Photography: Robot Pictures Tips And Tricks

[robothut]

Well I thought it might be fun if we all posted any tips and tricks we have leaned about takeing good robot pictures and any off info related. So I am going to kick it off with my resent screw up. For the last 7 years I have used digital cameras that save the picture files directly to flopy disc's or burn the files to mini CDR disc's right in the camera. This was great as the files were archived right when I took them, well the old floppy files are not realy archived as many of the old flopys will not work anymore as I found out when I burned all them that would work to a new CDR disc. So about 8 weeks ago I bought a new Sony camera 7.2 MP and it stores to a memory stick, since the costs have fallen on memory devices it finaly made sence to go this way ,as the camera gets so much smaller and the battery life gets so much longer. I made a folder on my computer and would empty the memory stick in there and was saveing up the files until I had enough to burn to a data DVD as that will hold over 4 gig of data. Well I just finnished archiveing the old flopy files and I also took my 72 mini disc's and burned them to DVD data discs as well. So far so good until I decided to add some more new pictures from my memory stick to my folder on my computer and guess what, I had deleated that folder at some point durring the other (3 days) of file gattering and storage. So I got on line and started looking for file recovery programs. At PC. world .com I found a few free (share ware) programs. And I found alot of programs that said they were free but they are not. Many free programs mean that you can down load them for free and even run them for free but if you want to save the recovered files they find then you have to pay for the program. Anyway here is the point. These file recover programs are fantastic. No I was not able to get back any of my missing new pictures, I will realy miss all the detailed shots I took of Ozzies origioanl buzzer robot. The programs were not able to help me as the point that I deleated all the picture files and the point that I relised that I had done this happened when I was also adding , burning and deleating thousands of other old pictures files. Had I used a file recovery program right away I would have been able to bring back every single file. I tested this by filling a memory card with files then I deleated the files, then I ran the recovery program and was able to bring back every single file. So if you do deleat a file or folder and you know right away it was a mistake, run a file recovery program and you can undo it all. Most of you know that files are not realy deleated from a memory stick or computer hard drive when you deleat them, they are only taged so that they do not show up on the system and that there space is avalible to be over witten any time, that is why I could not get back my files they had been over witten buy all my other older picture file back work.

here is a link to PC world.

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/collectio...lid,1367,00.asp

The restoration V2.5.14 is a real small file to down load (192k) and the program runs real fast but if you are trying to recover alot of files then you spend the time as you can only save 1 recovered file at a time.

The PC Inspector pci smart recovery is a large down load file (6meg) and the program runs real slow as it took about 45 minuts to go threw my 1 gig memory stick but once it is done all the recoivered files are saved in a recovery folder for you.

Other programs I tried were

Free Undeleat. Only some of the funtions are free, you have to pay to recover a jpeg for example.

Smart Undeleat $29 bucks right now normal is $35. you can run it for free but not save the recovered files.

Data Un Erase I forget what the deal was on this guy.

Handy Recovery is $30 bucks

[bartzenegger]

thanks hut !! good info!

i store pics to my hard drive than to a cd . this way i have backups and i dont have space taken up on my system..

[larry seven]

All of my pictures that I've taken in the last three years are stored on my computer's desktop!!! :D Note to self: clean up desktop. -L7

[robothut]

thanks hut !! good info!

i store pics to my hard drive than to a cd . this way i have backups and i dont have space taken up on my system..

Yes that is what I was doing, saveing the files to my hard drive until I had around 4 gig worth then I would burn them to a Data DVD, but I mistakenly deleated the folder with the files from my hard drive. Had I figuared this out in time I could have brought them all back. ;)

[newbiebot]

I guess I'm really pretty type-A when it comes to saving my files. I have a graphics folder, and sub folders broken down by subject. For instance, a "Robot Hut" folder from visits there, and then maybe another sub folder that are detail pics taken from John's site. When I copy files off my memory stick, I always make sure they are on the computer and okay before I delete them off the card. When I'm looking for a particualr pic, I know where to find it, whether it's a family pic or work related or just for fun. My big failing is that I don't back up to Cd or DVD often enough, and I can all end in tears if my computer smokes.

I realize this sort of orginizational level may be a sure sign of a sick mind to some, but I know where things ARE.

[robothut]

Your doing it right except for not backing up more often, that was my mistake. I should not have been waiting for 4 gig of files before burning a data DVD disc. I to have all my files in sub folders but in the end if you screw up and deleat the main folder then they are all gone. My situation was that I was gathering together so many other files and burning them to disc and one of the folders that I was putting these files into be ofre burning just happent to be named something that was very close to my new camera files folder, 3 long days and late nights in a row and I just plain screwed up and deleated the wrong main folder and did not relize it until way to late. Oh well.

Now go burn your picture files to a disc before something happens. :P

[newbiebot]

Your doing it right except for not backing up more often, that was my mistake. I should not have been waiting for 4 gig of files before burning a data DVD disc. Oh well.

.. snip..

Now go burn your picture files to a disc before something happens. :P

:lol:

From what I have heard, that is the big problem just about everyone has with digital pics -- they sit in the computer with no back up or prints, and then the crash happens and their wedding pics are gone.

Now they are saying that cds and dvds aren't as permanant as we thought too. Guess we have to back up the back ups down the road too.

Maybe we should have a time, like changing the batteries in smoke detectors when turning the clocks back or ahead, to make back ups of our files. Oh, that reminds me...

[Robotnut]

As well as images I also back up all of my email. I have over

ten years of email, anything I've written and approximately

15,000 toy pictures. Every two weeks I make a backup in

triplicate. I keep one at home, one at the office and on at my

mother's. I used to use CDs until I exceeded their capacity,

so now I use DVDs. The backup takes about 10 minutes and

DVDs cost about 25 cents each. I also back up my two websites

as well as the Robothut, because even ISPs can crash or go

out of business... :unsure:

www.robotnut.com

[SpaceBoy67]

I used to use a 'backup to CD' system, but like most people I wasn't as diligent as I should have been. I set up a recurring reminder in my calendar system that told me to backup once a month, but of course sometimes I'd ignore the reminder for a few days (or weeks). You can all see where this is going, I'm sure. I was able to recover all the stuff I'd backed up along the way, but of course my honeymoon pictures hadn't been saved to CD yet when my hard drive crashed. :(

After that I switched to an external hard drive backup system. It sits in a corner of my desk and is connected to my regular computer through a wire. Every single night (with absolutely no effort on my part) it backs up not only my pictures, but also all my documents, spreadsheets, databases, etc. They have really nice ones available now and for a couple hundred dollars you can save yourself a lot of heartache.

[Robotnut]

Good idea SpaceBoy, but I would recommend that you unplug your

backup drive when not in use. I've seen several times when a power

surge or a nearby lightning strike will fry both the internal and external

drive of a computer. At the office, I use two external backup drives.

I always keep one on site and the other off site. I have the system

do a dump once a day and switch the drives. It aways amazes me

that I have my great grandmother's negatives in a shoe box, but I

could loose a decade's worth of work with the flip of a switch... :o

[robothut]

Very good idea Space boy67. I have a 300 gig external hard drive that I used on my other computer I should consider connecting it to my photo collection computer. I suppose I have to buy some soft ware that will make it run as a auto back up system right?

[SpaceBoy67]

Most external drives that you'd buy today will come bundled with the software that you need. If you're like robothut and already have the drive and just need some software, there are freeware options available. I've used a program called SyncBack before that seemed to work well. They have both pay ($25) and free versions of the software (I don't know the differences), but if you go to the 2BrightSparks.com downloads webpage and scroll down a bit you'll see the SyncBack Freeware V3.2.8.600. If you read through the site, I'm sure you can figure out what extra features you get if you buy the regular version of their program.

If that one doesn't work well for you, there are several more free programsout there.

Robotnut, good advice about power surges...I'll try to remember to keep it turned off most of the time.