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Hello,

Would like to get some views and experiences on how people archive their work.

I used to archive final, high resolution, high quality jpg as well as raw files on DVDs. Now, I not only archive these, but also the so-called 'master files'. Master files are those that I end up with after I process a photo and they are normally high resolution 16-bitt psd files, some containing several layers.

Why do I keep these enormously sized (some up to 150 mb) files?

Well, I do not want to rely just on jpgs, should I want to reduce the size of my high resolution jpgs for some reason. Firstly because each time you resave from jpg you introduce artifacts. Secondly once you sharpen your high resolution jpg, that sharpening is only good for a certain size of the photo and each time you run USM, you introduce noise, etc.
Thirdly, I want to keep layers in case i want to go back and adjust something within a certain layer or re-do the image completely, e.g. make it black and white.

So normally, I process the photos and end up with the following:

- Original RAWs (negatives) which are burnt to a DVD and deleted from HDD eventually

- Master files - 16-bitt high resolution psds or TIFFs, normally saved in LAB mode. - eventually burnt to DVD and removed from HDD

- High resolution JPG, burnt to a DVD and also stored on HDD.

Would appreciate others to share their views on archiving and workflow.

Cheers

Alex

I am looking at one of these http://www.epowermac.com.au/Shop/pc/vie ... roduct=252 as I work in tiff, with some images having lots of layers, so saving the original RAW file, tiff file and sometimes jpg if requested I will end up with 30-40 gb to store....... much easier using Raid 1

TIFF is an atrocious format to archive. It is too large and losing popularity. Archive your RAW files NEFs etc and you end up with smaller files and more flexibility for post processing. TIFFs are dead! If you are nervous about archiving RAW files then covert them to DNGs.

Sorry for being unclear, Matt. I'm actually archiving the master files as psds, to preserve layers as files containing layers are more space efficient as psds rather than tiffs. Do you think dngs are better/ smaller?

Thanks
Alex

...... tiff files are required for high end reproduction in the advertising and commerical world...... and the format that my commerical clients request......

IMHO with the price of HDD storage nowadays I would keep RAW files on at least 2 HDD's - one onsite, one offsite.

I have moved away from storing essential stuff on any media other than HDD..... nothing essential is kept on CD / DVD / USB stick etc.....

All on multiple HDD.

JMHO. Still new to DSLR & that workflow. If anything the Master PSD files would be the only thing on optical media, as with a RAW you could always rework to that point again.

I'd be looking at something like http://www.7-zip.org to compress those files, then lots of big external hard disks. But really, I'd look carefully at just how much of the psd you need and how much you can get rid of. Specifically, doesn't clearing the undo history often shrink the file significantly?