Georgiy Romanov
stray cat
My main work flow still being on film but time goes on and digital photography start playing more serious role for me. With film I don't worry about opportunity to lose my images because they exists on film.
With digital it another story. I create tons of copyes and can't organise my archive properly. What you guys can say about idea that SD cards can be using as a roll of film. I mean, you shoot SD card almost to full capacity, copy images to hard disc and then put your full SD card to some kind of sliver as you do with film. Today, memory cards are cheaper than roll of film.
With digital it another story. I create tons of copyes and can't organise my archive properly. What you guys can say about idea that SD cards can be using as a roll of film. I mean, you shoot SD card almost to full capacity, copy images to hard disc and then put your full SD card to some kind of sliver as you do with film. Today, memory cards are cheaper than roll of film.
Richard G
Veteran
No single electronic storage device is reliable long-term - certainly not as good as negatives, or best of all, an archival print. Having said that, from an important trip or event I will keep the SD card as another backup.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
64GB card I have cost much more than roll of film. And holds 1700 images of M-E compressed DNG files. This is close to how much film frames I shot on film per year.
I do use SD cards as backup storage for final JPEG1 files. Currently total space of final JPEg1 files I care for is under 10GB.
I store each roll of film as one page. Sleeve page. SD if it as cheap as roll of film could be somehow attached to contacts prints. This is the only way to avoid disaster.
I do use SD cards as backup storage for final JPEG1 files. Currently total space of final JPEg1 files I care for is under 10GB.
I store each roll of film as one page. Sleeve page. SD if it as cheap as roll of film could be somehow attached to contacts prints. This is the only way to avoid disaster.
giganova
Well-known
SD cards are not suited for long-term storage, a few years tops. Best is to have a backup on two separate HDs and get new HDs every couple of years and transfer your files to the new drives. Make sure you store one of the drive off-site in a different location.
rhl-oregon
Cameras Guitars Wonders
My photography store owner friend here, Joaquin, who sells not a few SD cards, cautioned me to not trust them as long term storage. Especially if they sit unused! But in my naive forethought (ca. 2009) about backup, I have kept nearly all the SD cards I’ve purchased and filled. Joaquin has advised firing them up from time to time in a camera, apparently having heard that activity prolongs their life.
Now that my iMac accepts direct plugin/reading of SD cards, I may re-import all these to a separate hard drive. Then what? Maybe sell SD cards cheap in the RFF classifieds. Or find out whether high school or college classes could use them....
Now that my iMac accepts direct plugin/reading of SD cards, I may re-import all these to a separate hard drive. Then what? Maybe sell SD cards cheap in the RFF classifieds. Or find out whether high school or college classes could use them....
Avotius
Some guy
I would not trust them to store valuable data long term. Best have a copy on the cloud, one local, and one off site. I store my backups on portable hard drives. I have had more than a few SD and micro SD cards die on me.
Corran
Well-known
I have dropped an SD card just about a foot onto a table, which rendered it completely broken and unusable. SanDisk brand btw, not one of the cheaper brands.
Use SD cards for anything at your own risk. They are not exactly durable. There's a reason high-end digital cameras use multiple cards and usually not SD cards.
A few years ago I built a 10 terabyte server for about $500. It has saved my bacon a couple of times. Good Western Digital Red drives have been rock-solid since, and pretty soon I will be starting to swap them out one by one with fresh drives of a larger size to push my storage up to 20+ TB as it's almost full. You can buy pre-made NAS servers if you aren't able to build your own. There's a variety of options for off-site storage if you want to go the extra mile as well.
Use SD cards for anything at your own risk. They are not exactly durable. There's a reason high-end digital cameras use multiple cards and usually not SD cards.
A few years ago I built a 10 terabyte server for about $500. It has saved my bacon a couple of times. Good Western Digital Red drives have been rock-solid since, and pretty soon I will be starting to swap them out one by one with fresh drives of a larger size to push my storage up to 20+ TB as it's almost full. You can buy pre-made NAS servers if you aren't able to build your own. There's a variety of options for off-site storage if you want to go the extra mile as well.
Dogman
Veteran
My cards are always reformatted and reused. After having two external Western Digital HDs die on me within the same week, I started using portable HDs. They're fairly cheap and pretty dependable. I use several and add additional ones every so often. Over the years, I've had a couple stop functioning but as long as I have back ups to the back ups I'm pretty confident. I also have an Apple Time Machine for regular backups but I feel more confident about the portable HDs.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
I've used them like that even when they were less affordable. Apart from convenience and building an archive independent of a solitary large medium (with the fragility of a hard disk or the dubious longevity of online services), this minimises the risk of data loss - I've had the least issues writing to fresh cards.
Brian Atherton
Well-known
Despite digital memory sometimes being a ‘fragile’ storage medium (yes, I’ve had cards fail), in certain cases cards can be far more robust than film:
http://www.phototalk.co.za/2011/12/...al-camera-and-photos-after-year-in-the-ocean/
http://www.phototalk.co.za/2011/12/...al-camera-and-photos-after-year-in-the-ocean/
Steve Bellayr
Veteran
I have had several SD cards die for me, too. That happened years ago and I gave up on digital. Then two years ago I tried again. Now I have two computer systems storing images and I keep the cards. Now the lens died. Who ever heard of a lens dying? Something in the lens will not connect to the camera, a common problem with this system. The lens is too inexpensive to repair. Just venting. The best way is to have a program with dates. You can also add facial recognition and other information.
Ronald M
Veteran
SD cards fail after 7 years.
markus_h_photography
Established
I think since the digital age we have all gone a bit image security crazy. Keeping multiple copies. Copying to the Cloud. Keeping hard drives in other locations etc. I mean really! Back with film you had one set of negs and that was it. If they got damaged in flood or fire it was just bad luck.
I remember when CDs came along everyone said they wouldn't rely on them to store data for more than 5 years. Well I have CDs from 20 years back which are still fine. On the other hand I had a brand new hard drive fail on me a couple of weeks back. I backed up my PC and when I checked a few files the next day half the folders on the new hard drive were corrupted and unable to be accessed. Just glad I checked it before wiping original files. That's the trouble with any digital system. It either works or it doesn't.
Just use whatever system works for you. If something goes wrong and you lose a few images so be it. Maybe I'm just not that precious about my images; plenty of other stuff I need to worry about.
I remember when CDs came along everyone said they wouldn't rely on them to store data for more than 5 years. Well I have CDs from 20 years back which are still fine. On the other hand I had a brand new hard drive fail on me a couple of weeks back. I backed up my PC and when I checked a few files the next day half the folders on the new hard drive were corrupted and unable to be accessed. Just glad I checked it before wiping original files. That's the trouble with any digital system. It either works or it doesn't.
Just use whatever system works for you. If something goes wrong and you lose a few images so be it. Maybe I'm just not that precious about my images; plenty of other stuff I need to worry about.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
None of my early SD, MMC and CF cards have failed in storage so far, and these are 10-20 years old. Wherever a card failed, it was either while being written to (respectively unreadable or garbled at the next read attempt after a write) or the card arrived dead out of the box.
Axel
singleshooter
The idea to keep (small) SD-cards with a clear amount of pictures instead of film is not so bad in my opinion. Electronic storage is not as uncertain as it seemed at the beginning of digital photogtraphy.
But we have to keep in mind that digital photos first at all are not human readable. So the quick look we can have on some paper pictures or film stripes doesn´t function here. Digital pics are always in a black box and we need electronic tools to get them out or, and that´s important, to verify if they are still there and consistent.
In this respect a system (any system) of electronic storage can´t compete with the chemical / analog one. So a "card instead film" system can only work reliable when the general rules for data storage - backup, backup, verify - are respected.
But we have to keep in mind that digital photos first at all are not human readable. So the quick look we can have on some paper pictures or film stripes doesn´t function here. Digital pics are always in a black box and we need electronic tools to get them out or, and that´s important, to verify if they are still there and consistent.
In this respect a system (any system) of electronic storage can´t compete with the chemical / analog one. So a "card instead film" system can only work reliable when the general rules for data storage - backup, backup, verify - are respected.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
No, they do not fail after seven years.
Some computerized devices for 24/7 use and years have FW run on memory cards. Not SSD, not HD, but memory card. And it was like this for years now. In fact, if you watch TV where are many devices with nothing but SD cards involved on broadcaster side.
About SD as fragile media. I already posted here few months ago how SD cards are dropped from airplane above North Korea.
Some HDD are even more fragile due to over-capacity. If you have it on one side, vertical, and it drops horizontal, it creates big risk for failure in near future.
Bill Clark
Veteran
My iPads have solid state drives. Haven’t had any trouble with any of them.
Another idea is to use jump drives for storage. I’ve bought a couple of jump drives with lighting connector on one end and USB on the other. Then I can use my iPad for photo albums which is very easy. What I do is process my photos with my iMac then I transfer with the USB on the Mac to jump drive and/or other external storage.
Jump drives are made for portability not so sure sbout camera cards.
Some info on jump drives:
http://www.flashbay.com/blog/usb-life-expectancy
Another idea is to use jump drives for storage. I’ve bought a couple of jump drives with lighting connector on one end and USB on the other. Then I can use my iPad for photo albums which is very easy. What I do is process my photos with my iMac then I transfer with the USB on the Mac to jump drive and/or other external storage.
Jump drives are made for portability not so sure sbout camera cards.
Some info on jump drives:
http://www.flashbay.com/blog/usb-life-expectancy
raid
Dad Photographer
I use SD cards with max memory 4GB or 8GB, and then I downlaod almost each week the image files from these cards to my computer and to an attached external drive (or two or three). I would not use SD cards for long term storage. It may work out that SD cards are fine for such long term storage, but I find it easier to have external drives for such storage.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
These days, SD cards are far cheaper (by shot) than any film ever. Given that, there is not really any need to reformat and reuse them - if you store them after the first use, they give you a extra backup, without the need to copy anything, and with a interface that will presumably remain readable for much longer than hard drive interfaces. Seeing where ATA went, chances are that you will not own anything that can read SATA or current HD file systems twenty years on unless you hold on to outdated and unsupported computers, while USB SD readers will still be operable then.
Corran
Well-known
With regard to lifespan of physical media, any stated life expectancy is merely an average based on tests in typical conditions. Actual longevity will be on an individual basis, including how the drive is used and in what conditions.
Traditional drives with spinning disks have mechanical failure issues over time that can be mitigated or worsened with spin-up / spin-down cycles. Solid-state disks are affected by read/write cycles (and running an OS on them with improper settings will really get you there). Both are affected by temperature - both too low and too high. Of course physical shocks will compromise spinning media but can also damage sensitive connections on SS drives too. And finally, luck of the draw is a serious consideration. When you buy a drive, it could fail the first time it is spun up. I have had brand-new, name-brand drives fail a week after installed and setup (a warranty is good here!). Conversely I have old IDE drives that still work after more than a decade.
I recently replaced an IDE drive in a Mac G4 that failed after over 15 years of service. Since IDE drives are no longer sold I bought a dozen for a few dollars each to have on hand for that G4, just in case. I don't use Macs but it is necessary for a scanner I run, so I keep a binary backup of the entire HDD / OS infrastructure on my server so I can seamlessly rebuild the drive and have the computer running again pretty much instantly.
Traditional drives with spinning disks have mechanical failure issues over time that can be mitigated or worsened with spin-up / spin-down cycles. Solid-state disks are affected by read/write cycles (and running an OS on them with improper settings will really get you there). Both are affected by temperature - both too low and too high. Of course physical shocks will compromise spinning media but can also damage sensitive connections on SS drives too. And finally, luck of the draw is a serious consideration. When you buy a drive, it could fail the first time it is spun up. I have had brand-new, name-brand drives fail a week after installed and setup (a warranty is good here!). Conversely I have old IDE drives that still work after more than a decade.
I recently replaced an IDE drive in a Mac G4 that failed after over 15 years of service. Since IDE drives are no longer sold I bought a dozen for a few dollars each to have on hand for that G4, just in case. I don't use Macs but it is necessary for a scanner I run, so I keep a binary backup of the entire HDD / OS infrastructure on my server so I can seamlessly rebuild the drive and have the computer running again pretty much instantly.