April 8, 2013

Still Searching

It's been just over two weeks since my photo library crashed and there's nothing new to report except that I've been spending all of my free time manually transferring 24,000 files.  It seems the problem is the iPhoto application.   Apparently, it cannot handle that many files (especially from an external hard drive).  I wish that someone -- anyone -- at the Apple Store Genius Bar had informed me about this issue with iPhoto the dozen or so times I've visited them over the past several years.  Instead, each employee just commented that I have a lot of photos and sent me on my way.

A few questions:

(1)  Do you use a Mac or PC?  Why?
(2)  What software do you use to edit your photos?
(3)  How do you store your photo files?
(4)  How do you backup your files?

12 comments:

LONDONLULU said...

Oh no, so sorry to hear of the transferring! I hope you get things back on track soon, but understand the pain (having lost things when my last computer died). I use a PC, only because it supports programs I need for work. Otherwise, I'd have tried Mac ages ago. I use Picasa to edit (I don't have photoshop, which seems to leader) and store photo files son my hard drive, backing up to a large external drive ~1x/month. I also have a small USB flash-drive (thumb drive) for backing up photos on a weekly or almost-daily basis.

LOLfromPasa said...

I was hoping you would be coming back with some good news, SRQ. Heartbreaking to read what you are having to deal with. PC for me. I can't afford a Mac. I too use Picasa and have tried Corel X5 but not ready to progress to that level yet. Advice I have been given is to store photos in 3 places (one off site, cloud and the other on your PC or external hard drive. Have a look at ESET NOD32 to back up your files. You might want to give Leo Laporte (The Tech Guy) radio show a call and see if he can help. Fingers crossed for you!

Ernie said...

I guess I don't understand how Macs work. On my PC, I can see the files, know that they are there, I can copy and manipulate them in any number of softwares. You thought they were gone just because the software couldn't see them? I've got two copies of all my stuff on two different external drives, one at home, one at work. And the older stuff, I've got all that on DVDs and CDs. With the two newest cameras, the files were so big, I couldn't burn them to disc fast enough.

SRQ said...

Thanks, Lulu & LOL. Few people can appreciate what it's like to have their entire photo library hanging in the balance.

@Ernie - I don't have all my files at this point, but I have quite a few (yeah!). But, the problem is... apparently they're attached to iPhoto. So, there's no way to export them without losing all the associated album information (names, dates etc.) Once I figure out what files I have, I'll manually transfer them to either an external hard drive or DVDs. Then, I'll be in the market for a new computer and software --- NOT iPhoto. I like my Mac, but I'm really wondering if I want to invest in another one.

Michelle said...

I use a pc and an external hard drive for storing everything. I also utilize picmonkey and photoshop for editing. I am more familiar with pc's as I use them at work and choose them for home use as well. Mine recently crashed and I have been using my husband's work laptop and I really hate typing on it. I have to come up with something else. I hope you get your dilemma worked out soon.

Lorraine said...

My daughter has an imac and she has tons of digital art on it. Tons! We got an email from Apple just before Christmas saying that her particular model was being recalled because of possible crashing problems and that a new hard drive would need to be installed. We bought a Seagate backup hard drive ($500) and backed up all her files. Once the hard drive was replaced, she hooked up the Seagate and everything loaded perfectly like nothing ever happened.

Ernie said...

At one point, I had gone through and tagged thousands of my pictures with keywords-places, people, animals, etc. But it turned out that Picasa wasn't writing that info into the metadata, it was just using that data in it's own database. When I moved pictures outside of Picasa, all that data was lost. So I feel your pain and don't have much of a solution. Sorry.

SFlaGuy said...

I have 35,000 digital photos starting with my first camera in 2000. I also have a PC that's 10 years old. I added a second drive internally. When that filled I bought an 150 GB external. Filled that a long time ago. I now keep about a year on the PC and the rest of the collection on two externals - 750 GB and 1 TB which I update monthly and a little 80 GB I keep on the desk which I backup up every time I load a new set. I was using Photoshop till I blew up the hard drive a few weeks ago. Since I do this for work I was up and running in a few days but my Photoshop disks have been packed I think. You will hate this part. I don't mark anything. I load them into directories by year then date taken. That's it. I have had terrible luck with software that tags photos so I avoid it. Yes sometimes locating a particular photo is a bit of an Easter egg hunt but as I search for them I always have a flood of memories from the photos that surround them. I have been witness to too many friends and relatives that no longer have their memory so I like to tickle those part of my brain to keep the enjoyments of my life alive.

Kay said...

((Groan)) So sorry to hear what you're going through!

I'm on a PC platform now, was a loyal Mac user for decades - I did desktop publishing and it suited my comfort level. I switched to the PC when my last Mac exceeded antique status. I was then adjusted to a PC at work (not a big leap) & it was far more affordable. I edit in Photoshop Elements 10 & store my photos on my PC hard drive. I back up about once a month on a 1.5TB Seagate external drive. Your experience has me thinking that a 2nd drive wouldn't be a bad idea - I'd alternate between them. And I think I should back up more frequently even though my PC is less than a year old.

Nancy J said...

I have a PC, Toshiba laptop, Windows 7, use Picasa and PSE, load them into ' my pictures" by month, then the ones I keep add a title, so when I want to find multiple ones of, do a search, for e.g. trees. they just come up. I have an external HDD, and back up all files and pics regularly.Panic would be the word if all was lost.Hope you can find a system to back up that suits, some use "cloud" but you have to be online, and I'm not sure about security.here in NZ newer external HDD now have a massive amount of storage, 3TB for $147 NZ dollars. Cheers from Jean

Nancy J said...

Just to update, I hopped to you from Brian King, and now will read your blog too. Cheers, Jean.

Jocie Z ROCK said...

i think i am right behind you... help!!