Memory Card - Spin Off

Sherri Tierney

Sherri Tierney

New member
Trish's memory card thread made me think of something that I've wondered about for a while...

Do you upload photos to your computer from your memory card and then delete them or do you leave them on your memory card indefinitely?

MANY of the people I know never remove a picture from their memory card. They fill up one card after another and catalog the cards into some sort of organizational system. Then they go back to the card when they want a photo from that time frame.

Personally - I find this kinda crazy. I pay good money for my memory cards. I have a few and all have been on the pricier side. I get high speed ones so that they work well when I am continually shooting. Right now I am using an Eye-Fi in my DSLR so I couldn't even imagine just filling it up and putting it away... but that's beside the point. I also don't believe memory cards are a solid method of storage for the future. I have saw too many go corrupt. I can't imagine going to retrieve pictures only to discover the whole card is bad. :(
 
We delete them once they are on my hubby's computer. We have a copy on my computer, which is backed up, and a copy on hubby's computer, which is also backed up regularly. We definitely don't keep them on the memory card once we have them on our puters.
 
Delete. Delete. Delete.

I couldn't even imagine purchasing new cards all of the time. I also agree that I don't think that they are a very stable form of storage.
 
Thinking of all the computers I've fried, and pictures I've lost, I'd totally have just been filling up cards all this time. lol That sounds like a totally legit idea to me.

But neh, I'm too cheap and shortsighted to do anything like that.
 
I don't just delete, I format the card after I've downloaded. Never had card problems either.
 
I delete, but not immediately. Because I'm paranoid, I want to make sure the photos newly uploaded to the computer have a chance to back up on Backblaze (within an hour) and on my EHD (every 1-2 weeks) before I delete them from the card.

I'm with you, Sherri-I buy the class 10 cards and can't imagine the expense of continually buying more. Then again, I'd need a bunch every year. I know people who would take a year or 2 to fill one. I've accepted that no form of storage is good long term, and the best we can do is have multiple backups. I've had enough HDs and EHDs fail on me that I don't really consider those good storage mediums either. If SD cards are more convenient for someone than an EHD, then why not?
 
Mine get uploaded to the computer, to the server, and to my backup, and deleted off my card. I only have 1 card, and hate to have it full for any reason, so it's always uploaded as soon as I remember to do it.
 
I fill mine up and leave them there. I really don't have to buy new ones very often. I figure it's just one more form of back up.

One thing I have wondered about reusing them, with many different forms of electronic recording devices the quality downgrades when it's repeatedly deleted and reusing. Does it happen with memory cards, too?
 
lovely1m said:
I fill mine up and leave them there. I really don't have to buy new ones very often. I figure it's just one more form of back up.

One thing I have wondered about reusing them, with many different forms of electronic recording devices the quality downgrades when it's repeatedly deleted and reusing. Does it happen with memory cards, too?
Click to expand...

I've never researched it, but of all the SD cards I've ever used, I have never had any issues with the ones I've used in cameras and frequently deleted and reused. Just had my first one fail on me, and it was a 2 month old micro SD card in a phone--90% of what I'd put on it in that time was still on it, so only minimal deleting and reusing.
 
I copy to my laptop and ehd. I back up to dvd maybe once a month or so, and it's only after that's done that I delete from the card. It could get very expensive to keep buying new cards each time I fill them :D
 
I use an Eye-Fi card, so mine upload automatically. Once they upload, I back up to my EHD daily, to my backup once a week, and then to our whole home backup after a month. Then I clear my card and format it.
 
I copy them off & delete most but I generally keep one from each day on the card. Not for any need to actually save the photo but because I like seeing the little thumbnails on my camera when I use the 'calendar view' option. :blink:

Eventually I edit the ones I copied off and then I upload the edited ones to SmugMug. Sooner or later I back up everything to my EHD.
 
lovely1m said:
I fill mine up and leave them there. I really don't have to buy new ones very often. I figure it's just one more form of back up.

One thing I have wondered about reusing them, with many different forms of electronic recording devices the quality downgrades when it's repeatedly deleted and reusing. Does it happen with memory cards, too?
Click to expand...

I use Compact Flash cards but I'd always heard you should format your card rather than deleting images off of it. So I always upload my images, back them up and then reformat the card once it's back in the camera.
 
I upload my pictures to my computer fairly regularly, but I try to fill up my whole SD card before formatting it. I've heard that it's good to use the whole card and not just the first 100 slots on it every time. Something about more even wear. I've also heard that formatting is better than deleting.
 
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