Photo storage

[pouyade]

Apologies for the apparent laziness, but I have tried a search (or three!) and ended up with nothing. I seem to remember in discussions sometime ago that Dick mentioned the deterioration of photos kept on CDs. He suggested a portable hard drive as an alternative. I am just beginning (really!) this digital lark and wondered:

 

Is a memory stick classified as a type of hard drive or is it as vulnerable to deterioration as a CD?

 

If I buy a portable hard drive will it automatically compatible with my Dell PC or are there ‘types’?

 

Oh, and separately but as you’re paying attention, my daughter has a new macbook. She would like a mouse, are there specific ones for apple machines or are they all compatible?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

 

Pouyade

[cooperlola]

Most external hard drives work via a USB port and are "plug and play".  I have two and put all my pics on both, as a precaution.  You can also think about getting a "pro" account (dirt cheap) from somebody like Flickr or Photobucket, where you can store your most treasured possessions on somebody else's computer too!  A memory stick is certainly an external storage device and I have no idea of their longevity. My main worry about them, personally, is that they are very small and you could lose them!

[Pierre ZFP]

Is a memory stick classified as a type of hard drive or is it as vulnerable to deterioration as a CD? If anything, more vunerable to both failure and physical loss or damage.  This is not an archive storage medium

 

If I buy a portable hard drive will it automatically compatible with my Dell PC or are there ‘types’? Get an external USB drive and it will connect to more or less anything.  As a guide, Maplins are knocking out a 750 Gb external drive for 120 quid - should keep you going for a bit

 

Oh, and separately but as you’re paying attention, my daughter has a new macbook. She would like a mouse, are there specific ones for apple machines or are they all compatible? Don't know too much about MACs but I think the mice are different - eg no right button

 

Nothing wrong with taking another backup of your photos to CDor DVD.  After all, only one backup is not a backup.  You might want to consider online stoarage like BTs Digital Vault.  I use it a LOT.

[cooperlola]

Bloomin' 'eck that's cheap Pierre.  Maplins, here we come...

[Bob T]

You can buy them in France too from here.

[cooperlola]

Thanks Bob, I have the Lacie 500 go one but paid a bit more for it than that!

(But I notice that blank DVDs are as scarily priced on there as most other places in France.  Over a 100€ for 50 - are they joking (just paid £7 at play.com!))

[Coppi]

For external drives have a look at Amazon. I have bought 4 from them recently, 2x500GB and 2x1TB, and although I haven't got to cost to hand at the moment I thought when I bought them that they extremely reasonably priced. They are all LaCie.

C

[Dick Smith]

Don't use a memory stick for anything important. Just today I had a kid lose a load of coursework which she had been keeping on a stick. And of course the sticks themselves are easy to lose...

I use SmartDisk Firelite drives - they are small and quiet, and they are powered from the Firewire port on the computer. I've never had any failures from them - so now I will! They are compact enough to keep in a laptop bag, especially as they don't have a power supply to cart around.

Mac mice don't have a right button because you don't need one. Just click and hold down the ctrl key. Or use any other USB or radio mouse - I use bluetooth, radio and wired mice, apple and Microsoft (I like the old Intellimouse 5-button, not so keen on the newer ones).

[woolybanana]

a la cie 500 should cost a maximum of 100€. 1 tetra is a bit more but propping very fast in price. Amazon.fr is your best bet but there can be offers elsewhere eg FNAC.