Posted by Henry Butz on November 23, 2003 at 11:34:00:
Digital cameras have the advantage of saving you from keeping a big box of negatives and 4x6 prints in the closet. All your digital images are saved conveniently on your computer, ready to be emailed to friends and relatives, or viewed instantly with photo album software.
Because these files are pretty big, there is a trend to buy an external harddrive which plugs into your computer's firewire or USB port. I recommend Maxtor drives. These drives are fast, convenient, supply infinite and scalable storage capacity, and they are easier to install than the cameras themselves - just plug them, power them up, and the drive is ready to use.
But, please do NOT use them as your only source of storage of your precious memories. Although harddrives have improved greatly over the years; if they die, they take all your photographs and data with them! You may be shocked to discover that the manufacturers of these drives DO NOT recover data if the drive breaks down. They never offered this service and never will. They will only replace your drive and scrap the old one. Data recovery from a failed harddrive costs thousands of dollars. Even if you decide to spend the money on harddrive data recovery, many of your files are likely to be destroyed.
The new Mac Panther operating system has a fatal flaw which may Delete All Your Photographs if they are stored on an external harddrive. Click here for more information.
What can you do? Never trust your computer. They are evil, dumb machines with poor memory and no loyalty. Your computer system may already have a CD writer. Buy Sony brand CD-R media (many other cheaper brands will cause you eventual and major disappointment). Copy (do not move) your photographs from your camera to your computer. Use the software which came with your computer to burn a CD with all your photographs. Do not wait until you can fill an entire disc with 700 megabytes - burn soon, burn often. CD-R's are about 50 cents apiece; memories come once in a lifetime. Do not put fancy labels on your discs - the glue will eat the plastic and erode the media within five years. If you are unsure, do not mark or label the CD-R at all. The safest thing to do is store them in a jewel case and write on the label which does not make physical contact with your CD-R.
Before you have a chance to burn a CD, think about putting them on two different computers or harddrives. If you have a computer at work at your disposal, use it make a second copy (if it doesn't violate your boss's computer usage policy). Computers are cheap enough these days. Buy an inexpensive $300 computer which can save duplicate copies of photographs - do not hook it up to the Internet! Or, if you have a laptop computer, some laptops have huge amounts of unused storage.
When it comes to your digital photographs, prepare for massive and catastrophic failure. CD-R's are extremely cheap when compared to the heartbreak of loosing once in a lifetime moments.
Henry