How do you store digital photos and music?

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How do you store digital photos and music?

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Started 1 year ago by HelofaMess
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HelofaMess
Member

Hi everyone,

A combination of the "Managing Computer File Clutter" topic and the fact that my 250g iMac is 5g from full got me thinking. How do you store digital photos and music?

A year ago had a hard drive crash and, unknown to me, my time machine never properly backed up. I lost about 6 months of photos and music but luckily had copies of everything else on another computer. Since then I have become very good about back ups. I have a "bug out" hard drive that just stores music and photos. It's backed up every time I add photos to the computer and is the thing I would grab in a fire. I have the time machine (now working) that backs everything up automatically. I store ALL of my documents online via my mac account. I also have copies of my wedding photos on my mac account.

The problem is I have 174g of music/movies/etc and 50g of photos on my computer and that takes up a heck of a lot of space. I'm deeply wary of a external hard drive only solution as we had that once before years ago and of course the damn thing was knocked off the desk, broke, and we hadn't backed it up.

So... how do you store your digital photos and music? Do you just have everything on your computer? Do you have lots of external hard drives? Do you store everything online? Do you have another solution that isn't too techie?

I think I will start to store my photos at least on the internet. Possibly with my mac account but other suggestions are welcome. I have seen the post called Managing Computer File Clutter on unclutterer but I must say some solutions were just too techie for me!!

Thoughts?

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

(For the record: The link to the above mentioned post is found in this forum topic.)

Hrmm... Have you seriously considered the part '“Delete”: The Ultimate Productivity Tool'? If not, please do :o) A while ago, I went through all of my digital photos and deleted ruthlessly. Just by deleting duplicates, scenery pictures I didn't like that much, blurry pictures of people I know, pictures of people I don't really know, and the like, I divided the hard drive space needed in half. I didn't leave any photos in that would bother or bore me in another person's travel slide show! As for the music, I have a to do list entry called "listen to what you have never listened to before in iTunes" (that's what I use that "counter" feature for) to find out if I just forgot about these albums or if I really don't like them (if it's the latter, they go). I keep all that on my computer, and all documents too, regularly backing it all up to an external drive. I also recently got a Mozy account where scans of important documents got backed up to so I could access them from anywhere. Any movies or episodes of shows I have in digital format are in a folder on my external harddrive, and I regularly delete what I didn't miss or never wanted to watch again since looking in there the last time.

To sum that up: Before looking for solutions or backing up all your photos online (whether also on your Mac account or on photo sharing site), make sure to really declutter them first :o) There are also a few topics here tagged with photo album that contain good advice on which photos to keep and which to delete.

Posted 1 year ago #
Vivace
Member

The advice about decluttering your digital photos is good. I have mine backed up to an external harddrive and also through google's Picasa service. My music collection is small enough that it all fits on my 16gig iPod so I've never worried overmuch about backing it up beyond that and my external - when I buy mp3s, it's mostly via Amazon, so I could download them again if I had to. If you're worried about having a single, physical solution, something like Picasa, Amazon storage, Carbonite or Mozy might be the way to go.

Posted 1 year ago #
irishbell
Member

I've only ever used an external HD, since we already had it and haven't wanted to pay for adequate online storage just yet.
I don't know what else there is besides those options.
Actually I do copy my photo library to DVDs a couple times a year. It would be quite tedious with the amount of photos and music it sounds like you have.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i am all about the delete option.
then for the stuff i really want to keep, i have an external hard drive AND a time machine.
i keep a lot of photos on flickr, but not all.

i hear you can buy software that will copy music from your ipod back to your computer.

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

@bandicoot: Yes, Senuti for Mac (that's iTunes backwards) does that -- and their 30 days or 1000 songs free trial period before you have to buy the license is probably enough to recover the important music :o)

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

+1 for "delete." After I get out from under a couple of large but time-delimited projects, I'm planning to start going through my 1000s of photos, making books on blurb, and deleting the digital files. Also of course, being utterly ruthless. As trillie says, if it would bore me in someone else's slideshow, why would I keep it?

I've found that I photograph certain subjects over and over again, so I've actually begun sorting them out into separate folders (e.g. Surf, Roses) because with thumbnail display I can see very quickly which ones are pedestrian and which have some zing.

Ultimately my photos are all intended to tell a story of some trip or activity DH and I shared, so if something doesn't speak to that story, there's no reason to keep it. There will always be another pretty sunset.

Music ... since I own the source material, I don't stress much about this. I had to "re-buy" a couple dozen tracks from Amazon after a crash, but that's, like, $30. Cheaper than renting online storage or buying another dedicated backup device. DH got one of those, but does he run the backups regularly? Um, no. Yet another task for me = clutter.

Movies/shows ... I wouldn't keep this stuff either. Either you own the source material and can download again, or it's available for rent in the event you simply MUST WATCH IT again.

Helofamess, it sounds like you have the really important stuff covered. Is there some way to run a search to see the last time a file was accessed? That would be the fastest way to identify the media you haven't viewed or used recently (delete fodder).

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

thanks trillie, that is the exact thing!
knowing that is out there makes me unworried about losing all my music....now i can count my ipod as another spare hard drive.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rozzie
Member

After you know what you want to keep, the solution is multiple hard drives.

Do not store files on a drive thinking you'll grab it (or the laptop) if there is a fire. You might be lucky to get out with your life. Your house could burn down when you aren't home and obviously, you can't grab the drive then. My husband is a firefighter and let me tell you, most plans to grab this or that on the door on the way out do NOT occur in the case of a disastrous fire.

I normally have a hard drive with a copy of my files stored in my desk at work. Both my desk and office have locks so this is safe. No one else has a key to my desk. I have also kept external hard drives stored in my bank safety deposit box. Many drives are very small now so this is easy to do.

I'm in the midst of uploading files to Flicker, as well, at least those I want to keep. This is a good solution and costs only $40 for two years of unlimited storage for pictures. That's cheap online storage (and you can upload the original high quality pictures, not reduced quality). You can also restrict access however you wish.

While one hard drive can fail, the chances lessen when you have two or three copies stored in different places. (You could stash a password protected drive at the home of a trusted friend or relative, too. It is unlikely that their place and your place will be destroyed in the same event unless you live next door to each other.)

Posted 1 year ago #
Claycat
Member

Good idea about the multiple hard drives, Rozzie!

My son used to have a friend named Rozzie when he was little, but she moved to North Carolina.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i think i am starting to feel as though i need another hard drive stashed somewhere.
perhaps in my workshop.

i got caught out a few years ago when my computer crashed.
i had no clue about backing stuff up, i was blithe and ignorant.
and i had about the worst three days of my life as the tech guy sifted through the wreckage and slowly retrieved stuff.
i didn't get all of it back, but i got most of it.
it was dreadful.

Posted 1 year ago #
HelofaMess
Member

Thanks for all of your advice. Yes i do need to go back through the photos and delete the ones that are copies or corrupted. I knew this was something I had to do anyway but your motivation has helped. The problem with the music is that most of it is my husbands and he really does listen to all of it as he flies a lot (makes Up in the Air seem like a documentary) ditto with the movies and tv shows. We have to rely on Chinese tv and a couple of foreign channels so the tv shows we buy we watch a lot.

I'm now convinced that online storage is the way to go once I've had a bit of a purge. I couldn't face another total loss of photos and as Rozzie says I can't be sure what I'll have time formin an emergency.

That sorts things I want to keep 'forever' but the music and tv show thing still bugs me. I guess my only solution will be to buy another external hard drive and use that for iTunes.

Posted 1 year ago #
Trish
Member

I also use external hard drives, and I've been meaning to pick up an extra to keep in our safe deposit box. I buy all my music from itunes and do back-ups. I also try to upload as many pics as possible to facebook, as an extra precaution. My performance footage all goes on youtube, I keep it unlisted if I don't want anyone else to see it. I don't store movies, although I have started to think about if I'd like to have all the Harry Potters in digital format to watch when I'm traveling...

All this good advice about culling makes me want to declutter my files... tonight! :D

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i cannot face sorting and deleting photos, so i do it in 15 minute bursts only. and only from time to time.
it keeps the chaos down a little.

Posted 1 year ago #
trillie
Member

@HelofaMess: Deleting pictures gets easier after a while (just like decluttering), and remember, the more you delete, the less you have to click on later when uploading it somewhere :o) On "time for in an emergency" -- a friend has a small USB stick on her keychain with all important documents and a selection of photos that are important to her, password-encrypted of course. Maybe that idea is something for you?

@bandicoot: "knowing that is out there makes me unworried" -- that's the essence of being Uncluttered, isn't it? To not have to own something, but to know where it is and to trust the universe that it will be available if needed.

Posted 1 year ago #
lottielot
Member

I'm with chacha1 on the photos, I upload mine to photobox or some similar site, put them all in a book with silly captions (once a year, usually about now) and then can delete the digital versions. I usually get at least 2 copies of the books printed as presents for other people, so that's my backup :) I like the idea of photos telling a 'story' of your life for the year, so the kids can look back at the photos in years to come and say 'ah, that's when we went to the New Forest and the pony ate our biscuits' or whatever! Also, these photo books take up very little space compared with old-fashioned photo albums, plus having captions takes the effort out of remembering where somewhere was or who was there.
If you watch lots of TV shows etc, couldn't you just burn them to a DVD?

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

I keep important documents on a USB stick on my keychain as well. I have several small ones (usually gotten from conferences/classes while working) that I use to give files/photos, etc to people. The one thing to remember to keep on your "don't want to lose this" stick is a list of the passwords for your critical online accounts so you can access them if your own is down. I have moved to having "levels" of passwords. Forums like this one, have a lower level general password, shopping sites a higher one, and banks/investment accounts a very secure, often changed one. The forum ones esp are all the same and seldom changed.

Posted 1 year ago #
Anita
Member

When I first read the several "go through and delete most of them" responses, I had a little knot in my throat. Then I remembered not everyone's a photographer who needs to save and keep images for every project.

For my part, my hard drive space is limited on my laptop (old machine due for replacement, plus thousands of photos in RAW format = external hard drive is a necessity for storage, not just for backup) so the first step in my workflow is always to cull the less than great photos. By the end of a project, only the keepers (finished shots going to my clients) remain on my hard drive, with occasionally a few backup shots. Even then, photos add up quite a bit.

Anyway, in terms of storage options and habits, Digital Photography School had a series of articles on the topic which photographers and photo enthusiasts might find helpful (the comments are often good sources of extra info as well):

1. Backing up and saving: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/ready-backing-up-and-saving-your-images
2. External hard drives: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/external-hard-drives-backing-up-and-saving-your-images
3. Online storage & software solutions: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/backing-up-and-saving-your-images-online-storage-sites-amp-software-solutions
4. Recovering lost or deleted files: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/recovering-lost-or-deleted-files

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

Oh, thanks Anita. This is a topic I've been following but not acting on as I have too much decluttering to do first. At some time however, I'm going to have to deal with my photographs especially.

Posted 1 year ago #
Patch
Member

Oy, once I launch my For Sale blog (hopefully) this week, tackling paper-computer-photo files is my next big project! I may look into Carbonite, but I still feel a little nervous backing up to online, even password-protected, since the future life I want (i.e. why I'm decluttering) probably will not include Internet.

Definitely have to ditto the "delete" key. My first task will be to consolidate, update, clean up, and if needed just delete any and all computer files no longer needed. That alone should free up a lot of hard drive space. Then once I input/scan paper files and photo negs I want to keep, I'll probably save them to CD/DVD.

Yeah, I know, those will probably go the way of floppies too eventually, but I figure there's usually several years overlap to transition before the storage medium is unreadable and unusable. I think CD/DVD will be around awhile longer anyway, and I like the idea of saving to them, because a dozen or more can fit into one of those portable zippered totes and drop into a backpack or briefcase; all one's files in a compact package! Besides, Internet may not always be available either, if a cable or wireless connection is down...

As for music, what few CDs I'm keeping I keep the original purchased disc itself, for legal reasons plus if the hard drive crashes I can just re-rip it. I've already transferred the Music CDs I'm keeping into slim-CD jewel cases (for space saving) and filed the booklets and track lists in a looseleaf binder, each "album" liner notes in a separate plastic sheet protector.

BTW I don't mind storing the CD papers separate (I can still look at them while listening to the music from the computer/MP3), but if anyone knows of a less cumbersome yet protective storage solution to my 3-ring binder please holler :)

(Sorry this was so long)

Posted 1 year ago #

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