Updating My Photo CD's

Do you have pictures burned to CD's for backup purposes? I do. I have several of them. At least I thought I had CD backups...but more on that as this post continues. I decided it was well past time to get my rear in gear and update my photo CD's, and what an informative adventure this has been!

Years ago when I first burned my pictures to CD's, I did so to take them off my computer to give me free space. I apparently did not do it for back up purposes in the beginning because I do not have any of those photos on my computer, or anywhere else! At the time I must have thought my photos would be safe forever on CD's and I didn't have to worry that they weren't on my computer!

What a fool I was! I did not have a back up to most of those early CD'S I made. How lucky am I not to have lost quality or pictures on those first ones I made? I did find some bad pictures, but I am not sure if they lost quality or if they were bad photos that I took to begin with. So far so good. But, as I continue with this project, I will not be surprised if a CD comes up bad and I have lost the photos. Upon looking at when some of the photos were taken, I was panicking that I am so far behind on updating these darn things! Truth of the matter is, back in the beginning, I didn't copy the pictures immediately to CD's, it may have been a few years later that I finally did that. The dates on the CD's were the date the photos were taken, not when the CD was made,
so maybe I am not so far behind after all with my updating.

Now, I am putting pictures back on my computer and making new CD copies, with the date I made the new copy written on the CD. Since I have Carbonite, an online backup service, these photos will now also be backed up there!

I have been reminded while working on this project that I do not have many of these photos printed out... at all! The digital world is wonderful, however, we forget to print those great photos to enjoy NOW, at least I do.
Since I have been going through the CD's, I have been given the opportunity to see some pictures I haven't seen since I first put them made them, or longer!

I plan to go through every one of my picture CD's. I will make sure they are copied to new CD's if they are at least five years old. The pictures will be added back to my laptop, for now anyway, and they will be backed up to Carbonite. Finally, I will print the best of the pictures and save them so they are archival safe.

What a joy to see the pictures on these CD's again! They remind me of things that have changed over the years. I treasure these photos. I am sure you treasure yours too. When was the last time you checked or looked at your photo CD's? If it has been more than five years you just may want to check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!


Comments

  1. Cheryl, how true! Naming, identifying and dating photos. Should be priority one with family historians. Ohhh, and backing up! Not sure bout you, but I need more TIME!! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks so much for your post and for reminding everybody about the necessity of backup! I absolutely agree that people should print best photos to enjoy them now. I believe online backup is most secure and reliable way to store my data. There is a new online backup product powered by Amazon S3. You can sign-up for beta at
    cloudberrydrive.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Carol,

    I am so with you on needing more time! I thought once I stopped working I would be set...by no, it doesn't work that way either! Thanks for leaving a comment!

    Hi Nayda,
    Yes, we need to print and enjoy our photos and online backup is such a secure feeling for sure. I still like to back up with CD's also and give some to my sister and or daughter. Can't have to many back up's! I will go and check out this site, are you signed up for it? Thanks for the info and leaving a comment!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just got a 500gb external hard drive and it backs up automatically every couple days. Paid 80 bucks and never have to worry about a scratched cd. I had that problem before too. I used to backup everything to kodakgallery.com not anymore though...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Deez,

    I actually have a hard drive back up also, and it is wonderful! My biggest error regarding this post was that I took the pictures off my computer and at that time only had them on one CD. How easily could I have lost those pictures?

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete

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