<p>Right now there are about 20,000 photos on my computer, and I intend to burn them to CD’s within the next month. I plan to keep my categories (“Summer 2007” “Christmas 2006” etc.) and burn each category to a separate CD, even if I don’t use all of the memory on each disc. I figure I’ll need about 20 CD’s for each year, which doesn’t seem like too many to organize and store.</p>
<p>In researching CD’s for this project, I’m getting confused. Some CD’s supposedly last only 2-5 years, and some (the “gold” ones) supposedly last 100 years. Supposedly CD R/W have a shorter lifespan than just CD R. And there are claims that this is the lifespan of new, unburned discs and that the lifespan decreases once they are written onto. Does anyone have expertise in this, and if so, would you recommend a brand? I know that I don’t want to re-do this in 2 years, but assume that I’ll have to re-do it in 10 years as dictated by changing technology.</p>
<p>Also, is the greater storage capacity the main advantage of DVD’s?</p>
<p>Does anyone have this down to a system? I’m thinking I’ll need to store the CD’s with index prints of each disc, and I’d appreciate hearing how other people have decided to handle all of this. Thank you!</p>
<p>I had similar questions. The folks at the local Apple store told me the same thing about CD’s: that they only keep the integrity of the photo for about 5 years. This isn’t enough for me. DVD’s are better, but some computer people tell me they last 20 years at most. I’ve got family pictures which are way older than that, so I can’t imagine storage that only lasts 20 years.</p>
<p>So I finally asked the computer guys what is the best, most dependable and long-lasting medium to store photos for the absolute longest period of time. He said an external hard drive is without question the best. So I think that’s what I’m going to do. I may use CD’s to keep on had and look at the pictures frequently (i.e., showing newest vacation pictures to our friends who went there with us, etc.), but not for long-term storage.</p>
<p>I don’t trust any electronic medium. Even if it doesn’t degrade after 20 years, will the technology be around to read it or will it be like trying to play Victrola records?</p>
<p>I am in the process of printing out all my photos that are good enough to keep. Hard copies on good paper will keep for many many years. And they’re easy to look at!</p>
<p>Electronic media can and do degrade over time. Some media are more sensitive to particular classes of insults. The best strategy is to back up your photos in multiple media at multiple locations. </p>
<p>DVD’s and external hard drives are convenient, but susceptible to physical damage. Use both. </p>
<p>Online backup at sites like Shutterfly or google photos is free and off site, but the task of uploading many photos will be time consuming.</p>
<p>Prints are prints, but less tech savvy folks will treasure and squirrel them away. Print your prized photos and send them to friends and relatives.</p>