backing up photos

Theresa626

So, I have my CD of pictures from the photographer and I want to make sure that I have every single picture from the wedding for years to come. And by that I mean that fifty years from now, I'd like to be able to still have all 1100 of these pics in digital format.  Obviously, media formats come and go so a CD probably isn't the best option for storage.  How would you suggest I back up and store these images so that they last for fifty years? 

[Deleted User]

I am a photographer and this plagues me a lot, because I also say to myself technology changes so much so fast what is a good solution?

Right now I am using Carbonite, it is an online storage website. They give you unlimited storage on your pc and if you switch pc's you can download all of the files onto your new pc.

However there is a small catch. Do not erase the pics off of your pc thinking that Carbonite has them backed up forever. Carbonite backs up only the files on your pc so if you loose your info or change pc you have 30 days time to download them back on to a new pc. So if you keep the wedding files on your pc at all times they will be backed up forever.

Hope this helps

AnnaScarlett

Your best bet is to have prints made.  No digital media will last 50 years and even if it does it will be so out dated it won't be usable anymore.  It would be like you trying to recieve files off a floppy disk (a real one, not the 3inch kind)  IT would take some serious serching to find something compatible to transfer the files onto more modern media.

Theresa626

but, doesn't getting 1100 prints made seem ridiculous?  

Lisa8888

I would backup the files on a very good brand of DVD and also on an external hard drive. Every 5 years or so you can reback them up.

woodfrogs

Multiple backups are a good rule of thumb. Do you have a portable hard drive? Save them there. Get some archival quality disks, Verbatime DataLifePlus are rated very highly as archival quality, burn your files and put them away. As a precaution I would also check them every year to make sure they are still useable. As new storage media are developed, check compatibility and update your storage methods. Does this sound like a lot of work? When you consider the amount of time you'll spend doing this versus how incredibly disappointed you'll be if something happened, no. And if you have a fireproof box, use that too. Store a set of backups off-site. Pro photogs always have mutiple backups. But even they don't keep your files forever. Good luck!

HaveAGoodDay

If you are considering making your own wedding album, take a look at ...

http://www.wedesignalbums.com

You provide the images (either upload online or mail a high resolution CD).  They will design a custom album for you.  Once you approve the final design, the images are printed, the album assembled and shipped directly to you.

These are not the magazine style pages, these are the hard mounted pages bound in a flushmount/coffee table style album.  You can choose from many sizes, colors and even an acrylic cover.  These are the same albums many photographers provide to their brides.

Everything is done here in the U.S., so the turn around time is 2-3 weeks total.  You can also call and talk to a real person if you have any questions.

You will not be disappointed!

Good luck.

smokyhills

You are not going to need to print 1100 photos. Seriously. Lots will be slightly-out-of-focus-whoops-she-was-making-a-funny-face-how-did-that-guy's-arm-get-cut-off-oh-my-god-my-ass-looks-huge-in-that-shot. And those ones you don't need to back up.

I would suggest a few things -

1. An external hard drive. I prefer Seagate's Freeagent Go, simply because it's small enough to fit in my safe deposit box. They usually run in the $60-$100 range and are seriously easy to deal with. USB is not going to go away in a hurry, and even if it does, there will be converters available. Putting it offsite is a good thing, just in case there's a fire.

2. An offsite service. Right now I use Flickr Pro - $25 a  year and I can set the photos to private. Friends also use Amazon's backup service, and like that quite a bit.

3. CD's or DVD's These WILL go after about 5 years, in my experience. Use this in combination with one of the above.

4. Print. But not all of them. Get whatever photo management software you prefer that allows you to "rank" the photos by number of stars (usually out of five). Go through them and rank them. Print the ones that are three stars and above - those are the ones you're probably going to want later. There are lots of ways to get a LOT of 4x6's printed cheap - Sam's and Costco regularly have sales, and many more sites offer volume discounts. Do enlargements for anything you really love, and make sure to display them

The important thing is to not just pick one, but choose 2 or 3, to cover a number of different possible disasters.

Nina9

The DVDs your photographer gave you will last, if you take good care of them, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 - 15 years.  That's obviously not very long in the grand scheme of things.

I definitely agree that the solution is to use more than one system.  Have them on DVD and on an external hard drive (which will also fail over time, just FYI).  The easiest and smartest way to back up is by tapping into "the cloud."  Use a service like Flickr (which is only about $25/year) or another online file storage solution.  It's well worth the small price to preserve your memories and give you that peace of mind.