Formatting SD card every time you delete images necessary?

[Impulses]

SD cards are inexpensive now, so I don't bother reformatting.

You just buy new ones?

You didn’t ask me, but for a long time I did. But with V60 cards it becomes a bit expensive. I used it as a backup strategy, always copied the files to my ssd after shooting. When a card was full, I took it to a space away from my other storage. So in case everything else would went wrong, I'd have all my RAWs and jpgs on sd-cards. I think I'll stick with it and just buy V60 cards when really needed for video.

Cheaper and easier to use external SSD's these days...

Yeah I don't quite see the point vs just moving an SSD elsewhere, and sync'ing stuff to it periodically, but I do shoot with faster cards for the buffer clearing time and wouldn't be wanna throwing money away like that every few months...

SD cards are just another form of redundancy to me. My archive is a 12 TB($240) hard drive on my PC that I do not PP from. It has 3 primary folders: 1. All Jpeg files. 2. All RAW files and 3. All film scanned Jpeg files. All photo files are just the best ones after serious culling. Check the price of a 12 TB SSD card if you can find one.

But why would you want a 12TB card? I just don't understand why not have a second 12TB HDD for off-site redundancy instead of who knows how many cards, each card just increases the chance of failure (simple probability) and makes it harder to retrieve anything if the main archive fails. I don't get why anyone would treat them like film negatives...

I never take a PC, tablet or portable HD when I travel anywhere. I have never had a card fail on a trip. I used to sell prints from (1/2.3)" sensor cameras to my Mamiya 6x7.

My 4TB portable SSD is the size of a Tic Tac box (Crucial X10) and I can backup whatever is on my cameras' cards to it simply using my phone, in fact that's what I usually do instead of pulling out any other device. You don't need a tablet or PC these days or anything the size of a HDD to backup cards on the go, times have changed...

 

[Impulses]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

 

[DirkPeh]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

For me it’s an extra backup. Let’s assume you routinely copy your pictures to a ssd after shooting. And after copying them, you delete them on the sd-card. I later cull and process the files and copy jpgs of pictures I want to keep on my paid Dropbox storage while I keep copies of the RAWs and jpgs on an external ssd.

What if something went wrong during copying the files to the ssd for whatever reason and I would only realise it after deleting them on the sd-card or reformatting the card, when a few days later I want to process them?

I am only an enthusiast and not the best organised guy around, so it’s save to have the photos on a sd-card in exactly the sequence they were taken with this single camera just in case. For my ordinary photography I could live with v10 cards.

 

[Impulses]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

For me it’s an extra backup. Let’s assume you routinely copy your pictures to a ssd after shooting. And after copying them, you delete them on the sd-card. I later cull and process the files and copy jpgs of pictures I want to keep on my paid Dropbox storage while I keep copies of the RAWs and jpgs on an external ssd.

What if something went wrong during copying the files to the ssd for whatever reason and I would only realise it after deleting them on the sd-card or reformatting the card, when a few days later I want to process them?

You could run a checksum to make sure they copied right in the first place, or copy them twice from the source to 2 different desktop/portable drives, I tend to do the latter. You could also run a large enough card that you don't need to empty it the second you copy a day's worth of shooting (I don't usually fill a 128GB in one outing unless it's a concert or event where I'm shooting burst after burst).

All that still seems easier to me than keeping track of and labeling and testing all these loose cards plus spending $ on new cards several times a year, but YMMV.

I am only an enthusiast and not the best organised guy around, so it’s save to have the photos on a sd-card in exactly the sequence they were taken with this single camera just in case. For my ordinary photography I could live with v10 cards.

I often dump card storage exactly as it was just out of laziness so I can get to it later, I just make sure I'm copying it multiple times from the source to multiple destinations; I do this particularly on vacation where I'm not gonna be processing anything etc. I'll grab my phone, make a dated folder on an SSD, copy everything from card to there, then repeat with a smaller thumb drive (I should just use 2x SSD but I'm saving a buck this way with a 500GB thumb drive).

Odds are pretty low that two copies on two large storage media will have something wrong with them, probably lower than the odds of something failing if I'm managing more cards than the two faster ones I use by default. Even a 5fps burst for half a second would take exponentially longer (think well over a minute) to clear on my A7R IV if I was using v10 cards instead of a UHS-II card capable of 200MB/s+ writes.

 

[TN Args]

While I am using the Sony a7III, this probably applies to most models.

Since getting the unit I had made it a best practice to reformat the SD card whenever I wanted to clear up storage space. So whenever it was getting somewhat full, I would connect it to my PC, copy my images to the local HDD, then format the card inside the camera. As this would also delete the M1-M4 settings, I would keep a local copy of my 'PRIVATE' folder around which I manually put onto the drive again after formatting.

This is of course a lot of overhead, especially since one needs to manually copy back the PRIVATE folder to not lose certain settings. The reason I am doing this is because it was officially recommended by Sony. But over time and getting more confident with the camera, I am increasingly wondering whether this is just exaggerated and one can easily just delete files off the SD card in the PC, then put the card back in and not worry about reformatting on a frequent basis.

I have done this a few times too and not noticed any problems. What is still holding me back from skipping this step for good is that I do not know if Sony might create some internal library/index file so when you remove/modify stuff off-camera on your PC, it might lead to issues. I definitely do not want to risk ever losing data just because of this.

But if several other users here have long term experience not doing this and can confirm this is not a problem, I would feel encouraged enough to also drop this task for good.

After uploading your photos to PC, you can delete all the images using the camera.

• Menu > Playback > Delete > All images in folder

This way you know it is done correctly as far as the camera is concerned.

A couple of general cautionary notes from Sony's web-manual for my A7RIII:

• If you repeatedly shoot and delete images for a long time, fragmentation of data in a file in the memory card may occur, and movie recording may be interrupted in the middle of shooting. If this happens, save your images to a computer or other storage location, then execute [Format] using this camera.
• Memory card formatted with a computer is not guaranteed to operate with the product. Format the memory card using this product.

cheers

 

[ray_burnimage]

While I am using the Sony a7III, this probably applies to most models.

Since getting the unit I had made it a best practice to reformat the SD card whenever I wanted to clear up storage space. So whenever it was getting somewhat full, I would connect it to my PC, copy my images to the local HDD, then format the card inside the camera. As this would also delete the M1-M4 settings, I would keep a local copy of my 'PRIVATE' folder around which I manually put onto the drive again after formatting.

This is of course a lot of overhead, especially since one needs to manually copy back the PRIVATE folder to not lose certain settings. The reason I am doing this is because it was officially recommended by Sony. But over time and getting more confident with the camera, I am increasingly wondering whether this is just exaggerated and one can easily just delete files off the SD card in the PC, then put the card back in and not worry about reformatting on a frequent basis.

I have done this a few times too and not noticed any problems. What is still holding me back from skipping this step for good is that I do not know if Sony might create some internal library/index file so when you remove/modify stuff off-camera on your PC, it might lead to issues. I definitely do not want to risk ever losing data just because of this.

But if several other users here have long term experience not doing this and can confirm this is not a problem, I would feel encouraged enough to also drop this task for good.

After uploading your photos to PC, you can delete all the images using the camera.

• Menu > Playback > Delete > All images in folder

This way you know it is done correctly as far as the camera is concerned.

A couple of general cautionary notes from Sony's web-manual for my A7RIII:

• If you repeatedly shoot and delete images for a long time, fragmentation of data in a file in the memory card may occur, and movie recording may be interrupted in the middle of shooting. If this happens, save your images to a computer or other storage location, then execute [Format] using this camera.
• Memory card formatted with a computer is not guaranteed to operate with the product. Format the memory card using this product.

cheers

Al the more reason to develop a workflow which uploads and backs up all images after every shoot, with a camera reformat afterwards ready for the next shoot.

I'm actually wondering why this is even a thread, it's basic file management 101. It's also 2024 and storage is cheap, with a plethora of cloud options to give another layer of protection.

 

[MyReality]

SD cards are inexpensive now, so I don't bother reformatting.

You just buy new ones?

You didn’t ask me, but for a long time I did. But with V60 cards it becomes a bit expensive. I used it as a backup strategy, always copied the files to my ssd after shooting. When a card was full, I took it to a space away from my other storage. So in case everything else would went wrong, I'd have all my RAWs and jpgs on sd-cards. I think I'll stick with it and just buy V60 cards when really needed for video.

Cheaper and easier to use external SSD's these days...

Yeah I don't quite see the point vs just moving an SSD elsewhere, and sync'ing stuff to it periodically, but I do shoot with faster cards for the buffer clearing time and wouldn't be wanna throwing money away like that every few months...

SD cards are just another form of redundancy to me. My archive is a 12 TB($240) hard drive on my PC that I do not PP from. It has 3 primary folders: 1. All Jpeg files. 2. All RAW files and 3. All film scanned Jpeg files. All photo files are just the best ones after serious culling. Check the price of a 12 TB SSD card if you can find one.

But why would you want a 12TB card? I just don't understand why not have a second 12TB HDD for off-site redundancy instead of who knows how many cards, each card just increases the chance of failure (simple probability) and makes it harder to retrieve anything if the main archive fails. I don't get why anyone would treat them like film negatives...

I never take a PC, tablet or portable HD when I travel anywhere. I have never had a card fail on a trip. I used to sell prints from (1/2.3)" sensor cameras to my Mamiya 6x7.

My 4TB portable SSD is the size of a Tic Tac box (Crucial X10) and I can backup whatever is on my cameras' cards to it simply using my phone, in fact that's what I usually do instead of pulling out any other device. You don't need a tablet or PC these days or anything the size of a HDD to backup cards on the go, times have changed...

SD card > phone > SSD? Sounds like a hassle with a dongle or in-between connection. I just keep everything on the card and never download until I get home.

 

[ray_burnimage]

SD cards are inexpensive now, so I don't bother reformatting.

You just buy new ones?

You didn’t ask me, but for a long time I did. But with V60 cards it becomes a bit expensive. I used it as a backup strategy, always copied the files to my ssd after shooting. When a card was full, I took it to a space away from my other storage. So in case everything else would went wrong, I'd have all my RAWs and jpgs on sd-cards. I think I'll stick with it and just buy V60 cards when really needed for video.

Cheaper and easier to use external SSD's these days...

Yeah I don't quite see the point vs just moving an SSD elsewhere, and sync'ing stuff to it periodically, but I do shoot with faster cards for the buffer clearing time and wouldn't be wanna throwing money away like that every few months...

SD cards are just another form of redundancy to me. My archive is a 12 TB($240) hard drive on my PC that I do not PP from. It has 3 primary folders: 1. All Jpeg files. 2. All RAW files and 3. All film scanned Jpeg files. All photo files are just the best ones after serious culling. Check the price of a 12 TB SSD card if you can find one.

But why would you want a 12TB card? I just don't understand why not have a second 12TB HDD for off-site redundancy instead of who knows how many cards, each card just increases the chance of failure (simple probability) and makes it harder to retrieve anything if the main archive fails. I don't get why anyone would treat them like film negatives...

I never take a PC, tablet or portable HD when I travel anywhere. I have never had a card fail on a trip. I used to sell prints from (1/2.3)" sensor cameras to my Mamiya 6x7.

My 4TB portable SSD is the size of a Tic Tac box (Crucial X10) and I can backup whatever is on my cameras' cards to it simply using my phone, in fact that's what I usually do instead of pulling out any other device. You don't need a tablet or PC these days or anything the size of a HDD to backup cards on the go, times have changed...

SD card > phone > SSD? Sounds like a hassle with a dongle or in-between connection. I just keep everything on the card and never download until I get home.

Thats ok, as long as your kit doesn't fail or get stolen. Fine if you can live with images being lost. But, in 2024, there are so many backup strategies than can be automated and very inexpensive.

 

[MyReality]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

The odds of a single one failing stays the same. The odds of say, 3 failing, is similar to throwing 3 6's in a row with dice(1/(6x6x6)).

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

No, I just use a small sample. The odds of failure are very small.

 

[MyReality]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

For me it’s an extra backup. Let’s assume you routinely copy your pictures to a ssd after shooting. And after copying them, you delete them on the sd-card. I later cull and process the files and copy jpgs of pictures I want to keep on my paid Dropbox storage while I keep copies of the RAWs and jpgs on an external ssd.

What if something went wrong during copying the files to the ssd for whatever reason and I would only realise it after deleting them on the sd-card or reformatting the card, when a few days later I want to process them?

I am only an enthusiast and not the best organised guy around, so it’s save to have the photos on a sd-card in exactly the sequence they were taken with this single camera just in case. For my ordinary photography I could live with v10 cards.

You "hit the nail on the head" as to one of the reasons I do. I want an original source of all the files on the SD card.

 

[ray_burnimage]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

For me it’s an extra backup. Let’s assume you routinely copy your pictures to a ssd after shooting. And after copying them, you delete them on the sd-card. I later cull and process the files and copy jpgs of pictures I want to keep on my paid Dropbox storage while I keep copies of the RAWs and jpgs on an external ssd.

What if something went wrong during copying the files to the ssd for whatever reason and I would only realise it after deleting them on the sd-card or reformatting the card, when a few days later I want to process them?

I am only an enthusiast and not the best organised guy around, so it’s save to have the photos on a sd-card in exactly the sequence they were taken with this single camera just in case. For my ordinary photography I could live with v10 cards.

You "hit the nail on the head" as to one of the reasons I do. I want an original source of all the files on the SD

You upload to computer and cloud, even if that takes all night.. You then check and reformat cards for the next shoot.

 

[MyReality]

SD cards are inexpensive now, so I don't bother reformatting.

You just buy new ones?

You didn’t ask me, but for a long time I did. But with V60 cards it becomes a bit expensive. I used it as a backup strategy, always copied the files to my ssd after shooting. When a card was full, I took it to a space away from my other storage. So in case everything else would went wrong, I'd have all my RAWs and jpgs on sd-cards. I think I'll stick with it and just buy V60 cards when really needed for video.

Cheaper and easier to use external SSD's these days...

Yeah I don't quite see the point vs just moving an SSD elsewhere, and sync'ing stuff to it periodically, but I do shoot with faster cards for the buffer clearing time and wouldn't be wanna throwing money away like that every few months...

SD cards are just another form of redundancy to me. My archive is a 12 TB($240) hard drive on my PC that I do not PP from. It has 3 primary folders: 1. All Jpeg files. 2. All RAW files and 3. All film scanned Jpeg files. All photo files are just the best ones after serious culling. Check the price of a 12 TB SSD card if you can find one.

But why would you want a 12TB card? I just don't understand why not have a second 12TB HDD for off-site redundancy instead of who knows how many cards, each card just increases the chance of failure (simple probability) and makes it harder to retrieve anything if the main archive fails. I don't get why anyone would treat them like film negatives...

I never take a PC, tablet or portable HD when I travel anywhere. I have never had a card fail on a trip. I used to sell prints from (1/2.3)" sensor cameras to my Mamiya 6x7.

My 4TB portable SSD is the size of a Tic Tac box (Crucial X10) and I can backup whatever is on my cameras' cards to it simply using my phone, in fact that's what I usually do instead of pulling out any other device. You don't need a tablet or PC these days or anything the size of a HDD to backup cards on the go, times have changed...

SD card > phone > SSD? Sounds like a hassle with a dongle or in-between connection. I just keep everything on the card and never download until I get home.

Thats ok, as long as your kit doesn't fail or get stolen. Fine if you can live with images being lost. But, in 2024, there are so many backup strategies than can be automated and very inexpensive.

I while back, I looked for a SSD or HD with its on SD or micro SD slot and power supply to try to make it easier, but could not find one.

 

[ray_burnimage]

SD cards are inexpensive now, so I don't bother reformatting.

You just buy new ones?

You didn’t ask me, but for a long time I did. But with V60 cards it becomes a bit expensive. I used it as a backup strategy, always copied the files to my ssd after shooting. When a card was full, I took it to a space away from my other storage. So in case everything else would went wrong, I'd have all my RAWs and jpgs on sd-cards. I think I'll stick with it and just buy V60 cards when really needed for video.

Cheaper and easier to use external SSD's these days...

Yeah I don't quite see the point vs just moving an SSD elsewhere, and sync'ing stuff to it periodically, but I do shoot with faster cards for the buffer clearing time and wouldn't be wanna throwing money away like that every few months...

SD cards are just another form of redundancy to me. My archive is a 12 TB($240) hard drive on my PC that I do not PP from. It has 3 primary folders: 1. All Jpeg files. 2. All RAW files and 3. All film scanned Jpeg files. All photo files are just the best ones after serious culling. Check the price of a 12 TB SSD card if you can find one.

But why would you want a 12TB card? I just don't understand why not have a second 12TB HDD for off-site redundancy instead of who knows how many cards, each card just increases the chance of failure (simple probability) and makes it harder to retrieve anything if the main archive fails. I don't get why anyone would treat them like film negatives...

I never take a PC, tablet or portable HD when I travel anywhere. I have never had a card fail on a trip. I used to sell prints from (1/2.3)" sensor cameras to my Mamiya 6x7.

My 4TB portable SSD is the size of a Tic Tac box (Crucial X10) and I can backup whatever is on my cameras' cards to it simply using my phone, in fact that's what I usually do instead of pulling out any other device. You don't need a tablet or PC these days or anything the size of a HDD to backup cards on the go, times have changed...

SD card > phone > SSD? Sounds like a hassle with a dongle or in-between connection. I just keep everything on the card and never download until I get home.

Thats ok, as long as your kit doesn't fail or get stolen. Fine if you can live with images being lost. But, in 2024, there are so many backup strategies than can be automated and very inexpensive.

I while back, I looked for a SSD or HD with its on SD or micro SD slot and power supply to try to make it easier, but could not find one.

That's because there is isn't one. If you are happy to lose images crack on. The folks that keep SD cards as backup forever crack on too. Personally I think its all nuts. So many ways to backup your stuff these days, including travelling. And it can all be automated ... for little if any cost. Any cost incurred is cheaper than having it all on cheap SD cards at home... what a mess that is!

 

[Impulses]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

For me it’s an extra backup. Let’s assume you routinely copy your pictures to a ssd after shooting. And after copying them, you delete them on the sd-card. I later cull and process the files and copy jpgs of pictures I want to keep on my paid Dropbox storage while I keep copies of the RAWs and jpgs on an external ssd.

What if something went wrong during copying the files to the ssd for whatever reason and I would only realise it after deleting them on the sd-card or reformatting the card, when a few days later I want to process them?

I am only an enthusiast and not the best organised guy around, so it’s save to have the photos on a sd-card in exactly the sequence they were taken with this single camera just in case. For my ordinary photography I could live with v10 cards.

You "hit the nail on the head" as to one of the reasons I do. I want an original source of all the files on the SD card.

The only "original source" is the camera buffer...

 

[Impulses]

I just buy new ones, but non of them are larger than 128 gb. I don't want to have a large one seize up or crash on me even though the chance is very small.

So you'd rather exponentially increase the odds of this happening by having dozens of them?

The odds of a single one failing stays the same.

Yes, but you have a bunch of them, so the odds of a failure of any kind have increased exponentially.

The odds of say, 3 failing, is similar to throwing 3 6's in a row with dice(1/(6x6x6)).

How many dice again?

have 20 year old SD and CF cards that my cameras and PC card readers still read, that is better than some hard drives.

You go to the trouble of routinely cycling thru all of them to check their state? Kudos to you, though I still don't understand the advantage of this.

No, I just use a small sample.

So you have no idea what the state of most of them is... And this is your backup.

The odds of failure are very small.

How small? Over how many cards? Each with different content that you may value less/more? Hmm... User name checks out tbh.

 

[Impulses]

SD cards are inexpensive now, so I don't bother reformatting.

You just buy new ones?

You didn’t ask me, but for a long time I did. But with V60 cards it becomes a bit expensive. I used it as a backup strategy, always copied the files to my ssd after shooting. When a card was full, I took it to a space away from my other storage. So in case everything else would went wrong, I'd have all my RAWs and jpgs on sd-cards. I think I'll stick with it and just buy V60 cards when really needed for video.

Cheaper and easier to use external SSD's these days...

Yeah I don't quite see the point vs just moving an SSD elsewhere, and sync'ing stuff to it periodically, but I do shoot with faster cards for the buffer clearing time and wouldn't be wanna throwing money away like that every few months...

SD cards are just another form of redundancy to me. My archive is a 12 TB($240) hard drive on my PC that I do not PP from. It has 3 primary folders: 1. All Jpeg files. 2. All RAW files and 3. All film scanned Jpeg files. All photo files are just the best ones after serious culling. Check the price of a 12 TB SSD card if you can find one.

But why would you want a 12TB card? I just don't understand why not have a second 12TB HDD for off-site redundancy instead of who knows how many cards, each card just increases the chance of failure (simple probability) and makes it harder to retrieve anything if the main archive fails. I don't get why anyone would treat them like film negatives...

I never take a PC, tablet or portable HD when I travel anywhere. I have never had a card fail on a trip. I used to sell prints from (1/2.3)" sensor cameras to my Mamiya 6x7.

My 4TB portable SSD is the size of a Tic Tac box (Crucial X10) and I can backup whatever is on my cameras' cards to it simply using my phone, in fact that's what I usually do instead of pulling out any other device. You don't need a tablet or PC these days or anything the size of a HDD to backup cards on the go, times have changed...

SD card > phone > SSD? Sounds like a hassle with a dongle or in-between connection. I just keep everything on the card and never download until I get home.

Nope, SD card straight to SSD, just using the phone as a host device for the mini USB hub that I plug the card and SSD into. Not a hassle at all, the stuff barely takes up any space in a bag and it keeps me from having to swap between multiple cards. It's literally one hub in addition to the SSD, no extra dongle or anything.

I double down on it by copying to the SSD and to another thumb drive so I have two copies of the card and the thumb drive I can easily take with me at all times (not that the SSD isn't small enough for that), you can adjust this setup however you see fit but it's a lot simpler for on the go backup than dealing with a handful of cards.

Once back from vacation you can store one of the devices off site or backup online, the point is it's a ton easier to manage (and to check all the data is intact over time) than a multitude of cards, and less $ in the long run.

 

[Impulses]

SD cards are inexpensive now, so I don't bother reformatting.

You just buy new ones?

You didn’t ask me, but for a long time I did. But with V60 cards it becomes a bit expensive. I used it as a backup strategy, always copied the files to my ssd after shooting. When a card was full, I took it to a space away from my other storage. So in case everything else would went wrong, I'd have all my RAWs and jpgs on sd-cards. I think I'll stick with it and just buy V60 cards when really needed for video.

Cheaper and easier to use external SSD's these days...

Yeah I don't quite see the point vs just moving an SSD elsewhere, and sync'ing stuff to it periodically, but I do shoot with faster cards for the buffer clearing time and wouldn't be wanna throwing money away like that every few months...

SD cards are just another form of redundancy to me. My archive is a 12 TB($240) hard drive on my PC that I do not PP from. It has 3 primary folders: 1. All Jpeg files. 2. All RAW files and 3. All film scanned Jpeg files. All photo files are just the best ones after serious culling. Check the price of a 12 TB SSD card if you can find one.

But why would you want a 12TB card? I just don't understand why not have a second 12TB HDD for off-site redundancy instead of who knows how many cards, each card just increases the chance of failure (simple probability) and makes it harder to retrieve anything if the main archive fails. I don't get why anyone would treat them like film negatives...

I never take a PC, tablet or portable HD when I travel anywhere. I have never had a card fail on a trip. I used to sell prints from (1/2.3)" sensor cameras to my Mamiya 6x7.

My 4TB portable SSD is the size of a Tic Tac box (Crucial X10) and I can backup whatever is on my cameras' cards to it simply using my phone, in fact that's what I usually do instead of pulling out any other device. You don't need a tablet or PC these days or anything the size of a HDD to backup cards on the go, times have changed...

SD card > phone > SSD? Sounds like a hassle with a dongle or in-between connection. I just keep everything on the card and never download until I get home.

Thats ok, as long as your kit doesn't fail or get stolen. Fine if you can live with images being lost. But, in 2024, there are so many backup strategies than can be automated and very inexpensive.

I while back, I looked for a SSD or HD with its on SD or micro SD slot and power supply to try to make it easier, but could not find one.

You don't need that, the more complex and all in one the device is the more likely you'll encounter issues at some point. Using the phone as the file manager allows you to use any old USB-C hub and any removable media you want.

All in one devices that try to manage and automate the process will just complicate things.

 

[DirkPeh]

Maybe with keeping my photos on sd-cards I am simply a burned child. Being an IT-guy for decades, I have seen lots of tears and nervous breakdowns due to lost files. I am a developer and database expert, but in the earlier IT days, you were just that computer guy and every one turned to you.

This was the most common scenario in my cohort:

A 100+ pages of graphics and text, months of work, randomly cut and copied to the clipboard.

Panic starts: everything’s gone

Immediate thought: Before I call for help I do the obvious: secure my work and save the file as is.

(Major mistake: At this moment, the entire work is still in the clipboard, but the user saves the emptied file overwriting his entire work)

Next step: I have saved my work and called for help. He told me to do NOTHING. I use the remaining time and copy the saved file to my backup drive using the clipboard. Better safe than sorry. This really can't do any harm.

(Fatal mistake: The clipboard is deleted and the backup file is overwritten with the emptied file)

Everything’s gone.

Happy Christmas

 

[MyReality]

Very strange protocol with an accident waiting to happen. I hope you are joking. I worked in Engineering with Autocad and everything was saved locally and to a server.

I don't think some people understand using labeled SD cards as a form of redundancy. I use 3 forms of redundancy: 1. SD cards, 2. Local hard drive that I work from and 3. 12 TB HD for archiving everything. I could pay for and use cloud backup, but I don't do anything remotely. I keep my fingers crossed that my house does not burn down.

 

[Impulses]

Maybe with keeping my photos on sd-cards I am simply a burned child. Being an IT-guy for decades, I have seen lots of tears and nervous breakdowns due to lost files. I am a developer and database expert, but in the earlier IT days, you were just that computer guy and every one turned to you.

This was the most common scenario in my cohort:

A 100+ pages of graphics and text, months of work, randomly cut and copied to the clipboard.

Panic starts: everything’s gone

Immediate thought: Before I call for help I do the obvious: secure my work and save the file as is.

(Major mistake: At this moment, the entire work is still in the clipboard, but the user saves the emptied file overwriting his entire work)

Next step: I have saved my work and called for help. He told me to do NOTHING. I use the remaining time and copy the saved file to my backup drive using the clipboard. Better safe than sorry. This really can't do any harm.

(Fatal mistake: The clipboard is deleted and the backup file is overwritten with the emptied file)

Everything’s gone.

Happy Christmas

I don't see how the clipboard compares to an SD card, and I've never argued against proper backup routines or multiple levels of redundancy, the latter is the backbone of a sound backup strategy. A smattering of cards adds multiple levels of risk and makes it harder to manage or locate a backup tho...

In that instance, if the person is silly enough to delete their own work, chances are they would manage to do so in other ways as well. The only thing that would save them is a running background backup/sync routine with versioning. You're not the only one around here with an IT background btw.

Merry Christmas!