[Dewman]

When I first got into digital photography.... and the post processing that would follow, I made the dumb mistake of deleting the originals once I had edited them and had what I THOUGHT was a good finished product. What a goofy thing to do!


Now, I create a folder with the day's images, give it a name.... and within THAT folder, there will be 2 sub-folders labeled, "PP," and "Originals." I'm OC about organizational matters and I've developed a system that's almost fool proof, making it quite easy to retrieve just about any photo I've ever taken. Usually!

[pakinjapan]

I got a stupid story of my own

2 days ago, I went out for a few photo in snow and later rain for like 8 hours. I came back with handful of keeper which makes me really happy.
Back at the warm and comfortable room, I try to transfer files from SD card to a computer. Make a cup of coffee, enjoy cookies while wait for the transferring
and.. I somehow select all folders in SD card then hit delete BEFORE it finishes transferring the files!
The system asks if I am sure I want to delete? I am again hit “Yes”! then go back to enjoy my coffee.

Notice it later when the computer said it cannot transfer the selected files because it doesn’t exist!!!
I has never done that, I always format it in camera after everything is done and usually several days or a week later.

At first, I loosed almost half of my photo from that day. Trying to use recovery tools to take back some of them, some corrupted beyond recovery. After all, I lose almost 1/3 of the images. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [do not try multitracks after a long day of shooting!]

Anyway, I you want to try recovery deleted file, these 2 might come to handy.
https://recuva.en.softonic.com/
Pandora Recovery - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com

[bm75]

I always make at least 2 copies of my original raws:the first in a safe external HD and the second in my desktop. I import my pictures in Lightroom as copies and there I see the pictures and delete the most of them I don't like or don't think to develop. But some accident happens in ttansferring\organizing folders when once a year I label my folders in the HD .

[amoringello]

When I first got into digital photography.... and the post processing that would follow, I made the dumb mistake of deleting the originals once I had edited them and had what I THOUGHT was a good finished product. What a goofy thing to do!


Now, I create a folder with the day's images, give it a name.... and within THAT folder, there will be 2 sub-folders labeled, "PP," and "Originals." I'm OC about organizational matters and I've developed a system that's almost fool proof, making it quite easy to retrieve just about any photo I've ever taken. Usually!

You're not alone.
My first overseas vacation with a digital camera was not only shot in JPG, but like you, I kept only the edited versions of images when I was done.
It was standard practice for me with almost everything I shot initially. I've gone back to find tons of tiny 1000pixel, or smaller, jpegs left behind. "More than large enough" for the day, but depressing to try to find something I can use now.

Of course, now I'm looking at getting another set of 6TB drives to hold all the excess raw files and .PSD files that I am afraid of deleting.
I keep a working drive. I also have a local backup drive. The files get backed up to offsite storage throughout the day.
And only after that is all done, do I clean my SD cards.

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Last edited by amoringello; 03-23-2018 at 03:19 AM.

[rod_grant]

I keep both the DNG and the PP'd JPG.
My raw files are prefixed KP<underscore><underscore> (eg KP__9999DNG) when I get to 9999 I change the prefix the KP<underscore> (eg KP_10000 and then (if I get there!) KP100000).
(I did the same when I had my K5)
When I PP the files, I maintain the file name and add a description, eg KP__9999 bridge on River Kwai.jpg.
I file the raw files in a different LR catalogue so I can readily re-PP if necessary.
On the other hand, Dewman, I have encountered your problem, before I started this system, and co-incidentally when my PP was worse than it is now.

[danielblues]

If possible, I always leave a copy of the latest images on a renamed directory on the original SD card. They will be replaced on the next iteration.
I keep the original and two separate backups on storage. You really need 3 copies, because you have a risk of messing up when doing backup/restore operations.

[amoringello]

You really need 3 copies, because you have a risk of messing up when doing backup/restore operations.

hehe, worse than that, if you house is robbed, freak electrical short destroys every hard drives connected the there power outlet (speaking from experience), or of a freak asteroid hits your block... you need an off site copy. Whether is be a paid service in the cloud, or you keep an backup drive in a drawer at work or friends house.

[Dewman]

hehe, worse than that, if you house is robbed, freak electrical short destroys every hard drives connected the there power outlet (speaking from experience), or of a freak asteroid hits your block... you need an off site copy. Whether is be a paid service in the cloud, or you keep an backup drive in a drawer at work or friends house.

I always keep several 64GB flash drives on hand.... and keep at least duplicates of all my images on them. It's never failed me.... so far.

[danielblues]

you need an off site copy

For sure, one of the storages is a rented server, or if my home server counts... a cloud

[pentaxfall]

I wanted image files to have a unique name. So i have written a software tool for suffixing guid to every file name. After copying the files to harddrive, first thing I do is run that tool. It changes all the names. That is one of the advantage of being s/w programmer.
Ex: _K3_2902_62aab992-1598-4426-bcec-039aafd5e9c5.jpg
_K3_2902_62aab992-1598-4426-bcec-039aafd5e9c5.dng
_K3_2902_62aab992-1598-4426-bcec-039aafd5e9c5.xmp

[gaweidert]

When I travel, I have a routine at the end of the day. I take the days shots and download them onto my laptop. From there I make another copy onto an external hard drive. So between the memory cards, laptop and external drive I have four copies of the RAW files. It only take a few minutes. I got into this habit in my last job in field service. You can never have too many digital copies.