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Storage/archiving Etc.


ruthless
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I've started bracketing and I'm finding I'm downloading heaps of pics onto my puter. I'm also finding it hard to let go and delete pics. What do other people do? Do you just get more storage cause it's cheap or do you ruthlessly cull unwanted shots after a photo session?

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I've started bracketing and I'm finding I'm downloading heaps of pics onto my puter. I'm also finding it hard to let go and delete pics. What do other people do? Do you just get more storage cause it's cheap or do you ruthlessly cull unwanted shots after a photo session?

In general, I just buy more storage. I *sometimes* cull the stuff that's absolutely never going to be of any use (flash didn't fire, completely out of focus, etc). I'm lazy though. And storage is cheap.

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I am running out of space fast on my puter due to the amount of photos on it and it's slowing down, so lately i have been ruthlessly deleting photos that I think I will never use.. I really need to buy a external Hard Drive (they are the easiest option) to transfer them onto instead, but i'm am too lazy and don't want to spend the money :rolleyes: (even though they are really cheap).

Edited by Bbucket
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Are you guys kidding???? Just burn the images to DVD and or CD and delete the older ones off the PC! (just do two copies and only keep the really special images on the computer as well)

If I tried to keep every photo on the computer with taking up to 2GB each week I'd have no space left.

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Are you guys kidding???? Just burn the images to DVD and or CD and delete the older ones off the PC! (just do two copies and only keep the really special images on the computer as well)

If I tried to keep every photo on the computer with taking up to 2GB each week I'd have no space left.

I do both - External HDs and DVDs.

2GB a week isn't much :-) ...that's only 100GB/year :-)

I've got more than 2TB of HD space currently connected.

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I have dvd backups of certain things, too (minimum 2 dvd copies each for important stuff). But disk media is pretty risky and disks fail all the time - even the high priced archival ones - so I don't keep dvd as my only backup.

Hard drives are super cheap, don't take up much room and are easy to store. They are also easy to use and I never worry that a drive won't play nicely with one of my computers - sometimes dvds/cds get temperamental. One of my next purchases will be a small hd for lugging around when I want to go mobile. I have a couple that are OK, but a friend has just the cutest little 320GB thing and it will be perfect for my big trip to South America/Antarctica next year when luggage is tight thanks to all the other photo gear I'm dragging!

I shoot 5-20GBs a week and I also keep a bunch of processed files from those RAW shots. I'd have to build a new house to store all the disks if that was my sole backup!

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I don't shoot RAW - that 2GB would be many many times bigger. Jpeg files are fine for most uses (yes my professional images are taken as jpegs and publish just fine) - if you get the photos right when taking them so you dont need to post process endlessly.

Then why on earth dont you fill up an external drive then put it away (with those DVDs) then plug in another rather than have a million all out?

For the average person taking their own pics where is the problem to burn to CD or DVD and store that and keep the special ones on the computer rather than simply clogging up the computers internal drives?

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My method:

Copy of images to main drive, a little culling, then copy over to external drive/s also,

followed by burn to dvd. Very last step is deleting from the cards. So Id have copies

of images in 3 places before wiping the cards.

I would view copious amounts of unsorted/unculled images like a huge pile of

newspapers in the house - where one doesnt have the time or 'discipline'

to go through them and cut out just the articles they want to keep :rolleyes:

Edited by chezzyr
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Lots of ways to skin a cat, as they say :cooldance:

If you get the photos right when taking them so you dont need to post process endlessly.

This is probably beyond this thread topic, but that's not why I shoot RAW images. The goal should always be to get your exposures and compositions as close as possible when you shoot - that's the challenge that makes this so fun! All images need to be processed - film or digital. In camera or out of camera; no right or wrong way to do things. Everyone just needs to find the methods that suit particular needs for various things. I shoot a ton of jpeg (mostly of my puppies!) every week, too, on my various little compact cameras. It just seems to add up.

Then why on earth dont you fill up an external drive then put it away (with those DVDs) then plug in another rather than have a million all out?

If you're asking me specifically, I have different drives for different things and it's easier to leave them hooked up. I also have drives with fairly old images and files on them that I don't access all the time but that do seem to need accessing a few times a month; just easier to leave them on the desk. I have drives for my laptop on the desk, too, as I run a two system office - laptop and main PC. There's lots of ways to do things and I happen to have enough desk space at the moment to set things up this way (and my office in my new house will be even bigger- yay!). Makes life a lot easier to have all of one thing on a particular drive instead of in more of a date order filling a drive, for my needs.

Lots of my friends have hot swappable caddy-things so they keep their extra drives stored until they are actually needed and then just pop 'em there. Great solution if you don't have the space in your immediate work area as you don't have extra cords and stuff to muck with.

For the average person taking their own pics where is the problem to burn to CD or DVD and store that and keep the special ones on the computer rather than simply clogging up the computers internal drives?

I don't see a problem with this method, if it works for the person. As long as people realise that media does fail and it's always unexpected and it's always the stuff you really want! I also want to store more than 4GB of certain things at a time so find the multi-disks are just a pain and slower to use than HDs. Plus not as environmentally friendly (if there is such a thing with computer stuff).

Lots of people just getting into storing images and files for the longer term don't know all the ins and outs that those who've been doing it for years know - that's the beauty of the message boards, no need to reinvent the wheel or keep making the same mistakes others did! I know I keep my eye out all the time for better and better solutions for long term storage so I don't have to wonder ten years later if those family photos are actually intact or not.

Edited by kja
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I am the original lazy person..and started off religously burning disks/deleting off puter...didn't last long :cooldance:

I cull HEAPS of photos....often only end up with 1/3 of what I shot.

(I only have a 30 Gb puter)

The other week, I bought a 120Gb HD....:cooldance::rofl: :rofl:

WONDERFUL!!..All the pics are where I left them... all in their folders that Inamed ,etc... and no more wondering what is on which disk (cos I forget to name them properly) :rofl:

BUY more storage space!!

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ruthless, you aren't bracketing every shot are you?

I'm pretty slack with my photos. I have a portable drive - USB 2.0 - at home which holds all my holiday images. I haven't backed any up :cooldance: it's something I need to do (and sort out my European shots but I hate image editing).

ATM I have no camera - great lenses but no camera. :cooldance:

edited for typo - I'm typing on a 'borrowed from work' laptop.

Edited by Ripley
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We back everything onto two separate hard drives, and then also onto dvd if taking off the computers' drives. How cheap are people calling cheap? I guess one person's cheap is another ones' expensive. Last two I bought were $2-300 each, and are not fire-wire either. Believe JB HiFi now have a fire-wire hard drive the same price as (for example) Office Works normal speed drives.

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We back everything onto two separate hard drives, and then also onto dvd if taking off the computers' drives. How cheap are people calling cheap? I guess one person's cheap is another ones' expensive. Last two I bought were $2-300 each, and are not fire-wire either. Believe JB HiFi now have a fire-wire hard drive the same price as (for example) Office Works normal speed drives.

About $250 for a 750GB drive plus an external USB 2.0 case.

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LOL on the culling. Why? Sometimes the best exposure or frame isn't the one that brings tears of laughter to your eyes or maybe the "best" frame is a really nice but the frames on either side have one of your friends or a sister pulling a dopey face? Or maybe those that missed the mark will help you look back and learn to get it right next time, so they provide excellent reference resource.

I toss OOF stuff and I toss most stuff that is WAY dark (dang compacts and their baby flashes anyway), but other than that I keep a lot of stuff that isn't good photography, just because storage is cheap and on rainy days when I have nothing else to do I like to pick a random folder and just flip back through :(

Storage is cheap, so if I have any interest in a frame, I just keep it! Of course, I keep every letter from my family, too...

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