Storing photo's, images and pages

[WhiteAngel]

Hi everyone, I'm new here...I was wondering how everyone stores there images, photos and scrapbooking files....do you use a UBS flash drive? I'm finding that i'm runnung out of space on my computer....I do have a CD burner but you can only fit so much..I'm looking for upgrading soon...is an external drive better...interested inyour idea's[/COLOR] :cool: :p

[dkapp12]

1. Start off with a bigger internal hard drive.

2. An external drive is the perfect way to make backup copies of your important files. I don't have one yet, but it is on the list. Have originals on the internal drive and then back them up to the external. This way if your computer fries, you have a safe copy on the external.

3. To be totally safe you would also have your files archived and stored on good archival quality CDs or DVDs and far away from where your computer or external drive are located. Maybe at a relatives house or in a fireproof safe somewhere.

I make backups of all my photos to CD's about once a year and give them to my daughters and mother.

[Starling]

My computer has mirrored drives. If one goes down the other is unlikely to be in trouble, but I will probably need a pro to get at that drive. I'm not sure I would do it that way again.

I do back everything to CD. I ought to make a second copy and give to to my daughter, but haven't done that yet.

I'm considering an external hard drive. A good sized one would cost $200US, which isn't a bad price.

[scrapalongsadie]

I use a USB flash drive. I have several of them and I am guessing but there are probably several hundred photos on each one. I also use them to save all my digitial goodies.

They are a bit more expensive than a CD but much sturdier and easier to carry. Plus they seem to hold more but I don't really have any numbers for comparing. I like that I can carry everything from office to home in my pocket without lugging my laptop - so I can take my photos on the road and scrap when I have downtime (tee hee hee!!) .....

[scrapalongsadie]

I have an external hard drive too. But I like the portabilty of the USB Drives. Now if they would just put software on them, we could go anywhere and crop! Wouldn't that be fun??

Oh.....a flash thought - wouldn't it be fun to have a crop in someplace like an internet cafe or something? Just dreaming....

[shazzt]

A warning with USB flash drives - useful for short term storage and transportation of files. Don't rely on it for long term storage - a few people at work have discovered to their cost that they can fail without warning.

[WhiteAngel]

thanks everyone for your advice & tips...it's helped me decide on which is best....after doing some added research..I've decided on an external Drive which will back up everything on my hard drive...I was advised that on the Maxtor OneTouch™ External Drives - it's easy to make backup copies of your file with one touch....& I think I'll back my photo's up on CD & give them to my sister for same keeping.....thanks guys.... :p

[Starling]

Angel, I think you made the best choices available for today's technology. I'm seriously considering an external hard drive so I can join you.

[MaureenH]

Very smart to add that CD/DVD second backup at your sisters.

[Janet]

I burn all of my photos onto DVD's, and have one copy here, and one copy in the safe deposit box. For the heritage stuff I scan, family also gets copies. I NEED to go back and sort through my digi scrapped pages and organize them better, but when I do, I plan to put them onto DVD's as well. OH...and with each DVD, I print out a contact page, which goes into a 3 ring binder or folder that accompanies the DVD.

As for the photos, I have a 40 gig external hard drive which was purchased on vacation because I was running out of space on the computer we brought with us. NEED to get those transferred to DVD soon. :) It really has helped with sharing files between different computers.

[Amanda]

Someone just posted on another thread that Maxtor's software isn't great for backing up. One of my hard drives is a maxtor - but I don't use the software. I have another Seagate hard drive and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the software with it.

[MaureenH]

I have Maxtor external drives for backup too and don't use the one touch software. Started to and then thought it was confusing. Also had problems with Nero's backup because it compressed (e.g. couldn't read anymore) the file names. With the USB 2 connection to the Maxtor so fast I just copy and paste the folder(s) I've worked on that day now. Very clean and simple. No software to give grief.

[mom2one+two]

This just happened to me last week as a matter of fact. I took the C drive down to zero! My dh hooked up an external hard drive connected via the USB of about 200 gB and we moved all my scrapbooking files over there.

I'm starting to print now and as I print, I delete the JPG file. As long as I have the PSD file, I can always generate another JPG if I need it. This has helped a ton in freeing up space, but I still have more than half the 200 GB hard drive filled with scrapbooking stuff with no end in sight! I think maybe I'll archive some older layouts to CD as well. Once I print them, I shouldn't need to access them again except in rare instances. Archiving to CD should be a perfect solution for this.

[raynebair]

I use an external hard drive, but not just for backup. I use it as a secondary drive. My Mac only has about 20gb of free space, definitely not enough for all my photos, layouts and scrapping downloads. So I bought an internal 160gb hard drive, then bought a firewire enclosure. The whole thing cost about $180US.

I keep any and all personal files on that drive (and use it as I would an internal HD) since I can't just upgrade my internal drive. I also have backups of all my scrap downloads and photos (scanned and digital) on multiple CDs. Haven't backed up my LOs yet, but that will happen in time (when I get enough to fill a DVD).

My computer doesn't have a DVD burner (just CD), but my DH does, so when I want to burn to DVD I just push my files over our home network to his computer and do my backups there. Oh yeah...I also have a copy of all my files on his secondary storage HD also. LOL! Many copies, but it insures that if one fails, I have another somewhere.

Now, if I could just convince him to make me a DVD with all of his digital photos, I'd be a happy scrapper...he has a bunch of gorgeous photos...several gigs more than I do. :p

[melodiustenor]

For my laptop I use an external hard drive for my LOs and for kits etc. There wouldn't be enough room for everything on the internal hard drive. I use the USB memory between desktop and laptop a lot, but I can always hook up my external hard drive to the desktop as well and work on that.
My desk top has two internal hard drives.
Yes, I copy to CD...
I have had one hard drive fail before! and a system that needed reformatting.
I love the USB memory for portability. Mine also has a card reader in it, so I plug my SD card from the camera in, and I'm all set to go whatever computer I am using.
I am looking at getting a laptop with a larger capacity though, and another external hard drive (this one exclusively for backup and archive)

[WhiteAngel]

:p I havn't recieved my Maxtor external drive yet, I should get it within the following week...I was told it was one of the best on the market...I let you know how I go with it....

[WhiteAngel]

hey guy's thanks for all your advise, I finally got my drive...it's great...still learning all that it can do, there's lot's of help out there too...I use it as a mirror back up & also as an extra drive...I keep all my downloaded Zip files and have another folder for my unzipped set's...it works out great...I only now keep current suff i'm working on...my nornal drive...

[Lauren]

I also use an external drive along with cds for added back up - Everything scrapbook related goes on the external - and I also back up my psd files to cd along with all my photos also -