Too many eggs on one memory card and it bit her on the butt

[WillCAD]

It's a horrible thing to happen to anybody - one of our fellow DISers had her camera stolen from her stroller at MK:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1256090

But this person's tragedy serves to graphically illustrate a dead horse that I have been flogging for years - don't buy one big memory card, buy a bunch of smaller cards and split up your pics!

kandb lost not only her WDW pics, but some precious pics from prior to her WDW trip that she hadn't downloaded from the memory card. This was a double tragedy that is probably all too common. I see so many people, even my own family and friends, leaving pics on their cameras without downloading, sometimes for weeks or even months at a time, without even realizing the danger they are facing - the loss of precious photographic memories.

And it's not just camera theft that threatens our pics. No, even in today's digital-is-god climate, there are entirely toom many people who accidentally hit "Delete All" instead of "Delete", or who format their cards in camera before downloading pics. Partially, this is the fault of digicam manufacturers who put the "Delete All" option on every pic instead of burrying it in menus along with ISO change and white balance control. But it's also partially the fault of folks who are not comfortable enough with their digicams to understand what buttons they're pressing.

Besides accidental deletion, there's also camera loss. Who among us has not set the camera down someplace and walked off without it? Certainly not I; I once left my $600 worth of Canon Rebel G and Sigma 28-200 lens hanging from a chair in the bakery at the front of IOA. Fortunately, a TM found it and it was waiting for me when my mind started working again. But what happens to those poor souls who lose their cameras permanently with a whole week's worth of WDW pics on the single 50 terrabyte memory card that they got on sale at Best Buy for $1.95 after 12 mail-in rebates? They lose their freakin' pics, that's what, and that's heartbreaking.

Then there's the age-old problem of camera malfunction. Yes, it's rare, but every so often a camera fails to operate after only 25 seconds in the water at POTC, or after suffering Decelleration Trauma when the kids knock it off the table at Crystal Palace, or after a good thorough cleaning (to get the Coke off it that you spilled in Pinochio Village Haus). Though rare, these things do sometimes occur, and if the memory card inside the camera shares the same fate, your pics can go the way of the dodo fast.

All of these horrible things that happen to cameras and memory cards can be prevented by exercising a little more caution, but even the best of us sometimes realize while riding Dr. Suess that our camera is no longer dangling from our shoulders where it should be, and when that does happen, we can take solace in the fact that only a small portion of our precious vacation pics are actually in the camera, while the rest are sitting safely back in our room safe on other memory cards or CDs.

Unless they're all on the camera, in which case we are, of course, royally screwed.

YMMV.

 

[makinorlando]

I saw that post and was so sad for the OP since the photos she had from prior to her trip are something she can't "recreate"!

Very good advice Will. Thanks for posting!

I bought a 2G card (couldn't beat the price/rebate), but always always download my pics to my picture drive and a CD as soon as I walk in the house. It's my routine whenever I am out with my camera!

I also did the actual delete all after a Magical Day at MK... after I had finally found Daisy Duck - I was downloading to the PC, and obviously same how I delete off the memore card... still don't know what I did - so it can be THAT easy! Fortunately I was able to restore many of them with free software I found on line, but I wanted to cry.....

I was nervous in fact last week when we stayed at the Poly that I could not do this, i did not want to take my laptop for one night, so on Friday I changed cards so I knew the MNSSHP pics would be safely tucked away in the room.....

 

[Caitsmama]

Well, As I am just now learning about memory cards (my old camera used mini cd's - so it was easy to split up pics.) this is a valuable advice! I got a 2g card, b/c of the sale price, but will now also pic up a few extra smaller cards for my WDW trip..
Thanks

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It sounds to me like the problem isn't so much a question of having too many images on one card as it is not having a backup.

If you have four memory cards and have your images spread across all of them, you still lose all of your pictures if you lose all of your memory cards. I usually keep all of my cards together with my camera gear. If I lose my gear or if it gets stolen (again), I lose all of my memory cards.

I mitigate that problem by copying my images from my memory card to my computer nightly. I burn backup DVDs, which get stored separately. I also upload the pics to smugmug when possible.

I agree with your key sentiment - don't keep all of your eggs in one basket. Just spreading your photos across multiple cards isn't necessarily a sufficient answer. Do a simple risk assessment and figure out how to mitigate your risks. Perhaps that means owning multiple cards and carrying only one with you at a time. Perhaps that means having one big card and copying the photos someplace safe every night.

I had my cards (and camera gear) stolen from my hotel room once. I didn't lose any photos because they had all been backed up to my laptop, which I had with me. I also had a card quit working (something to do with the washing machine) and lost no photos because I had them all backed up.

 

[Anewman]

I agree with your key sentiment - don't keep all of your eggs in one basket. Just spreading your photos across multiple cards isn't necessarily a sufficient answer.

I agree 100%, only time I have ever lost images was a result of a lost mem card. Is it really easier to watch over 4 baskets than it is to take care of one basket that happens to STAY INSIDE THE CAMERA?

Multiple cards or single larger card, it is all about proper care and taking precautions. But IMO there are way more lost cards than there are failed cards, and again IMO most of those "lost" cards are the result of having multiple cards instead of one larger card that never leaves the camera.

And again IMO most "failed" cards are the result of inproper care of the card, while OUTSIDE the camera.

In other words what ever works for you, but for me I would rather not have to be switching cards on the sidelines of a football game. And I know for a fact the if I did have to switch it would increase the chances of ME losing those cards and increase the chances of those cards failing.

 

[safetymom]

I can't tell you how many people I talk with that have never printed or moved their images from their memory cards. They just buy a new one when they fill one up. Using memory cards as your storage

Backup, backup, backup should be everyones motto. Backup, then make a copy of the image if you are going to work on it. NEVER WORK ON AN ORIGINAL IMAGE!!! Think of it as your negative.

 

[WillCAD]

Okay, so do you guys routinely carry your entire vacation budget on you around the parks in cash? I bet you don't. I certainly don't carry large amounts of cash with me in the parks.

My point is not "split your photos but carry all the cards with you in an easily lost or stolen camera bag", my point is "don't carry your entire vacation's worth of pics around the parks with you in a single easily lost, stolen, or broken device." Once the cards are full, why keep carrying them around with you? Leave the full cards in the much safer environment of your room safe.

I realize that you guys probably shoot a lot more than me, but I use 512mb cards, which are big enough for me to shoot a little over 100 pics before changing cards, and since I rarely shoot more than 100 pics per day at WDW, I'm not terribly worried about missing a shot because of changing cards.

Equipment can be replaced if lost, stolen, or broken, but the pics on those cards are the only thing that is totally irreplaceable, and they should be treated as such. Whether by backing them up every day or by keeping them in your room safe, precautions against loss are what I'm advocating.

 

[Anewman]

Okay, so do you guys routinely carry your entire vacation budget on you around the parks in cash? I bet you don't. I certainly don't carry large amounts of cash with me in the parks.

I ALWAYS carry a single high limit credit card, it would be crazy to split a dinner on 4 different cards


Just joshin, what ever works for you.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I usually carry several cards with me because I take a lot of pictures and shoot RAW. I typically start each day with about 8 gig of free capacity. I do not have enough cards to hold an entire trips worth of photos. I resort to other techniques to store my photos.

As you can see, we have very different shooting styles and very different backup needs. For those that keep their photos throughout their trip on memory cards, having multiple smaller cards is a great way to mitigate risk. For those that sometimes fill all of their memory cards to capacity in a single day, having multiple smaller cards is of dubious value. Everyone is responsible for assessing their own risks and mitigating them and no one solution works for everyone.

As for cash, I do carry all of the cash I intend to spend on my vacation with me. Before anyone gets excited about ripping me off, that's usually a small amount. Most of my money remains safely in the bank and I access it with various little pieces of plastic. I mitigate the risk of losing my plastic by carrying one card that my wife does not carry and vice versa. This way if either of us loses our wallet/purse, we still have a card to live off of. If we both lose them, then we're in a bit of a pickle.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

There is one thing that I really like about having more than 1 CF card. If you are ever in a situation where you are shooting a lot of pictures in one day, you can dump pictures from one card to a computer while you are shooting with the other. By switching between the cards, you can shoot far more than the total capacity of the two cards in one day. If you only had one card, you'd be out of action while the card was dumping.

 

[handicap18]

My practice on our last trip: I used 3 1 gig cards. I kept 2 with me. 1 incase I happened to fill the first one. When we got back to the hotel I downloaded the pics to the laptop. I didn't actually format any of the cards till I needed the space and I knew I had those pics on the computer (for some reason the cd burner wasn't operating properly otherwise I would have also burned a cd).

In general I NEVER format a media card until the pics on that card are not only downloaded onto the computer, but also burned on a CD or DVD as backup.

I'm on vacation in about a month and one of the things I want to get accomplished is to get some of those new DVD's that are said to last upwards of 50-100 years and burn a 2nd DVD of all my pictures. Then also take the pics that were burned on CD before I got the DVD burner and put those on a DVD.

Just like memory, you can never have enough backup. I've learned my lesson the hard way in the past.

 

[LMarge]

Since we're on this subject - is it possible to retrieve images from the depths of who knows where - off of my computer, after I emptied them from my recycling bin? I AM AN IDIOT!!! Just stamp that capitol "I" in the middle of my forehead right now. I was "cleaning" up my documents folder which has the "my Pictures" folder in it - since all those lovely images were in PSE4 I didn't need the doubles in the "My Pictures" file, right? WRONG!!!! Every since I deleted those I have been unable to work on my pictures in PSE4, I get this lovely red broken box in the bottom of my photo - missing link? alert!!! I've since reloaded what I have on CD's back into my files, but the codes don't match or something because they don't "relink" to the photos in PSE. What a mess I've got - anyone with any tips? Oh, yeah - some of those photos were not on a CD - moral of the story BACKUP!!! everything!!! If there is a way to reverse my problem I would be truly appreciative to the computer guru that can figure this one out!!

 

[ndelaware]

I'm with Will on this one. I have eight 1GB cards but usually only carry two at a time, one in the camera, one in my pocket. I shoot in RAW and I find approximately 200 images a day are plenty for me. Of course if I need more another couple of CF cards in thier cases doesn't take up much room in my pants pocket.I still back up to my laptop every night and burn them to disc as soon as I upload them to the computer.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Every since I deleted those I have been unable to work on my pictures in PSE4, I get this lovely red broken box in the bottom of my photo - missing link?

Sorry about your loss. This is one of the downsides to the digital world. Computers are complicated and it is easy to make big mistakes.

PSE4 is an application. It does not have pictures "in" it. It references pictures that are stored on your computer. As is probably obvious now, it was referencing the pictures in your My Pictures folder.

There is software that can undelete files even after you have cleared them from your recycle bin. This works because when a computer deletes files, it doesn't really get rid of them. Instead, it just labels the space the files are written on as free space. Unfortunately for you, once you started copying your picture files back onto your computer, there is a good chance that it wrote those files over the old ones, so they are likely to be gone forever.

If you want to take a longshot, you need to get an undelete program from someone like Symantec and try it. In the mean time, don't do anything with your computer because you may use more of the "free space" on the disk that actually contains your deleted photos.

 

[WillCAD]

Mark is absolutely right - it is sometimes possible to undelete files after they've been cleared from your recycle bin, but the more you use the computer after you clear the recycle bin, the less likely that those files will still be recoverable. Even surfing the net can overwrite the deleted files, because web browsers write all sorts of temporary files to the hard disk while you surf.

If you have run a defrag operation since you emptied the recycle bin, they are gone forever.

As Mark said, see if you can get a copy of an undelete progam, but in the meantime don't do anything else with your computer - just shut it down and leave it off till you get an undelete progam.

 

[LMarge]

Thanks guys for the help - I've learned a very valuable lesson!! I also have recovered all but 160 pictures - most of them flower shots from the zoo and a few first day of school photos. All in all, it's not that bad. I'm going to try the undelete program and see what I get, but I'm not holding my breath - this computer gets a ton of activity both from myself and the rest of the family, so we'll see!! Thanks again for the advice and mainly for listenting to me vent my frustrations!!!

 

[Groucho]

The issue is more one of "not understanding basic camera use" than anything else. I didn't realize this but a relative of mine was taking a bunch of flash pictures during rides on a recent WDW trip, and then his kids chastised him, he explained that he didn't know how to turn the flash off. I know others who don't know how to turn the flash off on their cameras, too.

I also know people who have filled their memory cards and not only don't have a clue how to get the picture off, but then just put the camera on a shelf since they figure that they'll never get the darn pictures off.

All this seems pretty basic but I think we all have areas of basic ignorance - I barely now how to use my washing machine, for example. I get clean clothes but I'm sure that I could be getting them cleaner/softer/brighter if I knew a little more. Does this make me an idiot? Hopefully not, but I'm definitely a "washing machine idiot" and there are plenty of "camera idiots".

I agree with handicap18 - it's all about making sure you have backups and less about how many cards you use. However, I'm generally not too concerned about long-life media, as in five years, chances are that blue-laser blanks will be cheap (BluRay or HD-DVD), or at least, another higher-capacity form of storage, and that's an excuse to migrate all the older backups to the new media. I've already moved all my CD backups to DVD and freed up a bit of space in the giant CD wallets I use - one DVD holds approximately seven CDs. A single-layer HD-DVD would hold about 3.5-4 single-layer DVDs, and a single-layer BluRay would hold about about 6. As long as the storage media keeps evolving, I'll stick with quality but affordable media of the current standard.