Picture storage and computer longevity questions

[packrat]

What do you guys use to store your pictures? Ours are all currently on the computer and I worry if it crashes, they're gone. I do have some uploaded to Snapfish but not all of them. I just had a conversation w/my dad that ended in me just "whatever ok yep you're right whatever you say fine" b/c I didn't want to get into an argument about it. The dvd drive on our computer doesn't work anymore, so he sent me a link to an external dvd thing and insists that that's all I need, and should put all my pictures on dvds and then I can leave them on the computer.

However, doesn't 5000+ pictures on your computer bog it down? Are dvds really THE thing for picture storage? A couple coworkers use flash drives and external hard drives for their pictures and I wonder if those would be better. I want them to be easily accessible, and something like a little flash drive seems a lot easier and more portable than a dvd.

And, I admit, a part of me is feeling growly about it b/c I get tired of the "this is what I said you should do so hop to it and shut up about it" attitude so I want to ask people who are not my dad.

My other question is, our computer is from 2004. How long do they last?

 

[JulieN]

External hard drive. DVDs are kind of passe, IMO.

Computers can last for a very long time if you keep them up correctly, but 2004 is old (technologically speaking.)

 

[Maria D]

The hard drive on your 7 year old computer is quite old and hard drives do not last forever. You really need to get those pictures backed up onto something. The longest I've had a hard drive last on a computer I use every day is 6 years.

I'm not an expert, but in my opinion, you have to keep backing stuff up to whatever the latest technology is. I once fired up a very old desktop PC (and was surprised it still worked!) just to insert and read a 5 1/4" floppy disk so that I could get date info off an old resume. If I needed that information today, it wouldn't have mattered if I had saved the disk because I have nothing that could read it. Same thing with DVDs -- you still have DVD drives now but how much longer will they be around?

I back up all our computers (entire system) to external hard drives about once a week. Since they are laptops and not always connected to the external hard drives, I have to remember to do it manually. I also keep my work documents in a Dropbox (dropbox.com) folder so that I can access them from anywhere. Also, if the house burns down taking the computers and external hard drives, the docs will survive in cyberspace. I haven't done this with pictures though.

 

[TristanC]

Everything has a lifespan. Hard disk drives can last a long time, but do remember that they are mechanical (unless you have a solid state drive - which you wouldn't if it was in 2004). Since the Hard disk is mechanical, it is a matter of time that eventually you'll have a hard disk failure - most frequently when the spindle which reads and writes crashes physically into the rotating plates. This would result in almost complete loss of data - at least without paying someone to extract what remains.

I've had hard disks work for 9years, and I've had one crash after 18 months. I think you should always have a backup for whatever you deem important or irreplaceable.

Cheap alternatives are: DVD/Blu rays (they also have a finite shelf life, and are susceptible to mould, but at $0.30 each, you can back them up every five years or so at next to no cost)

Flash memory thumb drives or external hard disk drives also work and have much larger capacity. Both are getting cheaper by the day, and you could plonk all your photos in one that you could buy for say $15 max for a thumb drive, External hard disks can store far more and cost a bit more. The thumb drive is solid state memory, so barring corruption (which stupidly happens too), it should last a good number of years.

Basically just have alternative back ups. 1 backup is fine, 2 for treasured irreplaceable stuff. Its cheap and fast.

 

[daintyG]

i think an external hard drive is the best option these days. and this isnt a good back up plan, but any files that you upload to facebook you are (now) able to retrieve later. if you don't like sharing with the public, you can make your albums private. my other laptop died unexpectedly and i was able to get the files of the photos i had posted on facebook. upon your request facebook will email you a zipped folder with your files. i don't know if a site like snapfish would enable you to ever retrieve the actual files of your photos if you needed to. i assume you would only be able to order them. but i don't know. good luck, i hope you never end up having to use your backups.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

We keep everything on external hard drives. One terabyte costs about $100 here in AU so is probably cheaper for you in the states. Make sure you get one that doesn't need an external power source. You want one that runs by being connected to the computer alone.

Getting all of those photos off of your hard drive will probably help the computer live a little longer too! It's amazing how things like photos bog down the running systems on a PC.

 

[Snow_Miser]

I, too use an external hard drive to back up my laptop. I have a lot of stuff saved in Dropbox, too, which I love since I can log in on any computer and access my documents. I also have some pictures saved on Dropbox.

I think you get up to 2GB of free space on Dropbox, and can buy more space if it is needed. You should check it out!

 

[iLander]

As a professional, I'll tell you that we store our files on CD. We make two copies, print out a list of what's on the CD and keep all the lists in a master file. We've been doing that since the 90's and so far the CD's are all still good. Knock on wood.

We've tried all forms of backup, since the 1980's; Zip drive, Jaz drive, Seagate, floppies, minidisks, etc. All have eventually demagnetized, or the drivers to run the disk drives have been made incompatible by new operating systems.

So far, the CD's have been stable. But still, knock on wood.

 

[packrat]

Thanks everyone, that's so helpful! I'm going to check out Dropbox later this afternoon and also this week order a flash drive to start and an external hard drive..the more backups in place the better I figure. We don't have anything of importance on the computer other than the pictures. I'll feel better knowing they're in different spots, should something happen.

The external hard drive..how does that work if the computer crashes? Is the stuff stored on it "locked away" so that it's not affected then?

 

[mrssalvo]

I back up all my pictures on an external hard drive and I also upload them to snapfish so I have a back up that I can access anytime from anywhere.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

We have a back-up drive on our computer, but I do need to do something else in case the computer is damaged. When we lived in our apt and the unit by us has smoke coming out of it, I grabbed our CPU and ran out the door! lol DH has uploaded some photos to Picasa, but most of my favorites aren't on there and I like the idea of uploading to a site and also having a tangible back up (like CDs) that can be put in a safe deposit box.

I am putting together creative memories albums and that will give me a chance to sort through thousands of photos!

 

[ame]

I have two external backups doing timed backups on each machine, plus offsite backup as well. My computers and my backups are on APC power backups (each has a different APC) that assuming I am not out of town or asleep give me about 30 minutes to save and shut down my machines properly before they exhaust. I have a lot of work to backup. I also have 2 portable externals which I copy current work to every weekend and leave one at my parents or a siblings house and the other at work. Bec that's not OCD enough, I backup every 5 jobs to a DVD, and then I make a backup of that backup. I try to keep no more than 5 to a DVD. I have the secondary backup disk stored offsite also.

I have 8 years of work to keep available, so I am a little overzealous. I have had hard drives fail, which is why I keep multiples of everything.