Cataloging your photos

[RockDawg]

I don't know where this "data won't last on CD" argument comes from. I have CDs that are 22 years old (some pretty scratched up too!), and DVDs that are 11-12 years old, and I can access all data on it at will.

22-year old CD's and 11-year old DVD's probably weren't written with data by the end user since home recording for either media was either non-existant or not widely available in your respective time lines. Discs bought from the store preloaded with data (audio CD, video DVD, games, etc) are generally stamped not burned. There's a big difference in the reliability of the two and the reliability of recordable (burned) CD's and DVD's is somewaht questionable. Especially the DVD's. I'm not saying they're bad or guarateed to fail, but it isn't rare for that to happen. I have personally experienced over a dozen burned DVD failures all of which were only about 12-15 months old. Because of that I moved to a server and keep a backup of any important data on external hard drives off site. I would at least sporadically check the DVD's as they get older to make sure they are still readble.

 

[christopher walrath]

I don't catalog prints. I catalog negatives (or in digispeak, files). I then reference the negative number on the back of any prints I have. I include the following info in my negative log book.
Roll number (ie. 20080301 (2008, March, 1st roll)
Subject
Location
Camera
Film
Filters
Misc. Notes

 

[RacePhoto]

I don't know where this "data won't last on CD" argument comes from. I have CDs that are 22 years old (some pretty scratched up too!), and DVDs that are 11-12 years old, and I can access all data on it at will.

Because the sky is falling and people seem to buy into just about anything negative, or any off the wall theory, without taking the time to think about it and ask for evidence. :er:

I have the first CD that I ever bought, with my first CD player, it's been through a flood and washed, the music plays fine. I also have the first CD that I ever burned with my first computer CD drive, which still reads the old photos on it, just fine.

I think people will find that their DVDs will be going bad before their CDs. The way some of the center clamping cases hold them, it can cause the center ring to fracture and one tiny crack through the 0 track and your DVD is nothing but a shiny round disc.

CDs in paper or plastic will last longer and the old CD cases, that don't hold the disc so tight in the center, won't cause as many problems.

I bought Lightroom, now all I need to do is learn how to use it! Otherwise I just save photos by event name or by date, or both, so I can sometimes find them again. Sometimes.

 

[JerryPH]

22-year old CD's and 11-year old DVD's probably weren't written with data by the end user since home recording for either media was either non-existant or not widely available in your respective time lines.

Hate to burst that bubble... but I am talking exclusively of data that I personally wrote on my own CDs and DVDs, in that age range and yes becuase of my job, I am requred to always try to have access to advanced hardware that is important for me to be able to work with. How many people do you know that own an 18 terrabyte SAN in their own home? How many people do you know have a 30 computer, 8 server network in their basement? I do, becuase I earn my bread from this. I had 1X SCSI CDs in my home network while other average users were still discovering what home networks even were.

When were quad core computers released on the market to your knowledge? I had a quad core procesors/MBs in 3 of my computers in 2002, thanks to my connections with Intel (Dallas Texas branch).

As I said, I do have materials in that age range and the data has been tansferred to the SAN successfully, "just in case", I have not lost any data on any of the media, and I am talking near 2,000 CDs and close to a thousand DVDs all of varying age, up to and including the ages I mention.

I am not saying it cannot happen, I am saying that I have never seen it, and I have access to a lot of potential examples both mine and my clients.

 

[GTHill]

I use Photoshop Elements. I love it for organization.

I second that. For $100 is will do some cool editing features and the organizational possibilities are endless. I have 6000+ personal pictures categorized and I couldn't be happier.

Gene

 

[usayit]

Hate to burst that bubble... .

Dude.. easy there.. I don't think he meant to get into a pissing contest... Besides...

22 years makes that 1986. According to wikipedia... the specifications for the CD-Rs (WO) was just published in 1988. Unless wikipedia is false... there is no way you can have a CD-R burned 22 years ago. Wikipedia also states that DVD-R format was developed in 1997 which means no older than 10 years.

I see CD-Rs and DVD-Rs go bad in a few years depending on the quality of the media. The media of the early to mid 90s were no where close to the lifespan of some of the higher archival CD-Rs of today. Most CD-Rs off the shelf will not have the lifespan of stamped CDs. In my job (Enterprise DR), most small shops still rely on magnetic tape. Larger shops rely on a mix of redundant disks storage and large silos of magnetic tape. RockDawg's comments are still not too far off base.. simply posting his experiences..... and IMO didn't warrant your response.

BTW... SAN itself has no disk space... just nit picking... SAN attached disk storage (EMC Symmetric for example) does. Thats like saying my MP3s are on the LAN... instead of a server accessible over LAN. I work with a few people with "data" centers in their basement the size of yours too....

 

[usayit]

As for cataloging... I don't really.. I just simply keep things in simple files on mirror disk (backed to magnetic tape and CD-R archival gold). The files are simply a date followed by a two to three keywords.

I keep a journal in plain text that I keep my thoughts and experiences recorded... the dates in the journal correspond to the directory's name.

The system could be a lot better but it works reliably for me... plus there is no reliance on software that must survive over the test of time.


Browsing through photos are done via iphoto... thats all I use it for...

 

[RockDawg]

Hate to burst that bubble... but I am talking exclusively of data that I personally wrote on my own CDs and DVDs, in that age range and yes becuase of my job, I am requred to always try to have access to advanced hardware that is important for me to be able to work with. How many people do you know that own an 18 terrabyte SAN in their own home? How many people do you know have a 30 computer, 8 server network in their basement? I do, becuase I earn my bread from this. I had 1X SCSI CDs in my home network while other average users were still discovering what home networks even were.

When were quad core computers released on the market to your knowledge? I had a quad core procesors/MBs in 3 of my computers in 2002, thanks to my connections with Intel (Dallas Texas branch).

As I said, I do have materials in that age range and the data has been tansferred to the SAN successfully, "just in case", I have not lost any data on any of the media, and I am talking near 2,000 CDs and close to a thousand DVDs all of varying age, up to and including the ages I mention.

I am not saying it cannot happen, I am saying that I have never seen it, and I have access to a lot of potential examples both mine and my clients.

I don't know what bubble you think you burst as I don't have any agenda or subscrice to any conspiracy theory. If you noticed, I said: "22-year old CD's and 11-year old DVD's probably weren't written with data by the end user since home recording for either media was either non-existant or not widely available in your respective time lines." I had no way of knowing your experience/knowledge level and a lot of people think pressed and burned media are equal when they are not (although there are cases of pressed media failing too).

All you have done is prove your situation (and likely your results) is the exception, not the rule. I think it goes without saying that professional equipment likely produces superior results. All your equipment and background doesn't change the fact that many people (including myself and others I know personally) have experienced failures after time. There are many accounts on the net.

 

[RockDawg]

Because the sky is falling and people seem to buy into just about anything negative, or any off the wall theory, without taking the time to think about it and ask for evidence. :er:

There are many stories of disc failures all over the internet. Granted, it's a relatively spall percentage, but it still exists. Nobody is saying not to use DVD's or CD's, we're just warning people to be aware of potential issues.

Sorry to the OP for going so far off topic. As for cataloging... I use Lightroom and really like it so far, but I'm realy new to photgraphy and related software so there may be better out there and I'm just not aware of it.

 

[Socrates]

Well I am trying to go through and catalog all my old photos. The question I have is um.. what the hell do I do?! =p
I am one of those types that has some organizational problems since I tend to try and subdivide everything way too much. I am running into the same problem with my photos. Do I classify one as nature->flower or nature->insect since it is a bee on a flower.. I know with keywords I can add as much as I like but how do you go about then organizing the actual files in a way you can still find what you need?

Any suggestions/tips or anything would be great. I was thinking maybe some sort of databasing software might work since it would keep track of it all. I don't know how effective just doing a keyword search through the photo comments would work for finding stuff (provided then I even knew the exact keywords I have used before to choose from)

iPhoto!

Of course, you do have to buy a Mac but that does have many other benefits!