[u3aavcuss] Photo Storage
- From: "Mike Bean" <Mike.Bean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <u3aavcuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 18:31:11 -0000
Pat,
You will probably get several view on this ... I?ll give you my penn'orth!
DVD Disks
DVDs come in a number of formats but what make the most difference, in the
case you describe, is if there's a W in the name.
DVD-R and DVD+R disks are write-one media - each time you add a document or
picture it's written to the disk and that space may never be re-written.
There's a lot of space on a DVD so you can store a lot of pictures but
eventually you run out of space. If your software allows you, you can store
a picture with the same name again on the DVD but this will take up
additional space and the original would be permanently inaccessible.
DVD-R / DVD+R then are excellent for permanent storage or backup of pictures
and documents. I keep 1,000s of pictures on my PC and occasionally backup
the last few months-worth of pictures on one or more DVDs. If I were to lose
the hard disk of my PC then I would turn to the set of disks dating back to
heaven-knows when to restore them in turn. (This is a bit of a pig so I
sometimes make a fresh copy of the whole lot, 10 DVDs last time)
W Disks (Re-Writable disks)
DVD-RW and DVD+RW disk are quite different as they can be written as regular
DVD but files can be deleted and the space re-used just like a Hard Drive or
Memory-Stick etc. A significant improvement for some usage types!
The significant downsides of DVDs generally are:
a) the speed of access (they are relatively slow)
b) you have to keep track of where they are and what they contain
c) some software chokes a bit on formatting DVDs (not many) and finalizing
for use on other PCs
External Hard Drive
Available as network or USB connected devices - these are an excellent way
of storing large quantities of pictures etc. Often as fast as a PC's own
hard disk and, for the USB type, readily used on another PC (or UNIX, LINUX,
Apple MAC, etc.). The cost of disk has dropped considerably and, for
example, a 1,000,000,000,000 disk (1 terabyte) now costs only £80 odd.
Memory Stick/Flash Drive
These can be viewed the same as External Hard Drives without moving parts. I
have had a number of small (pocket sized) sticks that have worked well but
two did fail - For this reason I don't trust these as much as other storage
devices. However I have a 64Gb flash drive that has worked fine for 5 years
... so who's to say!
My take on this ...
I use DVDs for archive / backup where I never intend to use them - they are
insurance. I use external hard drives for rarely-used files and the main
hard drive all the time (obviously).
Mike
________________________________________
From: u3aavcuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:u3aavcuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Pat Baker
Sent: 03 February 2009 16:32
To: Mike Bean
Subject: [u3aavcuss] Photo Storage
I am now accumulating many photos on my computer, which I have copied to a
DVD and then deleted.
Although I can add to the DVD I cannot delete any photos aready there.
I am now thinking to buy either a memory stick/flash drive or an external
hard drive.
Can anybody tell me the pros and cons of each of these and which one they
would recommend?
Thanks for your input
Pat Baker
==========================< U3A Aylesbury Vale> ======================
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