Shoeboxes, Prints and Negatives No More. A Modern Approach to Archiving.

Gathering the gigabytes. This is a suggestion on the archiving of images so that we can expect to have them when they are needed years from now. First thing to consider is the workflow and how image files will move through your computer or computers. I have a picture file on my desktop that has subfolders for commercial, portraits, weddings, personal and aerial. Images are housed in one of these subfolders by the name of the client or project as long as it is needed and then they are gathered in 4.2 gigabyte groupings. These then become DVDs for archiving in duplicate. I am using DVD’s that can contain, supposedly, 4.7 Gigabites. For me it seems to max out at 4.2 Gb.  Always have a duplicate of your file. You can use numbering that helps to find the images. My label is based on the month the image is archived. My title "GCS DVD 2008.08.01" refers to my studio Gary Culley Studios, then DVD ( it was CD before that and DAT before that), then the year, the month and then a sequential number.

After making the disc we need to create a label that shows the title and the contents. The directory is shown in list form on my desktop. The name is at the top, the first folder to the left is a category. Under that is folders describing the images. An example for me could be a client's name (XYZ Corp) and then a folder with a project name (Catalog Cover) that may house all the RAW files, PSDs and Tifs. Another could be a personal project that houses a travel folder, inside is Clarksdale, MS. These different folder names can become keywords in certain image management software.

Printing the Labels. Is the disc laid out on your desktop the way you want it to appear? On the Mac hit Command, Shift and 4 and your Cursor will change to a large +. Drag a box from top left to bottom right of your disc folder on the desktop. Keep in mind that your label will end as a horizontal 5x7. A file is added to the desktop. Then open this file in PhotoShop and crop it to 5x7 horizontal. Which is basically just sizing and shaping the label. Your cropping could be only to define your label but in the process it will create the 5x7 label. You are ready to print two labels and cut them to the size.

The disc is housed in a DVD holder because a CD holder is not as sensitive to the frailty of the center of a DVD. Why not envelopes or binders? Because they touch the disc. To help guarantee a long archival life I have chosen not to have the disc touched or written on.

The Super Gold Archive disc would be a great advantage to the system. Some of the media companies have specialized disc claiming extreme life. When I have priced them they are 7-15 times the price of my disc. Discussions have led me to the best of Verbatim, Memorex and Fuji but not the ultra expensive archive disc. I’m sure there are more. Stay with the best of the brands and the best of the your brand.

Many have had success with a similar system but with no DVD's. Hard drives are purchased to store the archive on.  At a point the hard drive is turned off so it preserves the images even more. To take a closer look at my system, this is not a backup. This is an archive. My working files are backed up weekly as an 80 gb file on an external hard drive separate from the archive. This duplicates my working images. Work is duplicated after importing into Lightroom and placed in the work file of the job. I keep one set of my archive in my mini-storage and one in my office at home.


The boxes that house the disc are even special. They are placed in a very specific Rubbermaid Box (See Photo). It also housed my earlier CD archive. They stack and have good latches and a Spacer to hold a less than full box.


For my Windows brethren. HELP. I think the folders on my Mac correspond to directories on a Windows computer. Is that true? I have a key combination mentioned above to make a screenshot of a portion of my screen for the label. What is the key combination to get the selective screenshot in a Windows environment? Please drop me a comment with some help. Thanks, Gary