Thursday, March 4, 2010

Saving Stuff

Monday I had a rude awakening.  I was doing some computer maintenance and discovered that I needed to do a defrag..but there was a little problem..I only had 6 percent of usable space on my computer..to do a defrag you should have about 15 percent of usable space.  The computer being smarter than me suggested I delete some files.  There were only a few that I felt I could delete.   I could have dumped some photos..now that was a possibility since I have those files backed up.  I called my HP brother to give him a rash of crap, because when he selected this computer for me..he said and I quote " Sis, you will NEVER be able to take enough photos to fill up that computer."  He was on a plane to Ireland..so much for communication with him.  Last March when Day Light Savings time crashed my computer and I had it repaired..the  lobotomized former Air Force Officer that fixed it supposedly added a larger hard drive..I am not so sure about that. How do you really know if those repair guys do what they say anyway?


I ordered an external hard drive..an HP SimpleSave that should hold 300,000 photos!  It took four hours to back up my files, and only about 15 minutes to back up Far Guys.  Today I am going to do a test and delete a photo and then see if I can restore it from the external hardrive...technology..I am always a little skeptical about it.  I am a really anal about backing up my photos..I copy them to CD about three times a month, as soon as they are copied..I double check to make sure my photos are actually on the CD ..before I delete them from my camera cards.


When this new SimpleSave backed up my photos..I had 41,000 photos.. I knew I had lots of photos..but I didn't think it was that many.  I do delete the bad shots..


I am hoping that when I remove some of my files from my computer that I will regain some space and perhaps even a little speed...we will see.


I hate those user manuals that are not actually with the product you buy, but they are included in the software..who thought up that crazy idea anyway..and how was I supposed to know  all those abbreviations like ARA and FIN.. and who knows what else..ARA was first on the list.  I told Far Guy  "Damn look at all these squiggles."  He took one look at it and said "Honey, that is an Arabic users manual."  Now how was I supposed to know that..I had to back up and find the ENG one...   


I have lots of photo projects I am working on..saving old family photos to share with other family members.  I have old photos coming out my ears..but that is a good thing..some people have no old photos..and I seem to be blessed with them. Someday some one will appreciate my efforts..someone will probably say..who was that crazy old Aunt  that had all those old photos?  She must have been a really weird.  


Sometimes when I look at the boxes and albums of old photos I get a bit discouraged..so much work to do. Scanning and marking them..one photo at a time..some photos must be repaired...it all takes time. 
For me it is a labor of love, with perhaps a bit of curiosity mixed in..every photo has a story..we just don't know what some of the great stories are.. some will be lost forever.  I want to save as many stories and photos as I can..I think it may have become an obsession.. is there a group called Old Photographs Anonymous?

Last Saturday I posted this photo of a building in Lengby, Minnesota.  It was indeed a school.  Several local blog readers  left me comments.  Abra wrote, "The old Lengby School, built with Lengby bricks in 1905 at a cost of $3,000.00, still stands next to the town baseball field. The school closed in 1969, and is in the process of renovation for an artist’s retreat." 


Linda wrote,  " It's the old Lengby school - my husband went to grade school there. I think it closed in the late 50's."   I have great readers and commenters..thanks gals!


So my curiosity is satisfied..well maybe not..now I wonder what kind of artists are retreating there..so we will probably have to stop by there someday anyway:)

22 comments:

A Brit in Tennessee said...

I seem to be having the same trouble, my computer is getting slower and slower. I don't have near as many photos as you, but since I don't spend as much time on backing up my files as I should, then they just sit on the computer. Dangerous I know, one little gliche and poof they are history.
Let us know how you go on with your external drive, that sounds interesting.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Font is driving me nuts today..I finally just gave up..maybe I should just go back to bed! :)

RURAL said...

Connie, always good for a chuckle, and a outright laugh.

Arabic, I love it.

40,000 and I thought that I had a lot.

I did email some historical society about that building, and was feeling rather smug. But they sent me back a snotty email about contacting the CORRECT historical society. So I gave up.

Glad to know what the answer is. I seem to only like mysteries when they are solved quickly.

I have a external harddrive, and like you, I really don't trust them. LOL.

Jen

DayPhoto said...

Like you have lots of photos, but unlike you I don't have an extra hard drive. Sounds like I had better get one.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Good luck girl. I sure hope ya get the dang thing figured out. Those manuals, in my opinion ya'll have to already know how to do it to understand what their explaining. Go figure....

Have a greatly blessed day!!!

L. D. said...

If the hd works correctly, it should have every single file duplicated on it. The big job would be someday that you have to dump off of the portable hd. I missed the schoolhouse blog, I must be spacing off. I guess I shut down all weekend. It is an interesting building.

Jeanne Estridge said...

41,000 pictures.

And that's just the good ones.

Wow.

(If I kept just the good ones, I'd have about five.)

The Retired One said...

Be careful keeping all your old photos just on CD's/DVD's...they don't last long either...one techy told me they lose their integrity over time.

Anonymous said...

I finally had to trust an external hard drive and some flash drives for a secondary. The husband says the world won't end if I lose a picture. WHAT DOES HE KNOW?

Rae said...

Funny that you posted this today. That is exactly what I have been doing much of the day. Backing up my photo and music files on DVDs and and onto an external hard drive too. Even with the extra work involved it is better than taking a chance on losing them to a hard drive crash.

Gail said...

I had the same problem. So I deleted, which is as hard as cleaning my closet. I have burned to disc and finally found enough space to defrag.

Good luck, new things always rattle me a little.

Lynda said...

I do the same thing with photos and files - - - check and double check to make sure they are on the new saved drive - - -

Anonymous said...

nothing like ye ol back up to have you sleep at night :)

gp

Lanny said...

If there is such a group as Old Photographics Anonymous please stay away from them. Because you are blessed with all those photos and the stories that you have. I'm one of those who have very few photos. And I would very much have appreciated the type of work you are doing had it been done in our family. In fact I love seeing all your photos even though they are not my family. Your photos and the stories that go with them remind me of the stories around the kitchen table I grew up hearing.

LadyFi said...

Wow girl.. that is a lot of photos! I've installed an external hard disk too now that I've started getting trigger happy.

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

I'm so glad I got an external hard drive so I can do a backup with two keystrokes (or less, since I actually set it to back up automatically every night). My hard drive crashed twice last year, and the external drive saved everything. Whew.

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

And 41,000 images! Seriously? Impressive.

DJan said...

I am also impressed with 41,000 photos! Yikes! I have an external hard drive that backs up regularly and I have lost stuff and had it come back magically with the Time Machine, as they call it in the Mac world. I have lots of room but then again, I don't take that many pictures!

Karen Anne said...

As a disclaimer, I'm technically an HP retiree. I did not go to work for them voluntarily, I'm only in their tent because they bought the company I worked for.

I used to use an HP external hard drive as a backup until I discovered, drop it and its data is gone forever.

I have heard varying things about how long data lasts on home-burnt CDs, not as long as commercially produced ones, I think.

I use HP thumb flash drives for backup. I also have some SanDisk flash drives, but they started putting extraneous software on them that makes them difficult to use easily. As far as I know, both are reliable brands. They seem very rugged. I have even heard of people accidentally sending them through the washing machine with no ill effects because they forgot to take them out of their pockets.

The rumor is each block on a flash drive can be written to 50,000 to 1000,000 times before they noticeably degrade.

Here's my latest flash drive purchase which holds 32 GB, at about $97:

http://www.amazon.com/v125w-USB-Flash-Drive-P-FD32GHP125-FS/dp/B0026RHE90

What I also like about them is they are so small, storage of them is easy. I have three that I rotate to backup my entire set of files, so if something has gone wrong and I don't notice it for awhile, there is a chance it is on an older backup.

I also have a couple that I've backed up really important stuff to and put in my safe deposit box in case the house burns down or whatever.

Of course, all digital devices become obsolete. I just have to look at my closet with its boxes of Beta and VHS tapes waiting for me to convert them to know that. So it's a good idea to keep that in mind.

That's one reason I'm printing out, on archival photo paper and with archival inks, some of the photos and labeling them. I'm using Pioneer SJ-100 Jumbo scrapbooks to store them, since they have acid-free paper and aren't cutesy scrapbooks with animals and stuff on them, but rather the old fashioned kind with plain parchment colored paper.

Karen Anne said...

p.s. You can tell how much disk space (both available and used) you have on your pc by clicking Start, My Computer, right clicking on Local Disk C:, and then clicking on Properties. It's in the General tab in the panel that brings up.

Karen Anne said...

darn, I meant written to 100,000 times not 1000,000 times.

Pamela said...

I forgot to mention that I have a back up on an external hard driv e- but my back up isn't working right now. And my husband keeps telling me he is going to fix it. I sure can't.