Backing up Photos - Help!

638
United States
Los Angeles, CA
scoobyonline2000
I have about 1.21 GIGS of pictures, and I really want to back them up. The only problem is I've never done that, and well I was hoping someone could answer some questions I have.

1. Is it best to compress them using the WINRAR or ZIP options windows gives you??

2. Im backing them up on CDRW's, only 700MB fit, is it best to compress them and fit them on there, or put them on several CD's without compression?

3. If anyone has done this, what methods did you use???
 
Well, considering the circumstances, I would probably zip em and put them on a CD-RW. If you had anything else (I.E External hard drive or DVD burner) I would say yes to those, but in the meanwhile, just use the CD-RW's. 👍
 
xAkirax2004
Well, considering the circumstances, I would probably zip em and put them on a CD-RW. If you had anything else (I.E External hard drive or DVD burner) I would say yes to those, but in the meanwhile, just use the CD-RW's. 👍


its possible to fit more into a dvd right? if so, how long will it take to burn??
 
scoobyonline200
its possible to fit more into a dvd right? if so, how long will it take to burn??


Yes, you can fit up to 4.7 Gb on a DVD-/+ R. And the time it takes to burn depends. I have a 16x, and it burned 3 gigs in under 20 min.
 
If you are going to back your photos up to a disc, consider that experts say CD-Rs only have a lifespan of a few years. (I assume if taken care of properly, it can last longer). I don't know about DVD-Rs however. I don't remember the link to the news story, but I suppose you can google it to find out more.
 
dougiemeats
If you are going to back your photos up to a disc, consider that experts say CD-Rs only have a lifespan of a few years. (I assume if taken care of properly, it can last longer). I don't know about DVD-Rs however. I don't remember the link to the news story, but I suppose you can google it to find out more.

I don't know what your getting at. they are made of the same material. as long as you don't abuse them to hell they'll last a lifetime. I have VERY old (4-5+ years) CDs and they still work like a charm.
 
I'm only going by the news story I read not too long ago which dealt strictly with CD-Rs. Just saying be careful with them. I have CDs that I have bought many years ago that work prefectly. I assume it only applies to rewriteable media.
 
I have some very old CD-ROM's too. They still work (Even though I would never play them because they are little kids games!) I back mine up onto a CD-R usually. The compression depends on what you will be doing. If you plan to be able to use the CD for a slideshow on a DVD player after you backup the pictures, you won't want to compress them. If you are only doing it for the sake of a backup, I would compress them.
 
MachOne
I don't know what your getting at. they are made of the same material. as long as you don't abuse them to hell they'll last a lifetime. I have VERY old (4-5+ years) CDs and they still work like a charm.

He is right, CD-Rs won't last forever. Different manufacturers may use a different dye and cheapers discs have less dye on them. I've had some discs that only lasted a year.
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
He is right, CD-Rs won't last forever. Different manufacturers may use a different dye and cheapers discs have less dye on them. I've had some discs that only lasted a year.


so what manufacturer makes good quality discs??? the ones Im using right now are these "Memorex CD-R", are these any good?? its a 100 Pack case.
 
Get a USB hard drive. I can fit an 80GB one into my camera gear hard case so I can take it wherever. Holds a huge amount of pictures. Dunno about the operating life on one though, as it has moving parts and such.
 
dougiemeats
If you are going to back your photos up to a disc, consider that experts say CD-Rs only have a lifespan of a few years. (I assume if taken care of properly, it can last longer). I don't know about DVD-Rs however. I don't remember the link to the news story, but I suppose you can google it to find out more.
My first, illegal :ouch: copy, of Quake 2, burned on, what was then, the cheapest media available, is still working 100%... And it has not been well taken care of. So the limited lifespan thingy - I'm guessing BS...

Btw.. Q2 was released in 97, so that makes my copy close to 9 years...
 
You won't be compressing 1.2 gigs down to 700 megs, so if you've only got a CD burner at your disposal you'll have to use two discs (CD-R rather than CD-RW, cheaper). If you can access a DVD burner you could use this. A full single layer, single-sided DVD-5 DVD holds about 4496MB, so your 1.2 gig is only about a quarter of a DVD. It takes my burner roughly 12 and a half minutes to burn and verify a full DVD (12x burn). Buying an external hard drive (you could either buy a ready made external hard drive, build one yourself (hard drive + usb/firewire enclosure) or get a really cool USB bus powered laptop hard drive), but if you're only going to do this one back up then that doesn't seem like good value.
 
scoobyonline200
so what manufacturer makes good quality discs??? the ones Im using right now are these "Memorex CD-R", are these any good?? its a 100 Pack case.

I have been using Fuji for quite some time now.
 
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