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HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
we are now using a backup solution
PHOTOSTICKS..
- Thread starter postie
- Start date
I have never used one and I can't think what use they would be over an ordinary USB stick. Personally I am fed up with software that tries to 'organise' things for me. They create 'libraries' that aren't, just pointers to where files are really hidden. And that is the problem I have with these schemes, one program 'helpfully' saves stuff for you but if you need to pass it to another program where is it?
Windows started this game with 'shortcuts'. There must have been many a poor presenter that arrived at the event only to find that their floppy (history!) disc just contained the shortcut to the real file 'back at the office'.
I prefer to do my own organising.
Windows started this game with 'shortcuts'. There must have been many a poor presenter that arrived at the event only to find that their floppy (history!) disc just contained the shortcut to the real file 'back at the office'.
I prefer to do my own organising.
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Jim
I have used USB storage on many occasions for transporting photos and never had a problem, but for long time storage I always use an external USB connected drive which is rarely connected to my PC. What I am saying is I have no idea what the long term effect on images using USB stick would be.
I have used USB storage on many occasions for transporting photos and never had a problem, but for long time storage I always use an external USB connected drive which is rarely connected to my PC. What I am saying is I have no idea what the long term effect on images using USB stick would be.
jukebox
Engineer Brummie
I presume Postie is referring to something similar to this: https://tinyurl.com/yxmqotvl
I agree with the comments made by Spargone. Quite a few storage items such as external hard drives and these USB sticks contain 'back-up' software which quite frankly, unless the user is completely computer illiterate or has photos scattered all over their hard drive, is completely unnecessary.
Hopefully Postie all your photos and videos are nicely arranged in folders on your PC so just copying these to a standard usb stick should be a doddle!
I agree with the comments made by Spargone. Quite a few storage items such as external hard drives and these USB sticks contain 'back-up' software which quite frankly, unless the user is completely computer illiterate or has photos scattered all over their hard drive, is completely unnecessary.
Hopefully Postie all your photos and videos are nicely arranged in folders on your PC so just copying these to a standard usb stick should be a doddle!
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Jim,
All forms of storage, sticks, USB-connected drives, and CD/DVDs have a limited life. You can get estimated figures from a number of sources, but they are just that - estimated. I've found that CD/DVDs created by the computer have an average life of four to five years as they are created by a different process to music CDs you buy in a shop.
USB sticks bought from a reliable source - not eBay - can fail, but I haven't had one fail on me yet. Jan has bought several reputedly 128Gb sticks from eBay and they have been anything but. The best had 8 GB of usual storage. They are manufacturer's rejects bought on the cheap. Don't touch them.
SSDs in many new computers are a similar process and could fail - the point is when? The only safe way of keeping your images is to make several copies on different physical media separate from the computer. I have two large external disk drives plus several sticks and the SSD drive is backed up to both external drives regularly. Especially important files and images are also on USB sticks. It's really a case of a belt and braces approach.
Maurice
All forms of storage, sticks, USB-connected drives, and CD/DVDs have a limited life. You can get estimated figures from a number of sources, but they are just that - estimated. I've found that CD/DVDs created by the computer have an average life of four to five years as they are created by a different process to music CDs you buy in a shop.
USB sticks bought from a reliable source - not eBay - can fail, but I haven't had one fail on me yet. Jan has bought several reputedly 128Gb sticks from eBay and they have been anything but. The best had 8 GB of usual storage. They are manufacturer's rejects bought on the cheap. Don't touch them.
SSDs in many new computers are a similar process and could fail - the point is when? The only safe way of keeping your images is to make several copies on different physical media separate from the computer. I have two large external disk drives plus several sticks and the SSD drive is backed up to both external drives regularly. Especially important files and images are also on USB sticks. It's really a case of a belt and braces approach.
Maurice
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I've have stored photos on USB sticks for more than 10 years and they are still good. If I have photos in a folder on a Windows computer I simply plug in the USB stick and then drag the complete folder of photos across to the USB.
I do keep more than one copy of my photos on various devices.
A a matter of interest I have had a 32Gb USB plugged into my router for 7 years and this has copies of every photo I've ever uploaded to the BHF. It also contains many other files and uses about 16GB so far. I do back it up to an external hard drive once a month ....
I do keep more than one copy of my photos on various devices.
A a matter of interest I have had a 32Gb USB plugged into my router for 7 years and this has copies of every photo I've ever uploaded to the BHF. It also contains many other files and uses about 16GB so far. I do back it up to an external hard drive once a month ....
Eric Gibson
master brummie
A wee bit off topic but I couldn't find recently taken photos on my computer, those libraries mentioned above, after searching for a while I found that the date on my camera had reverted to 2006 and my new photos were in a 2006 dated library but they were all there.
Not sure why the camera date changed, maybe when I took the battery out to charge it.
Not sure why the camera date changed, maybe when I took the battery out to charge it.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
Also slightly off topic but about storing photos.
I recently bought a new iPhone which I regularly use as a camera ... saves carrying a camera when I'm out and about.
First time I started it I took a pic to see how good it was and opened 'Camera Roll' to look at it and the phone displayed a hundred plus of my previous pics dating back to 2014 with info about where and when I took the pics.
Apple had 'helpfully' copied all my previous pics to the iCloud.
I then decided to bookmark some websites and opened Safari to do it. I didn't need to, the phone was full of bookmarks. Apple had again copied all my bookmarks to the iCloud including many I had deleted in my devices.
And now Microsoft with an app in my phone are busy helping me to store iPhone pics on their cloud.
I could stop it all going on but it is convenient ....
I recently bought a new iPhone which I regularly use as a camera ... saves carrying a camera when I'm out and about.
First time I started it I took a pic to see how good it was and opened 'Camera Roll' to look at it and the phone displayed a hundred plus of my previous pics dating back to 2014 with info about where and when I took the pics.
Apple had 'helpfully' copied all my previous pics to the iCloud.
I then decided to bookmark some websites and opened Safari to do it. I didn't need to, the phone was full of bookmarks. Apple had again copied all my bookmarks to the iCloud including many I had deleted in my devices.
And now Microsoft with an app in my phone are busy helping me to store iPhone pics on their cloud.
I could stop it all going on but it is convenient ....
aston lad
master brummie
Jim.....I would take up their offer, I have ten's of thousands of photographs on my system and everyday for the past 20 years or so I say I am going to organise them, never have....I would use the stick ( if it works) to see if it did what it says...then I would transfer them on to another storage medium....external hard drive etc....worth a try .....
Thanks John, the only reason I am hesitating is because I saw a item on the internet that someone had been sent a photo stick, downloaded all their photos and when they came to view them they were presented with a notice that said they had to send for permission and pay a fee to unlock the stick, if fee not paid they would wipe the said stick clean .
Anyway I have decided to give the offer a miss...
be careful out there, there is always someone waiting to relieve you of your cash...
Anyway I have decided to give the offer a miss...
be careful out there, there is always someone waiting to relieve you of your cash...
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
This thread has me thinking about USB sticks and presently I have 10 of them. I have in the past been given or bought USB sticks and plugged them in without thinking ... they are very useful.
Any of them could contain malware which could infect a Windows computer but you can only check their contents by plugging them in and malware such as key-loggers could enter the computer in an instant unless your antivirus stops them.
Some tech 'guru's suggest first plugging them in a spare computer which is disposable and can be trashed !
I do have a spare Linux computer which could inspect the contents and deal with anything but booting it just to check a USB stick is a bother.
I've never previously had trouble with USB sticks but in future will never accept a stick from anyone I don't know.
I suppose with 10 existing sticks I don't need to buy anymore ...
Any of them could contain malware which could infect a Windows computer but you can only check their contents by plugging them in and malware such as key-loggers could enter the computer in an instant unless your antivirus stops them.
Some tech 'guru's suggest first plugging them in a spare computer which is disposable and can be trashed !
I do have a spare Linux computer which could inspect the contents and deal with anything but booting it just to check a USB stick is a bother.
I've never previously had trouble with USB sticks but in future will never accept a stick from anyone I don't know.
I suppose with 10 existing sticks I don't need to buy anymore ...
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
hi. yer i had a lot of input on some usb sticks, i put them in the draw, when i tryd to off load some data,they were
corrupt, so i use a usb hardrive now,and dont lose anything on that.
Lumpammer
master brummie
I have bought several from ebay. No problem with any of them. I always buy Sandisk
cookie273uk
master brummie
I download my doc/pic files on to DVD's and CD's, what is the advantage of using a USB stick, probably a naïve question. Eric
Smudger
master brummie
Always format the usb stick before use.This thread has me thinking about USB sticks and presently I have 10 of them. I have in the past been given or bought USB sticks and plugged them in without thinking ... they are very useful.
Any of them could contain malware which could infect a Windows computer but you can only check their contents by plugging them in and malware such as key-loggers could enter the computer in an instant unless your antivirus stops them.
Some tech 'guru's suggest first plugging them in a spare computer which is disposable and can be trashed !
I do have a spare Linux computer which could inspect the contents and deal with anything but booting it just to check a USB stick is a bother.
I've never previously had trouble with USB sticks but in future will never accept a stick from anyone I don't know.
I suppose with 10 existing sticks I don't need to buy anymore ...
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
The USB has to be plugged in a computer to format it and the malware could transfer before you clicked the format command ...
Having said that I have never had trouble with USB sticks although I don't use them much these days. I have one with 4Gb of music plugged into my car ... easier than CDs.
Photos I take these days go straight out of the phone or camera into the computer.
aston lad
master brummie
These sticks are not the normal run of the mill memory stick, they have programme built into the stick to hunt and rearrange your photo's in date order, very useful if you have ten's of thousands like myself and probably others on this forum, the only draw back is the cost...£150 for a 500gb, there are cheaper ones with less memory, but for that amount I could buy a couple of tb external hard drives .....
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Smudger
master brummie
The USB has to be plugged in a computer to format it and the malware could transfer before you clicked the format command ...
That only applies if you use Autorun. If you don`t use Autorun surely it would be safe to plug the usb into pc & format it safely?
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I don't know anyone who has had malware problems with USB sticks and I don't think any member of the BHF has ever reported problems. I think we are safe using them ...
