Saving files and archiving

[eeyore]

Interested to know what other people do and think.
Most books seem to advise saving as Tiff for archiving, rather than Jpeg, if so, is it better to save as lossless rather than no compression -as this of course means a bigger file. Apart from the obvious, is there any other advantage to saving a compressed file?

And if using raw files, do most people save the native format, or save versions with the edited recipe?

I guess this been mentioned before, but as there are also newer members, this would be good advice for them as well.

Keeping negatives in a shoe box was so much simpler!

[MX5]

Re: Saving files and archiving

I move ALL files from memory card to networked archived (normally all RAW) .. the 1st Master Archive ... never bin anything. Having owned a dozen (or so) digital cameras plus loaned a few this archive is BIG.
I then copy (well synchronise) this network archive with another networked archive , the 2nd Master Archive.
Then copy to a working store. The small number of files in here makes DPP (or PS) much faster ;-) These RAW will contain the recipe used and will be sync'd with a 3rd master archive !!
Then process to JPG ('web quality'), JPEG ('highest quality') or sometimes TIFF (None-compressed) and these are saved on two networked archives.

Sounds complex ... probably is ... but its the way I work ... it probably says something about the state of my mind ;-)

As you say that shoe box of slides and negs was much easier.

[colin C]

Re: Saving files and archiving

Everything shot in RAW and transfered to the computer after the shoot.

I process and rate everything in DPP:

• Good - process as Tiff's - not too many of those!
  
• As expected - process as full res Jpeg's -
  
• Bin Fodder - deleted .......... I delete quite a lot and don't subscribe to the keep everything rule. Duplicate shots, out of focus, mistakes, don't like the shot ............... all go in the bin. It's difficult enough to deal with, catalogue, duplicate and save the good stuff, without padding out files with Tat.

Raw files will be copied and saved to an external drive, processed files will be copied and saved to another external drive. After 12 months, those files will be transfered from the computer to a "year" archive drive - I have one for each year. I also have a favourites file within the computer (normally the Tiff's), which is the best of my work and these are also copied to yet another external drive.

At any given time, I will have four copies of a shot. Two copies of RAW in different places and two copies of processed in separate different places. Paranoid? Yes, but I did lose some work once and it took me nearly three years before I could duplicate the work to the same original standard. That does tend to keep the mind focussed on diligent archiving and after all, it's just pressing a couple of buttons when the RAW is completed and another couple of buttons after the processing is completed.

Colin

[Canon-Fodder!]

Re: Saving files and archiving

...Most books seem to advise saving as Tiff for archiving, rather than Jpeg...

Hi Richard;

Good topic... You make an interesting point... It seems to me that the 'fear' factor is one of obsolescence in RAW files.

Since each vendor has their own flavour of RAW, (indeed, even a single vendor has many flavours of RAW - just look at the incompatibilities within Canon files!) and there's no 'industry standard' for RAW, maybe apart from Adobe DNG (which I don't use), there seems to be a good case for saving all files as TIFFs... That said - I don't ! Maybe I should start to do so...

Probably like the majority here, I save my RAWs and duplicate & triplicate them on external sync'd drives... I use TIFFs only as a work-in-progress, before saving the final file for retention as a JPEG, which again is then duplicated and triplicated.

As for old film negatives - yes - a shoebox was the filing system of choice... but I can find my RAW 'negatives' now a damned sight quicker

[MX5]

Re: Saving files and archiving

The digital revolution has brought with it the problem of long term archiving. It's okay putting stuff on a USB HardDrive ... but at some point USB HD's may no longer be supported. Likewise (as already pointed out) the applications to process RAW files (as Windows or other OS's change ... older applications will cease to be supported). Already several floopy disc formats are no more, and many of the tape systems used in the past have died. And I always quote the Word Processor called Lotus Manuscript (good in its time ... but cease in the mid 90's). So we are right to be paranoid.

I guess you need a shoe box full of DVD archives of the USB HD's we use. But not in backup format - the backup application may die ... caught me out many years ago ... the application wasn't supported by Windows 95 ... so had to build a Windows 3.1 box to get the files... blah de blah.

HD aren't too shock proof (roll on cheap SSHD's!) and we don't know how long a DVD archive will last.

But don't loose any sleep over it. My entire collection of negatives and 95% of the prints from pre-1990 was destroyed ... sob sob.

[Woodman]

Re: Saving files and archiving

I think we need to worry about technology going out of date as in hardware for backup and software as in file formats. But it's not as if its going to happen overnight.

[Canon-Fodder!]

Re: Saving files and archiving

I think we need to worry about technology going out of date as in hardware for backup and software as in file formats. But it's not as if its going to happen overnight.

I don't think that hardware is such an issue today... with mass storage being so cheap now, and becomming increasingly 'mobile', it's fairly easy to keep 'up to date' with current trends on the hardware/storage front... There's always a long period of change in this arena when PCs/Laptops will accommodate both old & new storage technology... Floppys -> Diskettes -> Tapes -> CD -> CD/DVD -> HDs -> SSDs; so, provided you don't allow a 'generation' to pass you by, it shouldn't be too much of a problem migrating from one device type to the next... Think of all that time we first spent uploading 100s of diskettes & tapes etc. onto HDs; now all we need do is plug in a new (typically bigger) HD, set the transfer button to GO, and sit back with a nice cold beer...

But I agree, much more of an issue is obsolete file formats and current software; which takes us back to Richard's original point of file formats!

[Guest]

Re: Saving files and archiving

Good thread of information.

I've been reviewing my back-up processing recently.

My usual back-up is copy the raw files from the card to the internal HDD, then back these up to an external HDD. The internal HDD is a work-in-progress system, so only stuff I'm currently working on is on that, all the rubbish files are dumped, why bother with them? These are then backed-up to the external HDD and the external copy of the card import is deleted.

Once processed I usually offload to the external HDD as DNGs with the processing (XMP) embedded into the file. I never keep any of the jpgs I generate as I use Lightroom and have a number of export presets set up, so I can always regenerate, if necessary.

After any changes to the external HDD, whether an import or processing, the HDD is copied to a portable HDD.

Once a month I usually go down to see my folks, so I do a final copy of the external HDD to the portable HDD, which I take with me. The portable HDD is left there and a 2nd portable HDD, containing the previous month's back-up is brought back.

This may sound like a good system, but it exposes me to the month that isn't off-site, i.e. the current month's images and processing. What I'm currently looking into is using a cloud based back-up, either just the current month, or the whole back-up, including the current month. This should then allow for any unforeseen incidents on my main system.