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How are people storing their DP Merrill files?

jmg1949

New member
So, I have a new Mac Mini with a 1TB HD and a new Sigma DP2M. Use Aperture for editing after creating the TIFF file. I use Time Machine for backup. The X3F file is about 45 MB and the TIFF is usually about 85MB, so if one saves all of the data it obviously won't take long to fill up the HD. Wondering how folks are handling the huge amount of data storage? Do you keep your X3F files once you've created the TIFF? Keep your photo library on an external HD? I realize there are likely many different ways to handle this but looking for options. Certainly, the huge files impose an discipline not present with my previous digital cameras, so I'm not taking nearly as many shots. None the less I'd be interested in how people approach this.

Thanks,

Jim
 

scho

Well-known member
So, I have a new Mac Mini with a 1TB HD and a new Sigma DP2M. Use Aperture for editing after creating the TIFF file. I use Time Machine for backup. The X3F file is about 45 MB and the TIFF is usually about 85MB, so if one saves all of the data it obviously won't take long to fill up the HD. Wondering how folks are handling the huge amount of data storage? Do you keep your X3F files once you've created the TIFF? Keep your photo library on an external HD? I realize there are likely many different ways to handle this but looking for options. Certainly, the huge files impose an discipline not present with my previous digital cameras, so I'm not taking nearly as many shots. None the less I'd be interested in how people approach this.

Thanks,

Jim
I'm currently saving both raw and processed tiff files, hoping for future support from one or more of the big 3 (LR, C1, AP). I keep the files offline on firewire drives.
 

peterb

Member
i've got a dedicated 2 TB drive. But because of the enormity of the files I'm now considering a drive with thunderbolt connectivity which allows transfer rates up to 10 Gb/s. (Which can come in very handy after a day's shoot and processing!)
 

neilvan

Well-known member
Same as have done for all my other files for the past 11 years, RAW+TIFF+JPEG locally on a 2TB drive for the current year of photos. Backed up bi-weekly (or weekly depending on usage) to USB 3 external drives. The best 'keepers' get uploaded to my site for display/sharing.

I will soon be changing to a NAS RAID 1/5 system for backup and sharing.
 

Kirk Candlish

New member
Certainly, the huge files impose an discipline not present with my previous digital cameras, so I'm not taking nearly as many shots. None the less I'd be interested in how people approach this.
Every Merrill requires the purchase of 2 extra batteries and 2 TB or more external HD dedicated to it's files. :salute:

It's just part of the commitment. Don't short change yourself by trying to discipline your shooting. How much fun can that be ?
 

biglouis

Well-known member
I decided long ago with digital that the only sane thing to do after a shoot was go through the frames, pick the best and immediately delete the worst. I normally end up with (say) 20% of frames captured that I want to keep. Not all of those get processed.

It is a hard discipline but with 45mb files one you have to master or run out of disk.

I have two 1TB internal disks and 2 1 TB external disks and incidentally, I keep one of those as offsite backup at my office (and use it about once every 4-6 weeks).

If a burgler breaks in and you leave your backup disk next to the PC what makes you think he/she will leave it behind for you? Likewise, if your house burns down it won't distinguish between your PC and your backup disks.

LouisB
 

ggibson

Well-known member
In the past, different release versions of Sigma Photo Pro have processed X3F files slightly differently. I didn't have a foveon camera at the time, but I remember a lot of folks going back and reprocessing RAWs with different results (sometimes good, others bad). I can't say whether that'll be the case in the future, but it might be worthwhile to hang onto the X3F files just in case you want to test out old photographs with a new SPP release.
 
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