1 in every 1500 files corrupted

Capturing and storing our images with digital technology poses risks that aren’t well understood by most end-users. If you think your images are safe, you might think differently after reading a recent post on Robin Harris’s “Blog Persistence of Memory”.

The short story is this: The scientists who smash atoms together to discover new particles, tested their new computer system. They found that you can expect to have 1 in every 1500 files corrupted when you store them to disk (or hit “save”).

It’s important to note that this corruption may not completely destroy a JPEG file--but then again, it might! And Murphy’s Law dictates the one corrupted file will be the first photo of your newborn, or that once in a lifetime quadruple rainbow over Yosemite. Also, this damage is cumulative, and over time, more and more files will become corrupt.

It’s up to photographers to tell storage vendors we don’t want larger, faster or cheaper solutions at the expense of lost data. We’d rather have storage that greatly minimizes loss, even if it costs more. We are willing to pay more for that to keep our thousands of photos safe, right?

Excuse me while I go make sure my data is backed up.....