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Henrik said :-
nab301: In case you was asking for travel-cameras in general, I also use Panasonic FZ1000, and a phone typically for wide-angle, Samsung A72 it was, has just been replaced with Google Pixel 8 Pro,.. On rare ocasions I shot some birds with a Canon 7D and Tamron 150-600mm G2 combo
09/12/2025 23:37:54 UTC
nab301 said :-
Thanks Henrik, it was the stick on a roof one I was asking about!
Nigel
10/12/2025 16:22:57 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ed and other edumicated souls....read on.
I would like to draw on the wisdom of you wise people to enquire about the storage of digital images. At present I back up to DVD from the laptop. Images are also stored on the cloud but storage fills up quick.
I also intend to transfer files from the DVD's to a flash drive, I think this will be less clunky when trying to open files. I intend to retain the discs for now.
Windows are saying anything from XP and newer can be read on subsequent Windows operating systems and this seems to be the case.
At present I am running Windows 11.
What is the best way to store a digital image so that it will be accessible into the future?
Will DVD be better than flash, should I pay for more cloud storage, give me your best shots.
Upt.
10/12/2025 18:58:24 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
It's a perpetual problem Upt', one that I too face. Even as a professional nerd I don't have a definitive answer for you. "They" say data isn't secure until it's in 3 places. I have a copy of my piccies on my laptop, another on a raspeberry Pi set up as a data store with a USB stick for storage, and the Google Drive is my third copy. But it's a right old faff keeping everything synchronised and to be honest I don't manage it.
I'd suggest Online storage and USB sticks for now. I have used IDrive online before now as it's cheap but it's blummin fiddly and weird. Google drive and Microsoft OneDrive are easy to use but they go "Here's a few gig cheap. Filled that? Out next offering will give you more storage than you will ever need... but costs a fortune."
10/12/2025 20:32:31 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ed, Nerd, Leader, answer me this please. I know you can.
If I saved an image on a Windows 7 operating system, then subsequently saved it on to a Windows 11 Laptop and then onto another or reformatted DVD from the newer operating system does it always stay a Windows 7 image or does it in some strange IT world become a Windows 11 image.
I've taken on board your previous comments and will transfer onto a 64 GB flash drive and retain the DVD'S whilst reducing the size of the cloud storage by only retaining a smaller amount of images from each file. I suppose retain a flavour on cloud but back all up elsewhere.
All the bike trips are for instance retained on seperate Google pictures album files but only the best images.
Ta me duck.
Upt.
10/12/2025 20:52:31 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
On a seperate note switched to GoFibre today, from normal copper EE broadband. All good at the moment and £10.00 a month less for 12.5 x more mb's, whatever one of them is.
Upt.
10/12/2025 21:00:59 UTC
Henrik said :-
Back-up is a big challenge, takes work and diciplin, still then there is a risc, also in the cloud. Maybe you remember a few years back a big data and hosting-center in France did burn down. So did their backing. Data, web-sites, and forum-activities was lost an-mass. Once I backed up to DVD, by far the worse media ever, 10 years later most the content had wanished. Flash and SD/SSD wil degrade also. I am not able to say if they are any better than quality HD´s, I have got huge amount af date due to video, and 360 5.7K filming for hours on the go. The solution would be 3 x 16TB HD's and a 2-3 bay HD ducking-station able to mirror/copy hole HD's. Mapping after own criteria. the 3 HD's should be carefully choosen according to expected reliability, but they should be of diffrent production series also, to prevent getting 3 HD's that then turn out to develope same fails over time. They should be at 3 diffrent locations to prevent fire, og to be stolen, etc, etc,.. Every seccond or year year the oldest drive should be replaced with a new to make up for aging and wear, no seperate HD will ever be more than 6 years old. Thats teory, just like Ren I cant manage it fully. The selection and map-structure work being the worse part by far
11/12/2025 08:14:55 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Upt'. There's no such thing as a Windows 7 image (well there is but that's a thing you'd use to restore a PC...) or a Windows 10 or 11 or DVD image. When you saved your image on your Windows 7 PC back in 2010 it would have been saved in a format (a certain way of juggling all the 0s and 1s), most likely "JPG" or "JPEG" (same thing) which is said Jay-Peg. Think of this like an old VHS cassette - you recorded your wedding on a VHS tape back in 1989 using a JVC recorder. 10 years later you can still play your tape on the new Sony VHS machine. The tape will work in any machine as long as it has VHS. Your images will work on any computer as long as it can understand the JPG format.
2 things change. Firstly the size of the files. While still using JPG because modern cameras have many MANY more pixels the files used to be 1 or 2 megabytes, today they can be hundreds of megabytes in size. Your new computer will still show JPG files from 20 years ago but today they may appear small or grainy as there's just not as many pixels (dots) making up the image.
Secondly formats change in popularity. Admittedly the JPG format has been around for AGES - when I started this site back in 2005 JPG was already an established and aging format and I still find most phones and cameras are using JPG. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut... there are already a lot of other formats and one day something else will replace JPG as the standard (much like VHS to DVD then today we're all streaming). This will not render your images obsolete and I would expect in your lifetime and mine we will still be able to find software that still can read the JPG format.
USB does not last FOREVER, nor do DVDs, they all degrade over time but we're talking multiple years here not weeks. If you have a handful of images that are especially important to you I reckon PAPER is the best option! There's plenty of people with colour printers and companies who will (via the net) print out your special image onto glossy paper - heck they'll even frame it for you.
11/12/2025 08:24:07 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Thank you. This probably confirms my worse fears but also a lot of reassurance. They are jpeg Ed, again I knew that but your contribution has cleared my mind with regards the Windows 7/11 thing.
I will definitely continue to use cloud, DVD, Flash and possibly a seperate hard drive. Il check out the drives and see which way I jump. I won't be buying three! I'm on a pension don't ya know.
Again thanks folks.
Upt.
11/12/2025 08:51:05 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I think Henrik is running his own datacentre!!! It's a fair point - because things degrade it might be worth once every few years spending a day shuffling the data around the media you keep at home.
11/12/2025 08:58:24 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I refuse to use the cloud as I don't trust any of the operators and don't want to be dependent on broadband. I have a standalone 5TB hard drive that I make regular - although not as often as I should - backups of both our desktop computers to. All pictures are stored on the desktops. The backup drive is kept away from the house so in the event of complete destruction (or even burglary) I'll still have that. Although I may have other problems....
I accept this means I don't have access to things when I'm not at home but then why should I want to? In any case it's a simple matter to transfer anything I want to a mobile device.
11/12/2025 09:58:11 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ian,
I don't dismiss your dislike of the cloud at all. I prefer sunshine.
I would say that Google photos is a great resource for filing and compiling albums and these can then be stored where you like. The program works very well even for a luddite like me.
Upt.
11/12/2025 13:34:12 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Henrik,
Do you work for an intelligence service....if he says no, he does.
11/12/2025 13:35:39 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Remember once your photos are in the cloud they will be used as source material for IA image recognition and the like...... As ex-plod this may not bother you but it does me.
11/12/2025 14:02:45 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Once they've got access to your driving licence, passport, bus pass, etc, a piccie on social media is fairly immaterial in my honest opinion. I tend not to worry too much about these matters because I try to be a good boy and when I'm not a good boy, I wear a helmet.
11/12/2025 16:32:49 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
My problem is who decides if you are a good boy?
I recently had a conversation about ID cards, and the person I was talking to did not seem to have any problem with them. They were reasonably happy with the idea and they could not see themselves breaking the law.
On the other side I am against more and more state control,(including scrapping a trial by jury). I then voiced my concern about freedom of speech, and they also said they had no problem, and could not see any problems.
I then said that I do not agree with the government and feel I should be able to voice an alternative opinion to the government, and would they still have no problems with ID cards ect if Donald Trump came to power here and had access to their information and tracked what they said, and what they did?
Then the penny dropped!!!
It's not if you are a good boy.
It's who decides if you are a good boy, and who makes the rules.
11/12/2025 22:00:39 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Rod,
Please inform me how an ID card would alter the states access to the information they hold on us. If you have an N.I. number they know everything about you. Don't they?
As for who decides if you are worthy of a visit by Santa, I thought we lived in a democracy, we vote for our representatives, we probably get what we deserve.
11/12/2025 22:56:09 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
Upt', The ID card, was just an illustration of how governments are aiming for more and more control. Who knows what a future government may try to control?
A basic acceptable ID card may be introduced initially, but with governments that like too control everything mission creep will follow.
I downloaded the NHS app so I could prove my vaccine history in COVID as it was needed to travel.
If Nicola Sturgeon had her way I would have needed this information to cross the border into Scotland ( a border does not exist between England and Scotland).
How long would it take an authoritarian government to restrict access to a person that did not fit the required profile?
The ID card is not the problem in itself, but its what it represents. Bigger government looking for more state control.
I have never seen democracy work in this country under our system.
This government was elected with a large majority on less votes than Jeremy Corbyn achieved, because people disengaged with the two party system.
I personally have always voted for the least worst option.
All democratic systems have problems, but I feel the system in Switzerland has many merits using referendum frequently as direct democracy.
12/12/2025 08:54:50 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
All very valid points Rod, and although I knew the point about Corbyn winning more votes than Starmer this is never mentioned. Staremer only won because people were so disillusioned with the tories. But I'm actually more concerned about private companies - like Palantir - getting access to my data. Or even being given it by the NHS without my permission.
I was a keen member of the UK Biobank since its inception but was forced to leave and have all my data deleted after they allowed access to insurance companies. The sole reason they would be interested would be to increase profits, not to improve healthcare. Sadly the chief executive refused to address these points.
12/12/2025 10:13:02 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
I think the wider point is that information is power, and depending on your political views it poses discomfort.
A person to the right of political views will see '1984' approaching.
A person to the political left will see information used to rid society of disabled / old people ect to save money.
12/12/2025 10:28:57 UTC
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