Is digital unreliable?
Oct 3, 2011, 8:29 am
#76
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards. Tha... that's about it.
Posts: 4,332
Updating media and formats is not really a "continuous" process. I'd call it a "periodic" process.
Every few years I need to create a new optical backup of my critical files. My first optical backup was a CD, then I moved to a DVD a few years later. Eventually, I'll move to a BluRay, and years after that, to a holographic disk. Years after that, some other format may appear. In the interim, I have also transferred my primary copies to new PCs and new hard drives whenever I've gotten them, along with any other data files I keep.
Formats? I keep everything in JPG, and in the 11 years since I started keeping digital images, I haven't seen any incompatible changes to the JPG format. Yes, the format has changed, but thus far, today's version of Photoshop can read any variant of the JPG format that I have on hand, so I've never had to change formats on a single one of my files. I suspect that Photoshop could probably read JPGs as old as 20 years, though I don't have any to test that on.
Every few years I need to create a new optical backup of my critical files. My first optical backup was a CD, then I moved to a DVD a few years later. Eventually, I'll move to a BluRay, and years after that, to a holographic disk. Years after that, some other format may appear. In the interim, I have also transferred my primary copies to new PCs and new hard drives whenever I've gotten them, along with any other data files I keep.
Formats? I keep everything in JPG, and in the 11 years since I started keeping digital images, I haven't seen any incompatible changes to the JPG format. Yes, the format has changed, but thus far, today's version of Photoshop can read any variant of the JPG format that I have on hand, so I've never had to change formats on a single one of my files. I suspect that Photoshop could probably read JPGs as old as 20 years, though I don't have any to test that on.
Oct 31, 2011, 9:50 pm
#78
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SAN
Programs: Delta Gold. Hilton Diamond. Hyatt Explorist.
Posts: 1,674
I started using digital in the late 1990's. However, I also took selected travel photos using film until 2003. For certain shots, like a tourist attraction, I took many digital pictures and maybe a few film ones.
I don't trust digital. A few pictures have become corrupted, showing only the top half. One computer had a catastrophe but there was a backup. There are online storage sites, like photobucket.
What should I do?
Print a few photos?
Have multiple backups on separate hard drives to reduce the chance file corruption?
Do the above and download them online?
I don't trust digital. A few pictures have become corrupted, showing only the top half. One computer had a catastrophe but there was a backup. There are online storage sites, like photobucket.
What should I do?
Print a few photos?
Have multiple backups on separate hard drives to reduce the chance file corruption?
Do the above and download them online?