 Carolyn Swadley |
digital storage I am getting a new computer and my husband thinks I should store my photographs on an external hard drive. Is this common? What about a flash drive? Or do all of you just store on your computer? Thanks for any input.
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Jessica Jenney |
Get an external hard drive! You can backup your entire C drive, not just photos. http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/index.php?cat=8&language=en
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W. |
Depending on how much photos you make your husband may be right, Carolyn. Photos are graphical files that take up a lot of space on your computer. That's not a problem if you shoot your holidays, family gatherings, the occassional party, and some of your kid's soccer games. If you're a fanatical shooter, though, and hardly a day goes by without you shooting 1 or 2 dozen photos, at least, then you might find your harddisk fills up rapidly. You need at least one external harddisk NOW, as long as you keep all your photos on your computer, to regularly, incrementally, backup the contents of that harddisk. If you decide your photos eat up so much HD space on your computer that you want to move them to a separate external harddisk, then you need 2 external harddisks. One to store and serve up your photos, and the other one to back it up. Have fun!
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Pete H |
Echo..Get a external drive AND, burn your photos to a DVD. Remember, DVD life is not infinite, so re-burn them every 3 to 5 years. Make two copies; one for you and one should be stored at another location; friends house etc... If you have a photo you consider priceless to you, have it printed. Archiving Structure: Have a good method to locate photos later on. With time, you will have thousands of photos stored. You will need a way to locate them. (Key wording), while somewhat time consuming is the preferred way. Finding a particular photo within a year is usually not difficult, finding that photo 5 years down the road is another story.
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Carolyn Swadley |
Thanks so much guys. Does anyone use an online backup service for photographs and storage? I do have a LOT of photos on my computer at the moment. So will have to probably transfer them to new computer through flashdrive. My things are so old, I'll have to get new photo software to use with VISTA. Probably take a week to transfer everything. LOL
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W. |
No, Carolyn, I don't use an online backup service for photographs and storage, because 1) a full backup, even over broadband, can take up to a WEEK (I shiver to think how long a data restore would take!), 2) it's much more expensive than getting your own harddisk(s) and backup scheme, and 3) it is NOT SECURE: what are you going to do if that 'online backup service' shuts down overnight? You would be up the creek without a paddle. NEVER leave a third party to 'safeguard' your precious data and IRREPLACEABLE photos! Once they're gone, they're gone forever! YOU are the only one that can be entrusted with that VERY important job of data security. "transfer them to new computer through flashdrive" If you do that via a cable – a USB 2.0 or FireWire connection (don't know what you've got) – that job will take mere hours instead of a whole week. Also you'll be able to do it in one go, and have a cup of coffee (or a couple) while the transfer is going on. But using a flashdrive you will be a VERY busy lady indeed, for a week or so...
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Carolyn Swadley |
You guys are the best. My hubby just added a FireWire connection to the computer. Another question....I'm saying no to a widescreen monitor because of my photographs, am I correct in assuming that's the way to go? Or is there something I can do to the widescreen to emulate a regular one? IF that's the correct word. :)
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W. |
Currently the trend is firmly towards widescreen format displays. I would expect state-of-the art widescreen flat panel displays to be able to emulate virtually all formats/aspect ratios. But your computer's graphics/videocard must be capable of generating the output too! A.k.a. compatible. With the correct settings all you'll get is a wider desktop with a higher resolution. More working space. Higher display quality. No reason why your photos, in their browsers, wouldn't still display at their original aspect ratios.
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