SanDisk Introduces Non-Erasable SD Cards

SanDisk has come out with a write-once, read-many (WORM) SD memory card for cameras. Given the format, I think it's clearly taking aim at the prosumer and professional markets. Why would you want a card that would only record and never let you erase or modify an image? A couple of reasons come to mind. One, mentioned by the Engadget post, is in situations - law enforcement, legal uses - where you want to "prove" that the contents could not have changed. But there's another: when you are shooting something critical and you want to ensure that you've minimized the chances of losing data. Grant you, that would be seldom, as immediately dumping the contents onto one of those standalone back-up drives is generally enough, but when you want both the best and suspenders for peace of mind, it's nice to be able to get them both.

Strategies for Safe Photo Storage

If you want to be sure that your digital photos don't suddenly disappear in a hard drive meltdown, you might want to check an article I wrote recently for PopPhoto.com. It discusses starting with a naming convention and then finding the right storage configuration and practices for your specific needs.

Beef Up Storage Now

"I've got plenty" is the last call of the computer owner who will end up with a rude shock when suddenly nothing more fits on the hard drive. I've said this multiple times when I kenw better, and the most recent was realizing that I needed a much bigger hard drive. Now, I had something on the order of 200 GB split between two drives. But if you're going to keep a lot of photos at close reach, then that is nothing. Shoot RAW images and you can easily find one session sucking up 1 GB or more of storage. Forget the online services for this. What happens if you forget to pay or if yo uhave a big problem? Do you want umpteen gigabytes of data to evaporate or to be downloding for hours? I just checked at a store and saw a 750 GB hard drive well under $300. Now, it will be a pain to transfer everything and set up yet another drive, but that's what I'll end up doing within the next few weeks. And I'll be all set - until next time.