SanDisk Memory Vault

There are basically two types of photographers – those that lose their stored analog images and those that lose their stored digital images. The former experience mould, damp, dust, and fugitive dyes. The latter have hard drive crashes and fading CD’s. The result is the same in both cases; heartbreak and loss of income.

SanDisk can’t clean your negatives for you but they can archive your digital images for the next 100 years in their new Vault storage devices.

These come in 8 Gb and 16 Gb size – they are a small flat pack that is powered and receives data from your USB port. They are cheap enough to put all your really precious files on – and can spread the archive load over several physical locations.

Some wedding photographers have suggested that they might include them in the package of images delivered – an enormous burden of responsibility shifted from the studio to the client and a welcome relief for the busy professional.

In commercial practice the amount of capacity required for complex digital work that may need to be preserved in every stage of construction might be greater than the Vault can do – but the final images could certainly be committed to it.

Final note – losing images can sometimes be a blessing. I have reviewed some of the stuff I took in the 1960’s and am horrified by the poor processing. I do not have the heart to bin the negatives but I am hoping that if I store them under the water heater Mother Nature will intervene. C’mon fungus....