and password were anyway?
Sometimes I come across old 3.5" diskettes. Firstly, I don't have a disk drive installed in any of my PCs any more. So I dig out a disk drive and plug it in, but most of the time the diskette has deteriorated and can't be read, and the rest of the time I'm left with a bunch of files in old unreadable formats!
I'm talking about diskettes from only 15 years ago, so imagine in 60 years from now when someone unearths an old DVD full of images in the attic, what chance would they have of accessing the images?
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