Backing Up & Preserving Digital
Images  

Old shoeboxes full of 3"x5" snapshots have become a thing of the past with digital images. Digital camera users now can point, shoot and quickly delete any images that just don't look good. The pictures that look great can be easily stored for the future, with little risk of dust bunny attack.

Many people choose to store their digital image library on their hard drives - it's convenient, and their hard drive often has all the space they need. But storing images on your hard drive has several risks: First, it can slow your computer's performance in the long term, as the disk fills up. Second, all it takes is one virus to wipe your hard drive. and destroy your picture library. Backing up your images ensures long-term enjoyment of the pictures you make.

To back up your images, you'll need:

• A CD or DVD burner
• CD or DVD media that matches your drive
• CD or DVD burning software

How to back up digital photos onto CD or DVD media:

Writing to a CD or DVD is as simple as storing photos to your hard drive, once you have a burner and software, such as Roxio's Easy CD & DVD Creator. It's a quick process, which the software will guide you through, step by step.

• Identify which images you would like to write to the CD or DVD. They need to be available on your computer hard drive.
  
  
• You can organize your pictures on the disc using the same structure as you would on your hard drive. Create folders like 'C:\My Pictures\Holiday2003.' Then you can take an entire directory and put it straight onto the optical disc.
  
  
• Consider saving both the originals of your images as well as any retouched or edited versions. To do this, be sure to only edit copies of the original files, or use the 'save as' feature in your editing software to rename the files and save them to different directories to distinguish between originals and 'masterpieces.'
  
  
• Be sure to save your files in standard formats for maximum long-term utility. Most cameras take pictures in TIFF or JPEG formats; these formats are fine for archival purposes. EPS and GIF are also common formats that should stand the test of time.
  
  
• If you want to do more than just store your pictures, there are a number of software titles on the market that will give you step-by-step instructions for how to create digital scrapbooks, photo albums, and slideshows with your photos.
  
  
• Store your discs in a cool, dark place away from dust, water, and other hazards.

Consider how often you take pictures when choosing when to back up your pictures to disc. You may want to create a schedule to keep you in the habit of archiving your images, whether it's moving all images to disc once per month on the first or last day of the month, or archiving every time you have 50 or more new pictures to save.