OK help me organise my digital photos - hundreds stored on PC disaster waiting to happen!

[LittleBoSheep]

My camera puts them onto the pc all numbered so I have 2 queries

1. How do you name/catalogue them so you know what the hell they are.

1. What is the best way thing store them on

a) disc CDR/RW?

b) stick/memory things (if so what am I looking for?)

HEEELP - if my computer goes wrong ive lost years of photos!!

[LittleBoSheep]

OK i'll bump it tonight when the chaps are on

Dont want to go to digital camera online as I know they will blind me with science and spend hundreds!!

[LittleBoSheep]

Ahh you see I have them in specific folders but that seemed to cause a problem when I tried to copy them to disc.

I was going to put this into Dadsnet and decided that was sexist but as I wasnt getting much response I thought I would have to target them next...

Obviously most people come on here to get away from their children then urrr talk about their children

[MumtoPhoebeboo]

I back mine up for free online via Picasa, which is Google's photo storage service. You can download it and then upload all your photos (and the perk is that they can be accessed anywhere in the world just by logging on to your account online!)

[zebramama]

If you want to rename huge swathes of photos, I suggest you Google a piece of Freeware called Faststone. It is an image cataloger and it is really flexible on its Batch renaming.

Picassa is good for simple photoediting.

Photobox is tops when it comes to getting photos printed online.

For storage... Cheapest option if you don't fancy archiving to DVD / External HDD would be a USB memory stick.

Most online photo-archives don't guarantee to back-up your photos, so if they crashed then you might lose everything.

[CatIsSleepy]

I give a name to each folder-usually just month and year

I have some backed up on CDs, I also upload them to Photobox website which acts as another back-up

and call me a traditionalist but I get prints of the best ones and stick them in albums

[superloopy]

Having just read this I am now in the middle of finally saving my photos online using Picasa.
Thanks for the tips!
We moved to Australia last year and only recently discovered that all of our home video which we shipped over has been deleted. I am so devastated! We have lost all video of DDs first 3 years.
I cannot let this happen to our precious photos.
This is just what I needed to get me moving!

[LittleBoSheep]

Oh thanks for the replies to this - long term will probably go the way littleapin suggests (cant afford right before hol)

I guess im just going to have to try the disc route for now...I am also considering this as I would like to store a copy at my parents house - not that im a pessimist but I always think when people have a home disaster that photos are something you really cannot replace, like superloopys video

No really keen to use a website...bit of a control freak here

Lets hope this gets both of us moving superloopy...you have now promted me to remember that I also have 7 years worth of video to sort!

[EffiePerine]

If you back up onto disc (if you have loads I'd suggest DVDs rather than CDs), be aware that they have a limited shelf life and will degrade. Get good quality discs and (yawn) check your data regularly to make sure it is still there. You will also need to migrate to new storage periodically.

External hard drives are much easier on terms of initial transfer,checking and migration

Backing them up online is an option, but you have to ensure the third party will be around for long enough

[LittleBoSheep]

"you have to ensure the third party will be around for long enough " and therin lies why I wont do that

Hmm the external drive does sound the way to go then...but wont that have a limited shelf life too - technology wise?

[EffiePerine]

yes, but that's the case with all electronic media. Sorry . But it's easier to check and transfer if it's all in one place.

If you want to really preserve your photos, print onto low acid photo paper and keep in a dark very cold dry place and never look at them

[zebramama]

A DVD-R sat in a neutral environment might be good for 5-10 years, but how many people store them off site in a "neutral" environment.
I suggest that you keep 2 copies of any backup on different media types and that you test / refresh them every 6-12 months. It sounds like hard work but if the photos etc are that important then it is worth doing.

I keep copies of my important docs / photos at my parents' house to guard against fire / flood / God!