I store all of my digital image files chronologically.
Typically, I make a monthly file for each camera and download all of the images on a regular basis. When time allows, I assign caption information to the file name. At the end of the month I make copies of the file, which I then store on various types of media.
Ultimately, I make a copy of a year’s worth of digital images and store them on a ‘working hard drive’—a drive that I keep connected to my lap top. The other copies simply get stored as back up. I should have at least three copies of every digital file.
Normally, I avoid erasing files. I’ve learned the perils of erasing images. You just NEVER know when a file will be needed, so I don’t throw them away.
Months ago, I was looking through images from July 2018, and discovered to my chagrin that several hundred image files were missing from my ‘working drive.’
Not a problem, I thought, I’ll just copy them off the back up, and went to locate the correct hard drive. I found the drive and opened the July 2018 file, only to discover the files were not there either!
I transferred the incomplete July 2018 file! While I made four copies of the file, all were missing the last couple of days of photos.
What was especially galling, is that many of these images were on a trip that I’d made with Chris Guss in Northern Indiana, which is not a place I frequent very often. We’d had productive day making images of trains along Norfolk Southern’s former New York Central mainline and of the South Shore on the streets of Michigan City.
Among other trains, we caught an Indiana Harbor Belt freight led by a pair of peculiar looking Gensets that I’ve never seen pictured anywhere, except by my own lenses.
After considerable digging around, I was able to locate three of my missing image files from the July file, but the rest had vanished like ether in bright sun. And, worse, I had no record of the Indiana Harbor Belt photos!
I suspected that I’d moved a group of images for naming but then failed to move them back to the main file before making my copies.
For months this ommission vexed me. I hate losing photos.
Saturday, I unpacked a carton of hard drives from our move last year. I began going through them looking for the missing photos. And finally, I located the complete July 2018 Fuji Digital file. This had all of the missing photos! I’ve since copied the missing images to my various storage drives.
There are lessons here: Be very careful when making backups! Always make at least one copy of everything so that you can find it again. Never assume a specific file exists somewhere else; and always avoid erasing backups and original images.
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