How do you store all these memory cards ?

Hi All
I have dozens of memory cards now and I'm looking for a storage solution as they are cheap enough now to keep as original files.
I was thinking of something like a A4 neg page but can't find anything suitable.... anyone have any ideas ?
Cheers

If you do this, eventually you will find that some of the cards can no longer be read. The information does not remain forever, maybe a very long time but not forever.

I agree with John, although it will be several (if not tens) of years and I believe that SanDisk are suggesting 100 years on some of their newer cards.

Why not make a single CD/DVD of each one too - then you will have a back up.

I use Double Sided DVD-RAM disks for backups 9.4GB on each disk. At least 30 year life. Handle just like big floppy disks, just drag files onto disk using packet writing software, no need to wait until 4.7GB is ready to be copied.

shim

In the OPs case one DVD/CD per card would be OK as there would be a 1:1 match.

Most people don't keep the cards full so no need.

The good thing about DVD-RAM is that you can go back and change it anytime, so if you have say originals plus notes or modified files, you can change them. I've never tried editing photos on a disk, but it should be possible I've done it with videos transfered off my HD Panasonic (TV) recorder.

shim

Well, Flash memory has a longer lifespan than optical media such as CD, DVD or Bluray (generally 5 years). It has a longer lifespan than hard disks (generally arround 10 years as the vapuour lubricant will slowly escape) as well. For data longevity and security nothing beats it (as long as you pick up a good quality card or SSD).

Flash has no moving parts and are very shock resistant, when data is written it phisically changes the structure of the cell that is written. If it is no longer readable they are the easiest to recover data from (if given to a forensic recovery company).

Don't flash memory cards loose data if not used in a relatively short span of time... e.g. a few months? I thought I had read that the data would essentially fade away if the card was not given some power once in a while.
I cannot find any references now, of course.
Is this 100 year life span supposed to be in reference to archiving the card without power? That would be pretty sweet.

Flash needs no power to maintain the data, brilliant technology. I would love to back up all my photos on an SSD but that would cost a lot.

I would treat any claims regarding storage life with suspicion. When CD's first came out they were claiming over 100 years storage. The warning in the Toshiba manual is to back up the data on the card regularly.

shim

Using memory cards for permanent storage seems a waste of money for me. The cards are more expensive than hard disk space. And I think I would find it difficult to organise the pictures in a sensible way. You do, after all, want to be able to find the pictures again after some time.

So far I have only one card for my camera (2 GByte), and I have never run out of space (I am never long enough away from my computer, and I want to see the results as quickly as possible).

I don't trust memory cards/sticks for permanent storage, nor CDs or DVDs. My backup is 1) synchronising the picture folders on my stationary and laptop computers, then copying the pictures to external hard disks from each of them. Quick and pretty safe.

Amazon are now selling Toshiba 1TB external hard drives for £69.00. A couple of these in a Raid array should keep your data pretty safe for a long time, and will make access a million times easier.

I have a liitle program which checks the SMART data on my internal drives and warns me if they are likely to fail. I'm now looking for something similar for my external drives. Free, of course!

G

Honestly, I don't believe these statements. They said the same about CDs when these became popular. Already I have had several CDs failing me, luckily not containing irreplaceable data, and these have been just a few years old.

Any storage medium that is not checked periodically is susceptical to fail, imho.

It's all highly suspect and I'm not sure who we'll be able to complain to if our data doesn't last 100 years. Come to think of it I'm not sure I'll be in a position to complain at all.

There isn't much that will hold information permanently. Digital media fail, CDs oxidise, tape degrades and prints through, paper rots, stone weathers away....

Old fashioned records are not bad if kept vertical and stress free and at the right temperature. Silver gelatine prints also last potentially for hundreds of years, especially if toned with Selenium or Gold. But there's not much that has any real garantee.

DVD-RAM is the best storage media I've ever used link and I've never had any problems with it during the 10 tears or so I've been using it.

Quote: DVD-RAM is considered a highly reliable format, as the discs have built-in error control and a defect management system. Therefore, DVD-RAM is perceived to be better than the other DVD technologies for traditional computer usage tasks such as general data storage, backup and archival.

I do have some NEW Kodak Professional Gold CD's that have a 200 year life but they only hold 700MB.

shim