USB Storage to store family pictures
- Thread starter wigster
- Start date
Soldato
A portable hard drive might well be a better option, depending on how much space you need. Arguably more reliable than USB thumb drives. Although if these are your only backup when I would recommend a second copy, either on another drive stored away from your house, or some cloud storage like OneDrive or Dropbox for example.
Soldato
That's good then.
If it's valuable data that you can't replace, just remember the 3-2-1 backup rule.
3 copies.
2 different types of backup media (hard drive & CDR for example).
1 copy offsite (at another house or cloud).
If it's valuable data that you can't replace, just remember the 3-2-1 backup rule.
3 copies.
2 different types of backup media (hard drive & CDR for example).
1 copy offsite (at another house or cloud).
I'm always telling people to back up their back ups and not to keep them all in one location.
My sister was a prime example she had all of her daughters pictures just on her phone, someone had swiped her phone at a event, luckily we made such a fuss that it reappeared.
My sister was a prime example she had all of her daughters pictures just on her phone, someone had swiped her phone at a event, luckily we made such a fuss that it reappeared.
Good advice. I would add for extra safety every 5 years coping them all on to new formats as all media deteriates.
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Additional to other options I also have a micro SD card in my wallet with copies of photos which have sentimental value, etc. but as above you do need to refresh that every 4-5 years to ensure data integrity (though I've not had any flash storage lose integrity before well over 10 years yet), also more exposed to other environmental factors but a useful extra backup.
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I do also have them on two seperate hard drives on my computer as its convenient but not really safe.
I'm not a fan of clouds to back up pictures after my old photobucket account got screwed up.
Don
It's worth bearing in mind CDRs may not still be readable depending on how long ago they were burnt and what dye type was used on the discs.
Cheaper brands often used dyes that become unstable after a few years.
Soldato
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I think the longevity of CDs is still up for debate, provided quality ones used as mentioned. But equally, dropping an external HDD and it can't read anymore isn't out of the ordinary.
The handy thing with online, be it the least cost effective option, is that many people can access it if wanted, therefore becoming the most cost effective if you split the bill.
Printing off many of the photos can also be the best option, outside of a fire.
Some of the big online companies offer small amounts of free storage also.
The handy thing with online, be it the least cost effective option, is that many people can access it if wanted, therefore becoming the most cost effective if you split the bill.
Printing off many of the photos can also be the best option, outside of a fire.
Some of the big online companies offer small amounts of free storage also.
Print them off. Don't do it yourself; get it done by a print shop to get proper photo-grade prints.
Depends a lot on the storage as well - if exposed to sunlight they degrade much quicker. Last I checked all the CDs I have including CDRs were still fully readable despite some being more than 20 years old.
I went through my old floppy discs prior to disposing of them recently and surprisingly around half worked as well as the day they were new and only a small number were completely dead - most 90+% of the data was recoverable. Some of them date back almost to the 80s and all of them older than 2001 I think. On the other hand some of my older USB flash drives from early 2000s the file system is unrecoverable, though they do work again after a format.
Am I right in thinking that DVDR has better longevity than CDR? Is + better or worse than -?
Don
Most CDR and DVD+R are about comparable at between 20-50 years. Most DVD-R are only 10-20 years.
There are exceptions e.g. very early "gold disc" CDRs are supposedly good for 100+ years
some good info here:
Probably not too surprising - I think a lot of things were built and designed better back then. The rush to make things smaller (higher data densities) and cheaper hasn't always been for the best.
Things like the latest helium filled and SMR or HAMR hard drives, and more volatile QLC band SSDs are a scary thought - even looking after them properly, they may not be readable in 10 years time, let alone the 50-100 years that might be ideal for most
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Man of Honour
Physical prints age over time and the quality doesn't remain the same, also you gotta then store them. In the event of a disaster etc then they are also destroyed. Best off keeping digital photos backed up digitally, easy.
All my media/data is stored on the PC, then syncd monthly to an 8TB SATA SSD in a USB-C enclosure using FreeFileSync. The USB drive is then stored in a mini pelicase so it's fire proof, shock proof etc.
Soldato
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When i looked at protection cases a while ago for similar use the fireproof ratings were as good as useless it seemed when i read into it. Browsing that Peli site briefly i couldn't see anything fire specifically rated, which model did you go for?