Originally posted by Wheatfield Your safest bet for long term image storage is the bitmap (bmp). I don't know if that format supports 16 bit, but it doesn't really matter.
Any file that needs decoding is prone to failure. You lose one jpeg marker due to file degradation and you've lost the file.
I really don't think there is such a thing as digital file archiving. The term itself implies something that digital storage is incapable of, that being long term reliable data retrieval.
Digital file storage is a constant war against medium degradation, and constant recopying of the file from one media to another. If you only hae your data on one media, you don't have safe storage.
I've had high end CDs written with a high end writer fail after 5 years. DVDs may be better, but with the number of eggs you are putting into the basket with a 4gb medium, you probably want to be recopying every couple of years, and either way, you want to be using a file format that isn't going to break due to copy errors.
Multiple redundant hard drives are (in my opinion) the most cost effective and safest way to store large amounts of data. Don't wait for a drive to fail though, change them out every couple of years. Even a hard drive on the shelf can fail if the lubricants in the bearings dry out or if something corrodes a little bit in the driver board or platter.
I'll have to think about what Wheafield said - yipes.
I've only been doing photography seriously for 2 years, but have learned this:
1. i started out with jpegs and consider that a shame. things i learned to do better with pp, i now can't go back and work the jpeg as much. they are not as "flexible" as RAW.
2. The new externally powered hard drives seem to be very delicate. Because i travel a lot, i had at times carried one with my laptop, but one time one of these hard drives dropped from a short coffee table onto a well padded carpet. thats all it took - Dead on arrival. The smaller USB 2.0 powered compact drives built more for laptop usages seem much more durable. I've been told they run from 4.5 volt power from the port itself so don't need a separate transformer. These are much easier to carry and when i've jostled one of those around, they continue to run. The con is that they are slower, i believe.
If you are at all serious about photography, go with RAW and make backups. I have to think more about Wheatfield's comments :-)