Soaring Again (Sort of)

Like the bald eagle, SDP shall soar again!  That's right...we're BACK!  Okay, that was a bit dramatic. We're actually limping along; however, it seems all our digital photo files have been recovered. Hip-hip-hooray!   I lost the corresponding data (names, dates, places etc.), but I have the files and that's what's important, right?

I think have a good course of action going forward: (1) never, ever, ever use iPhoto again for so many files (2) invest in a new computer and photo software (3) set up a raid backup system.   I have a lot of work to do...transferring tens of thousands of files, doing more research etc.  In the meantime, the Editor-in-Chief has given the order to resume posting whenever possible.

Thanks everyone for your kind words, thoughts and input about your computer systems. If you haven't chimed in, I'm still gathering information, so please let me know what works for you.

Regarding this photo, I snapped it just over two weeks ago in N. Ft. Myers.  (Rumor has it the SDP Editor-in-Chief had an uncanny resemblance to Harriet screeching when she learned about the computer crash.  WHAT?!)  So happy to see these guys on my computer again!

Still Searching

It's been just over two weeks since my photo library crashed and there's nothing new to report except that I've been spending all of my free time manually transferring 24,000 files.  It seems the problem is the iPhoto application.   Apparently, it cannot handle that many files (especially from an external hard drive).  I wish that someone -- anyone -- at the Apple Store Genius Bar had informed me about this issue with iPhoto the dozen or so times I've visited them over the past several years.  Instead, each employee just commented that I have a lot of photos and sent me on my way.

A few questions:

(1)  Do you use a Mac or PC?  Why?
(2)  What software do you use to edit your photos?
(3)  How do you store your photo files?
(4)  How do you backup your files?