Protect Your Priceless Photos
DON’T DO IT YOURSELF. LET A SCANNING COMPANY DIGITIZE YOUR PICS. IT’S CHEAP AND EASY AS CAN BE
Technology
ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAN MARSIGLIO
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average photo collection can take up to 100 hours. Hiring a bulk scanning company is more efficient, says photography expert Jeff Sedlik of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Some photo shops offer the service; mail-order companies include ScanDigital (888-333-2808; scandigital.com) and ScanMyPhotos International (949-474-7654; scanmyphotos .com). Ideally, for safety, have pics canned in the U.S.—not overseas. 2 SIZE ’EM Prices start at 5 cents per photo; to save a few bucks, scan pics 5-by- 7 inches or smaller at 300 ppi (pixels per inch, which refers to resolution). Because a higher esolution doesn’t significantly improve image quality for smaller photos, pay for this only if scan- ning pictures larger than 8 by 10. 3 SEND ’EM Put photos in sealed plastic bags and then in corrugated cardboard boxes. Transport them in batches, so if one box is damaged or lost, you won’t lose everything, says Gary Pageau of the photo-imaging trade association PMA. If shipping, use a trackable service such as UPS, FedEx, or USPS Express Mail. 4 S TORE ’EM Your newly digitized photos saved on CDs or DVDs should arrive in a few days or weeks—depending on your chosen service—along with your original print pictures. Be sure that digital files have been saved to archival CDs or DVDs, which allow images to stand up to long-term storage. —Lee Gimpel
BACK UP
IMAGES ON
YOUR
COMPUTER
So you’ve digitized your print
photos and
saved them to
disk. Now you
need to back
up digital images stored on
your hard drive
(or risk having
them zapped
by a computer
virus). Look for
systems such
as Clickfree
Easy Backup
Photo DVD
( clickfree.com)
or Verbatim’s
PhotoSave DVD
( verbatim.com/
photosave): the
disks contain
software that
locates photo
files and saves
them to DVD.
Clickfree and
Verbatim DVDs
run $14.99 for
a five-pack
and $9.99 for
a three-pack;
each disk holds
about 2,000 images. For extra
security, store
disks at another
location, such
as in a safe-deposit box.
—Marc Saltzman