Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geek Speak => Topic started by: rosalind dna on 29/04/2009 16:02:55

Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 29/04/2009 16:02:55
I have been uploading my photos from my digital camera since I bought it in August 2007 but I've not thought
of having them made into proper photos yet.

But I know how to use USB memory sticks as I own 3 so far. I will probably buy more from Amazon soonish.

I have been wondering if it's possible to put the photos onto a USB memory stick?

The only memory card that I have is for 80 photos and if it's taken out then I can't use my camera.

The camera's a Sony CyberShot.

Thanks Rosalind
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: dentstudent on 29/04/2009 16:28:50
Hi Rosalind

Firstly, yes you can use a stick for photo storage. But, the storage capacity on them is used up rather quickly with photos. It might be useful to you if you get yourself an external hard drive. These are effectively the same as sticks, but have a FAR bigger capacity, which means that you can store your photos on there without worrying about it getting full, and without taking up space on your computer's hard drive.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 29/04/2009 19:32:25
Hi Rosalind

Firstly, yes you can use a stick for photo storage. But, the storage capacity on them is used up rather quickly with photos. It might be useful to you if you get yourself an external hard drive. These are effectively the same as sticks, but have a FAR bigger capacity, which means that you can store your photos on there without worrying about it getting full, and without taking up space on your computer's hard drive.

Hi dentstudent, that is interesting and would the make of the memory stick matter?

If not then I'd been thinking that 8GB might be the largest possible harddrive thing.

Although the new printer (HP deskjet) is slowing up the computer and I have only had it about
2 weeks.
I don't take photos every day though only when I feel like it.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: RD on 29/04/2009 22:15:03
A digital photograph in jpeg format sufficient to create a photo-quality* print of about 20x30cm requires about 2Mb of memory. If the image is only ever going to be displayed on a computer or television screen then a 200Kb (0.2Mb) jpg file is sufficient.

So on an 8GB (which is 8000 Mb) stick you could get 4000 print quality images or 40,000 screen quality images.

You should make backup copies of your photos on another stick or CD (or DVD) and perhaps additional copies online too, so if disaster strikes you will always have copies of irreplaceable images.


(* indistinguishable from a photograph taken using a film camera).


BTW  Rosalind your local library may run a "digital photography for beginners" course where you can learn how to archive and manipulate your digital photos.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 30/04/2009 00:08:51
A digital photograph in jpeg format sufficient to create a photo-quality* print of about 20x30cm requires about 2Mb of memory. If the image is only ever going to be displayed on a computer or television screen then a 200Kb (0.2Mb) jpg file is sufficient.

So on an 8GB (which is 8000 Mb) stick you could get 4000 print quality images or 40,000 screen quality images.

You should make backup copies of your photos on another stick or CD and perhaps additional copies online too, so if disaster strikes you will always have copies of irreplaceable images.


(* indistinguishable from a photograph taken using a film camera).


BTW  Rosalind your local library may run a "digital photography for beginners" course where you can learn how to archive and manipulate your digital photos.


RD thanks and I'll buy a few memory sticks when I next go to the Amazon site as theirs are cheaper than the local prices of £22.99 for 4GB and £40.00 for 8GB in the shop.

Yes I'll look into a course in my local library about digital cameras for beginners only I've been using the camera ever since I bought it as an amateur.  I do delete my worst ones though

I don't understand why I would need a CD as my computer doesn't have a CD writer drive in it or for DVD but I can use both and do.

What Gigabyte size do you recommend, RD would be best for my purposes??
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: ukmicky on 30/04/2009 00:11:06
You should have a USB cable with your camera. plug it into the Pc and then the camera and turn the camera on. You may be prompted to load drivers but dont normally have to.

A box may now come up asking if you want to transfer the images,if it does say yes and direct it to where you want to save them.

If it doesn't ask, go into my computer where your drives are and your camera should be there as a removable drive like it does with your memory stick/ Find the photos and copy or move them

Most memory stick can hold hundreds
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: RD on 30/04/2009 00:47:16
What Gigabyte size do you recommend, RD would be best for my purposes??

Personally I find the 4Gb sticks more convenient: a DVD can hold 4.7Gb so I can copy a full 4Gb stick on one DVD.
 With a full 8Gb stick I’d have to store the contents on two DVDs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD#DVD_as_an_archival_medium


If you don’t have a cable to connect your camera to your computer it may be possible to remove the memory card/stick from the camera and plug in to your computer: this may require a device called a card reader (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-2730.aspx).


Note memory cards for computers and cameras are not always interchangeable: a computer (USB) memory stick cannot be installed in your Sony camera.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 30/04/2009 12:07:37
You should have a USB cable with your camera. plug it into the Pc and then the camera and turn the camera on. You may be prompted to load drivers but dont normally have to.

A box may now come up asking if you want to transfer the images,if it does say yes and direct it to where you want to save them.

If it doesn't ask, go into my computer where your drives are and your camera should be there as a removable drive like it does with your memory stick/ Find the photos and copy or move them

Most memory stick can hold hundreds
Micky Thanks, I have the USB cable for the camera already plugged into the back of the PC's tower and I use it a lot. I've also got an USB Hub for extra USB thing like memory sticks.
I know what to do when I upload my photos and follow the computer's instructions to upload with that box for slideshow, printer and scanner etc.
But it's the size of the gigabytes that a memory sitck that I should buy, I would like a recommendation please.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: dentstudent on 30/04/2009 12:11:43
It would worry me that I would lose the sticks, since they are a little small. This is why I like my external hard drive  (http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=4001&CatID=400) which is book sized and stores 500 Gb. This space you can get for the same price as 4 sticks, and so is a much cheaper way of gaining storage.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 30/04/2009 12:41:54
What Gigabyte size do you recommend, RD would be best for my purposes??

Personally I find the 4Gb sticks more convenient: a DVD can hold 4.7Gb so I can copy a full 4Gb stick on one DVD.
 With a full 8Gb stick I’d have to store the contents on two DVDs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD#DVD_as_an_archival_medium


If you don’t have a cable to connect your camera to your computer it may be possible to remove the memory card/stick from the camera and plug in to your computer: this may require a device called a card reader (http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-2730.aspx).


Note memory cards for computers and cameras are not always interchangeable: a computer (USB) memory stick cannot be installed in your Sony camera.

RD thanks and yes I do have the USB camera's cable plugged into the back of my computer's tower as it's been since I bought the camera about 2 years ago.

The hole that I put the USB cable into the camera is the same as a USB memory stick. In fact I was using the camera and uploaded some of the photos only last week. I will do so again soon.

I do own a few DVDs but don't use them all the time and I've never used a blank one yet.

Also I've taken around 600+ photos and probably deleted a lot of them. The earlier ones.

How come that memory sticks or cards are not always interchangeable because I'd thought that if I take the information/photos from the PC that are there now??
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 30/04/2009 12:49:56
It would worry me that I would lose the sticks, since they are a little small. This is why I like my external hard drive  (http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=4001&CatID=400) which is book sized and stores 500 Gb. This space you can get for the same price as 4 sticks, and so is a much cheaper way of gaining storage.

Thanks again dentstudent but I don't even know how to put the main HardDrive into a computer and would bust it. Even with an external harddrive interesting as your helpful idea is.

I do keep my present memory sticks in a safe place already and would make sure that I wouldn't lose them. I hope.

How does an external HardDrive work?

Because I am interested in knowing how to store the photos onto a memory sticks in case the computer crashes one day (hope not) and I lose them all.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: dentstudent on 30/04/2009 13:04:18
It would worry me that I would lose the sticks, since they are a little small. This is why I like my external hard drive  (http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=4001&CatID=400) which is book sized and stores 500 Gb. This space you can get for the same price as 4 sticks, and so is a much cheaper way of gaining storage.

Thanks again RD

RD? Indeed! (Sulks)

An external hard drive works in exactly the same way as the sticks. There is a USB connector and usually a separate power connection. That's all! Just plug it in, and there is all that extra space, which you can then unplug and take with you if needed.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: RD on 30/04/2009 13:31:10
My concern with hard drives is they are fragile mechanisms.
Flash memory (in memory sticks) is far more robust: they use it in those "black box" thingys which survive aircraft crashes.

So for irreplaceable things like photos I would use memory sticks with backup copies burned to DVDs and further copies online.

Even if not accidentally dropped, the external hard drive will probably fail in under a decade.

DVDs allegedly retain data for 30 years.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 30/04/2009 17:36:13
It would worry me that I would lose the sticks, since they are a little small. This is why I like my external hard drive  (http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=4001&CatID=400) which is book sized and stores 500 Gb. This space you can get for the same price as 4 sticks, and so is a much cheaper way of gaining storage.

Thanks again RD

RD? Indeed! (Sulks)

An external hard drive works in exactly the same way as the sticks. There is a USB connector and usually a separate power connection. That's all! Just plug it in, and there is all that extra space, which you can then unplug and take with you if needed.

dentstudent sorry for my mistake,. I was in a rush to go out.
Also I've only just started using the memory sticks as someone had advised me to do so, a while ago. so far it's mainly my family tree information on the 8GB one.

I do plug the memory stick into the USB hub to back up any data on my PC as I did earlier.
Then unplug it from the USB hub.

I will take the photos if that would help as my mobile has a camera as well??
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 30/04/2009 17:42:41
My concern with hard drives is they are fragile mechanisms.
Flash memory (in memory sticks) is far more robust: they use it in those "black box" thingys which survive aircraft crashes.

So for irreplaceable things like photos I would use memory sticks with backup copies burned to DVDs and further copies online.

Even if not accidentally dropped, the external hard drive will probably fail in under a decade.

DVDs allegedly retain data for 30 years.

I have not dared to remove a harddrive as I'd said earlier if I did do that then I would put everything back in the wrong way most likely and bust the PC.

I wouldn't be taking the memory sticks everywhere but I just want to sure that the photos are backed up so that I don't lose them. I can't write DVDs or CDs as the computer only has one slot for them.
I agree that I don't want to lose my photos. Yes I should have thought of this before but I wasn't aware of them. Good advice thanks Wow that's incredible that DVDs can hold data for 30 years,
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: ukmicky on 01/05/2009 00:02:25
1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte

Thats 1024 1 Megabyte pics, on a 1 gigabyte stick.

Okay most pics on your average digital camera are between 1.5 and 2 megabytes,so on a 4 gigabyte memory stick thats 2 thousand shots minimum. Enough space for most people 
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 01/05/2009 00:14:48
1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte

Thats 1024 1 Megabyte pics, on a 1 gigabyte stick.

Okay most pics on your average digital camera are between 1.5 and 2 megabytes,so on a 4 gigabyte memory stick thats 2 thousand shots minimum. Enough space for most people 

Thanks and the pixels size of the digital photos are 3072 x 2304 pixels that is before I've resized them but the mobile phone's camera is 600 x 480 pixels.

I have only taken about 600 pictures so far and not kept them all. I will have a look on Amazon on in the shops for a largeish memory sticks (Gigabytes) I mean.
What's the difference between a memory stick and a memory card like the one I have in the camera?
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: RD on 01/05/2009 01:29:42
What's the difference between a memory stick and a memory card like the one I have in the camera?

The only practical difference is that USB memory stick will not fit in your Sony camera, but the memory card in your Sony camera can be connected to a USB port on a computer via an adapter called a card reader. If you have a cable to connect your camera to you computer then you don't need a card reader.

Once your camera's memory card is nearly full, connect it to the computer and copy the photos onto your computer and/or a USB memory stick attached to your computer. Having copied the photos onto the computer (and onto a USB memory stick) then you can delete the photos on the camera's memory card giving you space to take more photos.

Like I said attending beginners course at your local library or camera club where someone can show you how to do this would be the most reliable way of enabling you to confidently archive your digital photos and avoid losing irreplaceable pictures.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 01/05/2009 13:51:26

Quote
The only practical difference is that USB memory stick will not fit in your Sony camera, but the memory card in your Sony camera can be connected to a USB port on a computer via an adapter called a card reader. If you have a cable to connect your camera to you computer then you don't need a card reader.
RD, as I have already mentioned that I do not own (yet) a memory card reader. But if necessary
I will buy one. Also when I've taken some photos then I usually upload them to the PC by plugging in it's USB cable, turning it on then the box appears and follow the instructions.
Yes I've got a memory card for 80 photos but then this is my first ever digital camera.

Quote
Once your camera's memory card is nearly full, connect it to the computer and copy the photos onto your computer and/or a USB memory stick attached to your computer. Having copied the photos onto the computer (and onto a USB memory stick) then you can delete the photos on the camera's memory card giving you space to take more photos.
Yes I know that when the camera's memory card is nearly full then I upload the photos and delete them afterwards to give the memory card more space as the camera shows me with it's icons. I would attach a memory stick to the USB hub that has the USB computer mouse and Printer's USB plugs in them. I am confused

 Like I said attending beginners course at your local library or camera club where someone can show you how to do this would be the most reliable way of enabling you to confidently archive your digital photos and avoid losing irreplaceable pictures.
After this Bank Holiday weekend's over I'll ask in the library as it's always closed on Fridays. No I don't know why.
Agreed I do not want to lose the irreplaceable pictures or photos even other data.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: RD on 01/05/2009 22:51:04
After this Bank Holiday weekend's over I'll ask in the library as it's always closed on Fridays. No I don't know why.

Your local library and local camera club will probably have internet sites,
 so you can probably google them to see if they offer digital photography courses for beginners.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: techmind on 01/05/2009 23:11:56
Even though USB memory sticks are coming down in price, I wouldn't tend to use them for long-term storage (certainly not as the only storage medium).

Writable DVDs are cheaper (you can buy good quality branded blank DVDs from reputable stores for £8 for 10 or £12 for 25 - without jewel cases). DVDs can be written in write-once mode*, which means you can't accidentally delete a file or the whole disk.

By contrast, you can accidentally press "delete" on a USB stick and in a fraction of a second loose a whole directory (same goes for hard disk int. or ext.). On rare occasions I've also had glitches on USB sticks which corrupt the data and require a reformat.
While I do now use an external hard disk for backup (more with a view to short-term recovery - rolling the clock back a month or something), I agree they are fragile and wouldn't consider them as a long-term sole copy for anything precious.


I'd consider also that as USB sticks rapidly go up in capacity and down in price they are doing this using multi-level cell technologies which is inherently less reliable than the earlier sticks, and again the technology is rather young to trust to anything precious for long-term storage anyway IMHO.

If I were being super-cautious, I'd write two copies of photos to two different brands of DVDs. In practice I tend to write one set of DVDs and keep one or more copies on hard-disk as my "working" copies. Never rely on a single point of failure.


Note that CD/DVD drives tend to fail before the disks, so if you do at some point have trouble reading them it is always worth trying different drives.


* write-once mode : I would not trust WinXP built-in CD/DVD writing. Anything which allows you to add files later runs the risk of loosing what's already there. I've had too many bad experiences in the past - especially with "packet writing" softwares. Use Nero or Adaptec burner software and choose "disk at once" to write and finalise a whole disk for best security - that's my approach.


Writeable CD/DVD disks should be kept in the dark (certainly out of any sunlight), ideally in a cool place, but certainly where the temperature is fairly stable.

Home inkjet prints will tend to fade, especially if left in the light, they may also blur if the humidity rises and the paper will yellow over years.

Good quality prints on photographic paper from your high-street photographic store (eg from behind-the-counter Fuji Frontier machines) will be superior to home prints and use photographic paper technology with a long history and good storage characteristics. I would always keep the digital files if you can, but would encourage you to get 6x4 or 7x5" prints made of the pictures you particularly treasure.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 05/05/2009 13:04:03
Thanks techmind for your advice and yes I am aware that USB memory sticks are coming down in price,
but that is not why I am interesting in purchasing some USB memory stick.
But as I may have said that to store valuable data or photos in case the computer crashes.
Also for portable reasons.

But I can't Write any DVDs/CDs because the PC's tower only has 1 place to use them with:
LIke when I watch or listen to DVDs.
What are the jewel cases that you've mentioned?? The DVD/CD plastic covers?  Yes I'm sure that it's cheap to write DVDs with although if only I could do this then I would have done so already. As this photo shows you, I hope
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi41.tinypic.com%2Fekrzph.jpg&hash=0aa8b7476573b3dfd54b471ad8f88c42)

Also, techmind I wasn't aware that the USB sticks were going up in capacity-space that fast but I'd guessed that prices are often going down. I keep the memory sticks in a cool, safe place when I'm not backing things up. I've not accidentally deleted a file yet and I've already got several for the family tree data.
I was thinking of really using the memory sticks for the photos to take down to the local photoshop. BTW I've already checked if that's ok and they said yes.


Ok that you do not trust the WinxP for built-in CD/DVD writing.
How would I loose the data if I constantly save it ??
What's "packet writing" software about?
Although if I knew what the DVD drive is then I'd tell you. I don't know.
Also this is the only PC that I own and I was thinking of getting a laptop for extra stuff. Vaguely though.

Writeable CD/DVD disks should be kept in the dark (certainly out of any sunlight), ideally in a cool place, but certainly where the temperature is fairly stable.

I keep any computer related things out of the direct lights in my desk that's dark and cool.

Quote
Home inkjet prints will tend to fade, especially if left in the light, they may also blur if the humidity rises and the paper will yellow over years.

I have not tried to do a home inkjet print yet as I have only had this printer for a couple of weeks and I'm still getting to understand/know it. Yes I can understand why the home inkjet prints would go yellow and fade, possibly due to the acidity of the paper.

I do have a couple of local computer shops, not as good as some shops.
I might think about using the Photographic shops paper but I'd rather they did it and that's why I am interested as I've said in buying a memory stick(s) with a possibility of a largeish GBs capacity. I do treasure all of my photos for sentimental reasons mainly.,
 
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: techmind on 06/05/2009 01:13:30
Using a USB stick to take your photos to the high-street photo lab is a perfectly sound idea. If you ask for 50 or more (6x4" or 7x5") prints in one go, they should do them for about 10p each - which is cheaper than you could print them at home for, and they should be better prints as well as more durable.

As to the other questions, I'll write more another time. Some of my opinion is probably just my paranoia about loosing stuff - but I doubt my experiences (with hard-disks failing, USB devices glitching, CD-writes glitching etc) are that unusual.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 06/05/2009 12:22:10
Using a USB stick to take your photos to the high-street photo lab is a perfectly sound idea. If you ask for 50 or more (6x4" or 7x5") prints in one go, they should do them for about 10p each - which is cheaper than you could print them at home for, and they should be better prints as well as more durable.

techmind thanks for the reassurance and I will use the USB stick sometime/someday for the photos also yes I guess that you're right about the prices for the photos x 50. Only I have had this camera since summer 2007 and I've been using it ever since.
But I've uploaded them so I could do it that way.

Quote
As to the other questions, I'll write more another time. Some of my opinion is probably just my paranoia about loosing stuff - but I doubt my experiences (with hard-disks failing, USB devices glitching, CD-writes glitching etc) are that unusual.

Ok that's fine about writing more information/advice later, btw there's no rush.
Although it's the Hard-Disks failing or the USB devices glitching or CD writing glitches and so on.
Only there is a lot of data on here that I don't want to loose, then I guess it's the same for every computer-owner.
I don't really know, I'm hypothesising/guessing.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: RD on 06/05/2009 17:41:01
... If you ask for 50 or more (6x4" or 7x5") prints in one go, they should do them for about 10p each - which is cheaper than you could print them at home for, and they should be better prints as well as more durable.

10p, I wish, this 2004 article quotes 50p a time ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/06/print_booth_letters/
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 06/05/2009 18:24:31
... If you ask for 50 or more (6x4" or 7x5") prints in one go, they should do them for about 10p each - which is cheaper than you could print them at home for, and they should be better prints as well as more durable.

10p, I wish, this 2004 article quotes 50p a time ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/06/print_booth_letters/

The only high-street photo lab or booth went when the local Woolworths closed down last December but there are 3 high street photographic stores.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: techmind on 06/05/2009 22:52:34
The while-you-wait booths are usually more expensive, still 20-40p/print (and do lower-grade prints using a thermal printing system (dye transfer)?).

I'd recommend Jessops (stores or on-line), or photobox.co.uk (online) but others are available. Unfortunately Jessops (and many other stores) are not uniformly good - it depends to some extent on the operator and machine-maintenance too. That said, you're more likely to get better results from a photographic shop than from your local giant supermarket. You'll probably have to allow 1-hour, or even 24-hours in-store for the best price - but 10-15p/print is the norm under those conditions for 50+ prints.
These will be produced on photographic paper - very much the same material as traditional prints except that the machine exposes the paper using a scanning laser beam rather than projecting light through the film negative.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: rosalind dna on 06/05/2009 23:39:23
The while-you-wait booths are usually more expensive, still 20-40p/print (and do lower-grade prints using a thermal printing system (dye transfer)?).

I'd recommend Jessops (stores or on-line), or photobox.co.uk (online) but others are available. Unfortunately Jessops (and many other stores) are not uniformly good - it depends to some extent on the operator and machine-maintenance too. That said, you're more likely to get better results from a photographic shop than from your local giant supermarket. You'll probably have to allow 1-hour, or even 24-hours in-store for the best price - but 10-15p/print is the norm under those conditions for 50+ prints.
These will be produced on photographic paper - very much the same material as traditional prints except that the machine exposes the paper using a scanning laser beam rather than projecting light through the film negative.


techmind I had thought of Jessops but there is not one their stores close to me.
These are the nearest relevant sites that I found for the 2 local photographic stores.
I don't have a large supermarket that has photographic services. Unfortunately.

But would the machine's scanning laser beam damage/spoil my photos??
Other than the former projecting lights with negatives as you'd mentioned. Thanks

http://www.snappysnaps.co.uk/   http://www.foto-plus.co.uk/index.htm
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: Edster on 08/06/2009 22:57:35
A lot of good stuff here already May i add some of my experience?

(sorry -v is always in action, I hope I don`t have to apologise for length, a gentleman never should have to.  [;)]

The MS Cd and DVD prog doesn`t care about quality, it writes it and reads it back and it works FOR AS LITTLE AS 18 months! on a DVD.

Soft boys (they can drive the car but if they get a puncture they are stuffed "Oh that`s hardware I don`t need to know about that")  did a system backup this way and one sunday I found this to my cost and had to rebuild from scratch something vital. People were called at home.

Lifetime depends on the media, AND how recorded

I will try to compress this as much as I can

Recordable media is not like a pressed CD or dvd which has a spiral dot pattern impressed. a (usually) aluminium layer applied by vacuum deposition ( sputtering) some paint and a label: usually just more paint.

Recordable media have a spiral pressed, then a dyelayer, then USUALLY a silver layer or gold then a hermetic paint layer ( I`m not bothering with the extras for dual layer dvds)

The patent summaries are imprecise, but sputtering aluminium appears to be not good for the dye. I infer that some liquid phase method is used for the deposition of reflective metal layer as used by philips at some of their CD plants. (some of these had the wrong varnish and the silver layer started to tarnish from atmospheric pollutants. "bronzeing" from the outside toward the centre hole)

On record the the spiral is tracked by a servo, and the focus of the spot on the disk is tracked by a servo, the laser has a fixed amount of time to write to the dye.

A recorder and media rated at x20 will make a recording you can use, but not a best quality recording. the windows software will read this capability and go for it. You can apparently tweak it  but it is tedious.


The infra red sensitive dye is like a photographic emulsion, the darkness depends on the exposure time, so a laser that can just about manage at x20 will happily cope at x10 or less.

The wobbling of the servos is also reduced as the speed is reduced so the exposed dots are closer to the centre of the spiral and sharper in edge.

The exposed dots on a CD are bigger than a dvd. They are therefore less susceptible to light ageing. They are also less demanding on the servo tracking accuracy compared to a DVD.

If you want your Digi photos to last you need a tape store, these have proven lives of over 60 years but cost an arm and a leg.

My recommendation from studies I was paid to undertake is:

backup to CD`s not DVD. use decent software to back up, still the best as far as function and friendlies to use it after 10 years of trying them is Ahead Nero, used throughout the broadcast industry. where it can cost thousands or a lost franchise  for a duff DVD or CD IMHO

Burn media at the slowest speed you can, some media will not burn without errors  at x1 in some  dvd capable burners but  x2 seems to work.

 NOT ALL MEDIA ARE CREATED EQUAL!

The life of a cheap dvd blank recorded using indifferent software is about 2-3 years. or 1 year or so  as I found above.  A colleague bought some DVD`s on e-bay at 30p each (ahem....wouldn`t you be suspicious?)  and even under nero every single one was a coaster. The Id track was gibberish. couldn`t get the factory or any info, what a surprise!

If you want it to last use mitsui archive media as used by the major museums in the world, and burn it slow and accurately.


SERVOS: these are feedback analogue electronic or digital functions used to maintain a desired state, from temperature position or whatever.

This is where something needs to be, if it goes outside a percentage of correct  then a push is generated that is used to push it back. Once that signal is applied it swings  past zero,the other way and an error signal is used to push it back again.
 Servo`s spend all their time wobbling and kicking it back in the middle.

If you run slower, they have more time, and they are more acccurate.

As far as the rest of the thread: Flash drives are available with a write protect function. these are fairly reliable.
Those without may be screwed by windows vista or XP in microseconds.( don`t ask me the mechanism, it just happens, the drive is ok but no data)

Even write protected drives can be killed by the USB 2 interface.
 in order to achieve higher speeds the static protection is now marginal. Especially on laptops. Oh and especially Sony Vaio. 20% dead within 6 months is pretty serious over several hundred.

External hard drives are good But......
USB drives are based on 2.5" laptop tech. the head positioning mech that moves it off disk under shock also means it has a an approx 2 year MTBF shorter lifetime, 3.5" drives about  3 years, enterprise drives 5, but fast enterprise drives are rarely bigger than 40gig.
 Anything over 40G is smoke and mirrors and has to multi pass to recover data statistically to a hugely higher degree than sub 40G drives. if you archive on a hard disk i recommend a good old sub 40G 3.5"ide in a usb case. (£35?) It is unlikely to suffer the "yip yips" of a laptop drive after a year or three  dormant when its internal data has been forgotten as not powered and it can`t find track zero.

You show a standard drive, a USB dvd//cd writer is around £50 from argos 65 for the lightscribe I bought 6 months ago, it will almost certainly come with Nero which will let you write at less than the manic maximum the windows poo does.

Using a decent epson printer with epson ink and paper it is around 20-25p per print(Edit: If you have been on a sailing holiday you will run out of blue in a combined cartridge  and costs can be 35p+ !).
 The results are near as dammit fuji paper, apart from the fade resistance, I understand the latest generation of Epson inks are extremely lightfast.
Any large runs I now take to jessops. they didn`t do this 9 years ago when I paid £600 for a state of it scanner and printer for my 35mm stuff, still won`t downgrade to soft digital as I have the equiv of at least a 10 Mpixel cam even on a fast grainy transparency film captured without interpolation or noise reduction.
Bests
E






Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: laeed on 14/05/2010 04:11:41
What's the difference between a memory stick and a memory card like the one I have in the camera?

The only practical difference is that USB memory stick will not fit in your Sony camera, but the memory card in your Sony camera can be connected to a USB port on a computer via an adapter called a card reader. If you have a cable to connect your camera to you computer then you don't need a card reader.

Once your camera's memory card (http://www.sourcingmap.com/memory-cards-c-986_1806.html) is nearly full, connect it to the computer and copy the photos onto your computer and/or a USB memory stick attached to your computer. Having copied the photos onto the computer (and onto a USB memory stick) then you can delete the photos on the camera's memory card giving you space to take more photos.

Like I said attending beginners course at your local library or camera club where someone can show you how to do this would be the most reliable way of enabling you to confidently archive your digital photos and avoid losing irreplaceable pictures.

Quote
The only practical difference is that USB memory stick will not fit in your Sony camera, but the memory card in your Sony camera can be connected to a USB port on a computer via an adapter called a card reader. If you have a cable to connect your camera to you computer then you don't need a card reader.
RD, as I have already mentioned that I do not own (yet) a memory card reader. But if necessary
I will buy one. Also when I've taken some photos then I usually upload them to the PC by plugging in it's USB cable, turning it on then the box appears and follow the instructions.
Yes I've got a memory card for 80 photos but then this is my first ever digital camera.

Quote
Once your camera's memory card is nearly full, connect it to the computer and copy the photos onto your computer and/or a USB memory stick attached to your computer. Having copied the photos onto the computer (and onto a USB memory stick) then you can delete the photos on the camera's memory card giving you space to take more photos.
Yes I know that when the camera's memory card is nearly full then I upload the photos and delete them afterwards to give the memory card more space as the camera shows me with it's icons. I would attach a memory stick to the USB hub that has the USB computer mouse and Printer's USB plugs in them. I am confused

 Like I said attending beginners course at your local library or camera club where someone can show you how to do this would be the most reliable way of enabling you to confidently archive your digital photos and avoid losing irreplaceable pictures.
After this Bank Holiday weekend's over I'll ask in the library as it's always closed on Fridays. No I don't know why.
Agreed I do not want to lose the irreplaceable pictures or photos even other data.

Hi, all. Does anyone can solve my problem. The card was in my digital camera (Kodak C340) fordays without use, and when I went to take pictures one day, the camera couldn't read the card. I never had any trouble with it before. It just stopped reading it out of the blue.

I took the card out of my camera, and inserted it into the SD slot on my laptop computer (Toshiba Satellite L500). Usually, I can find the card in My Computer, and access its contents. Now, however, it's like my computer doesn't recognize the card, either.

There are a lot of important documents and other meaningful files on this card, so I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks!
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: Geezer on 14/05/2010 05:54:06

Hi, all. Does anyone can solve my problem. The card was in my digital camera (Kodak C340) fordays without use, and when I went to take pictures one day, the camera couldn't read the card. I never had any trouble with it before. It just stopped reading it out of the blue.

I took the card out of my camera, and inserted it into the SD slot on my laptop computer (Toshiba Satellite L500). Usually, I can find the card in My Computer, and access its contents. Now, however, it's like my computer doesn't recognize the card, either.

There are a lot of important documents and other meaningful files on this card, so I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks!


If you Google "sd memory recovery" you'll find a load of software products that claim to be able to recover data from flash memory devices like the SD card in your Kodak. I've no idea if any of them are much good, or if they will even work at all in your case, but if you really need to get the data back, you might try some of them.

Of course, if you do get your data back, immediately make a backup copy of everything you cannot afford to loose to two other locations, like your C drive and a CD or DVD. External USB connected hard drives are a good investment too. You can also use a web based backup service if you trust the provider.

Hope this helps.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: laeed on 14/05/2010 10:28:14
Thanks for your input. I will try.
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: imatfaal on 14/05/2010 12:00:43
10p, I wish, this 2004 article quotes 50p a time ... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/06/print_booth_letters/
Rosalind and RD

Luckily it's been getting cheaper since 2004 - Jessops will do 6X4s for 5 pence each (for over 200) and currently seem to be giving away 75 prints to get you started

http://photo.jessops.com/photo-printing.html

I take a silly number of photographs and keep them in various formats - and agree with almost all the suggestions; ie I use usb drives, dvds, online storage, and an external hard drive - depends on how important the photograph is to me.  Bits of advice
1.  Shop around for any bits; prices vary widely and amazon tends to be pricey
http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=kingson+flash+drive+16gb&hl=en&scoring=p&show=dd&sa=N&start=180
thats a google shopping search for kingston 16gb drives - ranging form 14quid to over 150!!  Personally I use datatraveller and havent had a problem - you can probably find a review of various brands on the internet.

2.  Storage is cheap compared to precious memories

3.  always store in the natural format that comes of the camera - you can make changes and tweek resolution on copies. and make sure the cameras resolution is up as high as it goes.

4.  once you have got your head around dealing with vast numbers of photos it becomes second nature to snap away - it is very easy to get carried away

Enjoy - hope to have helped

Matthew

Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: imatfaal on 14/05/2010 12:15:52
Rosalind


techmind I had thought of Jessops but there is not one their stores close to me.
These are the nearest relevant sites that I found for the 2 local photographic stores.
I don't have a large supermarket that has photographic services. Unfortunately.

But would the machine's scanning laser beam damage/spoil my photos??
Other than the former projecting lights with negatives as you'd mentioned. Thanks

http://www.snappysnaps.co.uk/   http://www.foto-plus.co.uk/index.htm


One more thing - the sights that techmind/you mentioned will take order online and post results to you.  You upload the photos to them and they print them and post the hardcopys back (it's an extra couple of quid). 

If you are physically taking a memory card/stick/dvd to be printed then it MUST be a copy - keep your original safe. The copy of the information (and that is all a digital photo is) will be fairly faithfully reproduced and will almost certainly not be altered by the printing firm and your original at home will not be changed at all. the scanning laser mentioned is part of the printing process not the reading and nothing to be worried about.

Matthew
Title: Can I put my digital photos onto a memory stick? ?
Post by: JordanRHughes on 03/06/2010 21:54:53
I am not sure if you can, but it is certainly possible.

Cheers.

 [:o]
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