Awhile back our girl crashed our desk top. A tragedy indeed as I hadn't backed up my photos, instead relying on our offsite back up system in the case of an emergency.*
Which is totally great, if you want to transfer PC to PC, or Mac to Mac. Of course what I wanted and needed to do was a PC to Mac thing so I was in a pickle. In a complete scramble, I used our tiny Netbook to recover all of files, (which I thought I had), only to discover that some of the files didn't transfer.
A friend pointed out that most of us photographers have such a tale of woe because most of us started as hobbyist. And whether you become professional or not, at some point you realize your way of saving photos, cataloging and such, probably sucked as much as mine.
Another tragic part of this story, (why yes I am quite dramatic), is that I recently cleaned off my computer. You know the story, moving files, throwing things away, and then emptying the trash can, a move that even alerts you to its finality.
So this is where I found myself at the beginning of this week, in a pickle over my shoddy files, mad at myself, mopey and pouty, and finally grateful to know where I stand.
Going through the back up that I do have, (since that crash), I organized further, making notes on the cover so I really know what I have, and can access it quickly.
That's the biggest corker: not being able to find something fast. It's truly maddening, and makes me a bit grateful that the bulk of my work these last few years has been film, and I have been good about storing all of that.
Iguess got sloppy with my digital files, cavalier really, and now, with my clean slate, there's a system in place now for everything.
*i chose an outside back up system because when i used external hard drives, the files were lost and there are literally years of photos when our girl was little that are gone. luckily i was really active on flickr in those years, and completely uneducated on photos and files and such, and all of those photos were shot really big and at a high resolution. so there's that.
A friend pointed out that most of us photographers have such a tale of woe because most of us started as hobbyist. And whether you become professional or not, at some point you realize your way of saving photos, cataloging and such, probably sucked as much as mine.
Another tragic part of this story, (why yes I am quite dramatic), is that I recently cleaned off my computer. You know the story, moving files, throwing things away, and then emptying the trash can, a move that even alerts you to its finality.
So this is where I found myself at the beginning of this week, in a pickle over my shoddy files, mad at myself, mopey and pouty, and finally grateful to know where I stand.
Going through the back up that I do have, (since that crash), I organized further, making notes on the cover so I really know what I have, and can access it quickly.
That's the biggest corker: not being able to find something fast. It's truly maddening, and makes me a bit grateful that the bulk of my work these last few years has been film, and I have been good about storing all of that.
I
*i chose an outside back up system because when i used external hard drives, the files were lost and there are literally years of photos when our girl was little that are gone. luckily i was really active on flickr in those years, and completely uneducated on photos and files and such, and all of those photos were shot really big and at a high resolution. so there's that.
this brings up a subject for me i know nothing about. i have all of my photos on my computer backed up through mozy because on my last computer, i backed them all up on an external hard drive and i still have not been able to access them. no idea why. i also downloaded all my photos onto cds but then i read that those can deteriorate over time and i got all confused. *sigh* i'm tempted to print them all out and shove them in boxes because at least i know i'll have them, you know?
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