Back-Up, Your Power Within
Trust me on this.
Picture it: you’re exhausted from a non-stop weekend of shooting, you grab your phone off your desk and watch as a dreaded Hollywood b-movie scene with second-rate actors (and you as the lead) unfolds before your very eyes –the cellphone cord gets tangled into a mess of wires and in an effort to quickly choose between your laptop or external hard drive’s ill-fated destiny, the Universe makes the call, the drive flies into the air, and the thud on the hardwood floor echoes inside your chest for what feels like an eternity of silence. You make a mad dash to the floor, gently scoop up the drive and cradle it tightly in your hands. Following a few breaths, you plug it in and wait patiently to hear signs of life. You can hear the platter spin, you begin to exhale, and suddenly the platter stops, clicks – and then, the dreaded silence lingers. You try all the tricks: replace the cord, power down, reboot, wait, gently tap the drive, panic, search Google, panic more and then surrender and call a data recovery service.
Interestingly, my Spidey sense kicked in two weeks prior, a gnawing little pest reminding me to back-up all of my business files from my external scratch drive to my redundant desk drive systems. Like any well scripted antagonist, I resist, and in the end, I lose. I lost everything.
The moral here: back-up, and I don’t mean just slow down and take your time, this is a serious conversation we are having - back-up your data after every shoot, back up your documents every week, and for Peter’s sake, listen to your Spidey sense, each and every time.
Now that we you’ve had a lecture in backing-up your data, let’s switch gears and have an honest conversation about best practices and memory cards. You see, as a photographer, without memory cards, there’s nothing to back up, so let’s start from the beginning.
SD cards are the external memory bank for your camera. Follow these guidelines and you’ll be on track for a successful shoot. Memory cards have internal file structures, so it is extremely important to format the memory card before shooting. That means, ensure that all data that you want saved has been successfully transferred (and backed up!) and format the card in your camera, I repeat, IN YOUR CAMERA, not on your computer. No exception.
Many photographers carry two camera bodies, simplifying the need to constantly switch lenses. Perfect, that’s a good workflow, but remember, don’t mix cards! Don’t use one card in both cameras, but if you must, be sure to reformat the card after switching camera bodies.
While it may be economical to purchase large size media cards, what is the cost if you lost everything from one shoot? Cards are small, relatively cheap, and finicky – so why put all your eggs in one basket? Buy several smaller sized cards and use them throughout the day; in the event that a card gets lost or the file structure gets corrupt, you won’t lose everything.
Yes, microSD cards fit into an adapter, and therefore, fit into a camera SD card slot, but just because the card fits, doesn’t mean it should. Seriously. Step away and back-up from the temptation (like what I did there…subtle subliminal reminder J). Micro SD cards are used only in micro SD card slots, i.e., smart phones, drones, etc. You wouldn’t give Superman the power of Jedi mind tricks, so why play around with cards that don’t belong? And now a lesson from Captain Obvious: be sure to use a card reader to transfer your cards to your computer and always, and I mean ALWAYS back-up your photos when returning from a shoot. The more you know… :)