Ducking* Hard Drives! Print Your Photos or Lose them Forever - Family Photographer Brisbane
I had another hard drive crash.
*You know thats not supposed to be a D
That's two drives in about three years. If there were a hard drive mishap club, I'd be the not-so-proud president by now.
Stick with me; this next bit might sound dull, but I promise I'm going somewhere with this.
This time, it was a double RAID drive that was supposed to be almost indestructible. I guess they hadn’t heard about the Titanic.
For those who aren't familiar, a RAID drive is like having a backup buddy. It has two drives in one box and constantly writes data from one drive to the other. If one drive goes down, the other drive rewrites it.
So, theoretically, your data is safe. But somehow, both drives died at the same time. It’s been in the shop for 4 weeks now, with a large restoration bill and all my hopes of recovery hanging in the balance.
Oh, which drive you ask?
It was my archive drive of all sessions from 2011 - 2019.
Did you just have a panic attack?
Did you suddenly realise your photos are affected and what if you DID want to print them but never got around to it and now they might be gone forever?
Did the data guy retrieve the files?
Let me leave in you in a similar state of dread and suspense that I have been in the past 4 weeks and I'll tell you soon.
I haven’t had a rant about how much I hate digital files in a while, so now seems as good a time as any to go full blast.
Warning: I have strong feelings on this topic.
This is a prime example of why digitals are crap. At the core of it, they just aren’t anything. They don’t exist in the real world. You need electricity to see them, and they’re fleeting.
You have to make an effort to seek them out and view them for a moment, and then they dissolve into their nothingness again, where they then secretly go corrupt and can never be seen again.
Digital files are like that one friend who promises to help you move but mysteriously disappears when the big day arrives. You think they’re reliable, but when push comes to shove, they let you down.
And even if they somehow don’t go corrupt or get trapped on a crappy hard drive that’s not supposed to die, no one is ever going to say, “Here is the link to view grandma’s baby photos!”
Digital files are not a legacy product
Imagine, years from now, sitting with your grandkids and saying, “Come huddle around this tiny screen and look at some old digital files of when I was a kid. Oh, wait up, 2078 software cant read the old fashioned JPG format."
Compare that to the really special images that get printed. Set on a mantle or sideboard. Hung on the walls of the living room. Viewed and loved, remembered and enjoyed every single day of your life.
There’s a reason we print the photos that mean the most to us. They become part of our home, our daily lives, our memories. They’re tangible and real, not just pixels on a screen that could vanish in an instant.
People do love digital files, and I just don’t get it.
If you love your photos, they should be printed. If they’re not printed, they’re not that important. And I believe this for phone photos as well. I print an annual album of our family moments every year. Those albums are treasures, filled with memories that we can hold, flip through, and laugh as we remember.
In the digital age, there’s this push to keep everything online, in the cloud, on our devices. But there’s something irreplaceable about having a physical print. It’s not just about the image itself, but the experience of holding it, seeing it every day, and sharing it with others.
When my hard drive crashed the first time, I thought I’d learned my lesson. I backed up everything, invested in the RAID drive, and felt a false sense of security.
But this second crash was a harsh reminder that digital storage is never foolproof. It’s a fragile system that can fail, leaving us scrambling to recover what we’ve lost.
I'm also hesitant about cloud-based storage after the recent Cloudstrike global data issue that shut down the world a few weeks ago.
I usually try to keep my opinions vanilla and tempered, but this is one that I am pretty strong on. Sorrynotsorry.
By the way, it’s OK if you don’t agree with my opinion, we can still be friends and you can still purchase digital-only packages here.
I just really hope you do print your photos.
So... back to that burning question you might be sitting on still:
Did the data guy retrieve all the files?
Yes. Yes he did. For around $1200 I did get the data back in full this time, but it was another expensive exercise for files that really... no one cares about.
Or do you?
In light of this experience, I am offering all previous sessions a one-time special of an album or a wall print for just $599.
ALBUM OPTION (Usually $1995)
A 20 page 11x11 fine art album of all of your previously purchased images from your session, delivered direct to your home for just $599. I'll design it, print it and ship it direct to your home, just say the word and its done.
WALL PRINT OPTION (Usually $890)
20x30 inch canvas printed and shipped direct to your home to enjoy on your walls every day for just $599.
MESSAGE TARSH HERE TO TAKE UP ONE OR BOTH OF THESE $599 DEALS
So, here’s my plea to you: Print your photos.
Don’t rely on digital files to keep your memories safe. Invest in quality prints, create albums, frame your favorites, and enjoy them in the real world.
Your future self will thank you, and so will your kids and grandkids. Because, in the end, it’s the printed photos that will stand the test of time, not the ones hidden away in the depths of a hard drive.
Take it from someone who’s been burned by digital files twice too many times. There’s no substitute for the real thing. Print your photos and keep your memories alive.
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER BRISBANE | NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER BRISBANE
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