family photo preservation

Thinking about Doug's article on planning to evac family mementos should time allow, I came up with this idea:

My wife scrapbooks family events. I plan to either scan or take digital photos of each scrapbook page (or important family photo, etc.). I may put them into a powerpoint to keep them more organized. Then store these on a mini CD perhaps with a backup on a flash drive.

A copy could go in the safe deposit box, with the most recent version in a BOB.

My thinking is that even if all of her hours of scrapbooking work is destroyed by a tornado or fire or something, we will at least have a copy of the layouts and what pictures were used. I figured in a planned bugout, a CD is a lot easier to tote than 10 scrapbooks (and growing). It will take a lot of time to organize but I think the peace of mind will be worth it.

Something to consider.

I was away with my hospital for few weeks and we got back last night. The best thing to have with my was my digital camera with 500 MB of pictures of my friends, family and places I love. I'm not very organized person when it comes to my computer files and pictures so I have "junk" images all over the place but having camera full of smiling faces was a blessing. After hard day of work looking at them made you smile and you just imagined how it will be when you get home. I missed my family, I missed my dog, my friends and kinda missed my girlfriend even if I was away for just 2 weeks. I just can imagine how much help would it be to have pics of your loved ones in a really hard situation.

Backup, Backup, Backup !!! CD's / drives / memory cards are not infaillible. Having the data on a number of media and stored in different places is the only way to stack the odds in your favor...

Excellent idea, but take note of Frankspinz and backup.

I would organise everything into directories/folders then backup. I wouldnt use PowerPoint to organise anything.

backup with the organised raw pictures and add some text/wordprocessor documents for details, and them if you like make the Powerpoint shows from these after.

Just thinking of compatibility issues than may arise.

First, let me say that I'm not trying to get you to buy into anything, nor am I recommending any specific web site. Just the idea. But I'm also trying to convey some of what I've learned in my searching ...

Here is my "better" idea. Post your pictures on an on-line photo site. Be careful since some sites limit upload storage, some limit the time the material can be stored, some limit the bandwidth for those viewing your site (not a big deal for me), and some might expect you to buy printed pictures. When doing this I would suggest that you find a site that has unlimited upload capabilities, unlimited storage time, and doesn't require picture purchases.

Though you can password protect picture galleries, I do wish I was more comfortable with their security. If so, I could photograph and upload important personal/financial documents. Right now I'm not convinced their security is appropriate for these types of images.

I have uploaded my important pictures onto Smugmug.com where my family and friends can access them (limited bandwidth though, so not for public use) and even download them if desired. We can purchase pic prints if we want. AND you can purchase a backup CD of the uploaded pictures. This does cost something - I think about $30/year - but so far I've really liked Smugmug.com.

There are other similar web sites out there. I know Pbase.com does uploads, but I think it is not unlimited uploads (but I think you get unlimited bandwidth - its more for public access materials). Some of the printing sites (Kodak, Adobe, EZprint, ...) are similar but be careful as they could expire based upon time and/or # of prints ordered. Also be careful because some sites only store lower-resolution pics on their sites and some don't let you download electronic versions - they just allow you to order paper prints.

Don't rely on those though. I see a lot of people relying on a free online service as an easy way to make backups then neglect to keep any other form. Those sites come and go quickly and none guarentee the data in any way. I've see people loose pictures and other data in this mannor. Years ago when I actually used hotmail I lost some e-mail when they had an issue, imagine if I had saved something important there.

The photo upload site I mentioned - Smugmug - isn't a free site, its been around for a while, and is heavily used from what I hear on photo forums. I think it will be around for a while. I only put the best of the best - or most important pics up on the site.

Besides, I'm not talking long-term archival storage here. I use CD's (actually now DVD's) for that. What I'm talking about is the "oh crud, my house burnt down and I forgot to take copies of the latest CD's to work" kind of backup.

If you want to back stuff up remotely, encrypt it and send it to a Yahoo or Google mail account, or both. You can store up to 2GB on those accounts.

Paid sates may actaully do backups then ,but you should still check their EULA and find out what happens if their servers hiccup and your pics disappear because usually photo hosting us just that and they don't care about being your backup provider. Thats what I wanted to caution, you use it as a form of redundant backups, but don't make it a first layer unless the service SLA specifically states it.

Yes, of course they'd be redundant backups. But still, what's the likelihood of them failing simultaneously? Or for that matter failing at the same time your computer fails?

The likelihood varies _directly_ with the importance of the photos you put there. :-)

Phil

Don't forget Murphy & the engineer's corrolary: Whatever can go wrong will go wrong & will do so at the worst possible time.