Do Digital files degrade with time ?

[johne37179]

<p>I may be as paranoid as the next guy, but I believe in at least three backups and I agree completely about archiving the original and never working on that file, but only copies. My practice is to load the original and do an immediate save as, for my working file. That way I am working from the original (of course there is also backups of the original, original that does not get touched). With some images I may save a number of intermediate stages in order to return to them. I have some images with over a dozen versions saved. <br>

One word of caution about hard copies (DVDs and CDs) -- these are fragile formats and not stable as one might think. Minor physical damage can make files unavailable for recovery. I have learned this the hard way. Further, they can be otherwise lost or damaged, just as old negatives can. Nothing is foolproof. I make multiple copies on multiple drives in multiple places.</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>Just remember John that just because you are paranoid does not mean that someone (or something) is NOT out go get you. A little paranoia can be a valuable thing.</p>

[dogbert]

<p>Some of my digital photos are looking a bit more sepia tinted these days, probably because I did not save them on acid free CDs.</p>

[ross_angelo]

<p>While digital data doesn't deteriorate and digital files will remain identical as long as they are not altered, when it comes to digital images, display, and print technology, we still don't have reliable means to preserve color consistency over time. The best color management can currently do is to help with matching images from one device to another at a certain point in time with the final approval being dependent on the creator or the person in charge.<br>

This means that if you are a creator who approves the final appearance of an image based on a display or print device, currently there are no means that can assure exact reproduction in the future. In that respect a digital image may live longer as a long lasting print than digital file.</p>

[JAPster]

 

<p><em>Not sure if it's me or my computer or both, but some photo files that have been saved on my computer seem to have degraded with time. Is this possible ?</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

The poster is talking about previous saved photo files (ie, digital graphics files) on the local hard-drive. The unspoken assumption is that the computer is functioning correctly, including the hard-drive storage media, and there have not been any catastrophic failures that might have corrupted hard-drive files.</p>

<p>As one poster mentioned, file corruption (not degradation) can occur to just about any kind of computer file, not just image files. If a file is corrupted you usually find out about it the next time the system tries to read and 'process' that file. You will see an error message or the file will simply malfunction. The evidence of the corruption is different because there are a LOT of different types of file formats.</p>

<p>For example, file corruption can occur if you are in the middle of editing a file (document, diagram, image file, spread-sheet, what have you) and suddenly you lose AC power. Unless your system is plugged into an UPS unit or UPS outlet, the system will instantly 'crash', usually with no warning, and no opportunity to save your data first. (This possibility was the motivation for the admonition often given to 'users' - storm approaching! save your data!).</p>

<p>File corruption could also occur if your hard-drive experienced a "hardware failure", which is possible since they are complicated electro-magnetic-mechanical devices. Sometimes the failure was catastropic, causing the whole system to crash and fail to reboot. Other times, it was simply the development of 'bad spots' in the magnetic media surface, and any data in those bad spots was lost or at best corrupted. You would not know it till you tried to access that file and then you would discover it. Then you would have to run a salvage or disk-check program on the entire hard-drive to discover the true extent of the corruptions and make repairs, if possible.</p>

<p>Its also concievable that faulty RAM chips can cause file corruption since the OS will load files into RAM before editing.</p>

<p>If you are running a Windows system, and you suspect any kind of file system corruption, you can always schedule a Disk Check by going under My Computer, right-clicking on the chosen hard-drive, select Properties, then Tools, then Error-Checking. Select all the options on the Error-Checking box so Windows will perform all its Disk-Checks. The disk check will run right away (if its not the C drive), but a reboot is necessary if it is the C drive. The resulting Disk Check will go through the entire file system and check all the tables, indexes, files, folders, security descriptors and yes, even file contents, to see if it sees any corruption, or perhaps "inconsistencies", that need fixing.</p>

<p>Its not a bad idea to do this once a month on your Windows system, along with regular routine Defrag runs, say once a week.</p>

<p>I say all that just to clarify what file corruption means in the normal 'IT' sense of the word.</p>

<p>To my mind the word 'degrade' means something that is undergoing a process of being broken down from its original state to something different.</p>

<p>The poster seems to be asking if photo files stored on the hard-drive <em>left on their own </em>undergo this type of change.</p>

<p>And I still think the answer to that question is <em>no, they do not degrade </em>- assuming the storage media they are written to remains functional and uncorrupted. There are numerous types of storage media. And each has its own set of specs about shelf-life, safe storage requirements, how to protect it from damaging outside interference, etc, etc.</p>

<p>Having said all that, I will equally allow that modern computers and graphics file editing programs and algorithms are quite complicated and inter-linked. You can have a glitch in the system somewhere (hardware or software or operator) and files can end up getting corrupted when you are 'handling' them. They can be simultaneously OK on the hard-drive and yet get 'corrupted' on a piece of backup media. ((I had this happen to me not too long ago with a perfectly good set of JPEG pics. I made a routine dvd data disk of these pics, and when I went to show them to the client, boom, I discovered every one of them on the dvd were corrupted. Just goes to show you, no matter how 'modern' a system you have, and no matter how much 'experience' you have, data glitches can and will still occur. But I call that an unexpected system glitch resulting in a failure to make a good disk. I dont call it a file degradation. Further checks revealed the original Jpeg files, stored on the hard-drive, were just fine, and everything looked OK.))</p>

<p>Finally, I think there is the real possibilty that some image editing software programs can make internal changes to the contents of your original camera picture file w/o telling you about it. The internal contents of the picture file will certainly be changed if you perform a <em>conversion</em> from one file format to another, say from RAW to TIFF. Or from TIFF to JPEG. But this is not a case of the file degrading by itself, its more a case of an outside force, the editor & operator, making changes to the image file which alters the original digital file.</p>

<p>And even the whole question about whether an image is degrading involves human memory and human psychology, because you are comparing how the images looks to you today, with your image-memory of how it looked 2 years ago, or something like that.<br>

So, I still think the answer is no, unless the file is acted upon by some outside action, a digital photo file, correctly saved to a good hard drive, is not going to degrade all by itself.</p>

 

 

[scott_murphy_photography]

<p>The file itself will not degrade over time, but the media (CD/DVD) upon which you have it stored may, which may ultimately result in a lost file.</p>

[rossb]

<p>I suppose a person's monitor can slowly degrade or possibly you have a new monitor that works better making the old picture look worse. . All sorts of stuff could be the cause. However I do not know how long a digital file will last without problems. I suppose a hard drive could be failing. They probably have a lifespan but I would not know what it is. I do not think anyone is using CD's for storage as they don't work well at all. I have not burned a CD for any reason in several years. I would not buy a music CD either, but that is a different story.</p>

[boinkphoto]

<p>No, only digital photographers.</p>

<p>(sorry, couldn't resist - he says as a digital photographer himself)</p>

[ross_angelo]

<p>The OP doesn't have a corrupted or lost digital file, otherwise he will not be able to see it at all and talk about differences<br>

Assuming he is using the same software and setup, his problem is wrong expectation. As I was trying to suggest in my previous post, - you can't relay on display technology and color management to display a digital image over a period of time identically.<br>

And because of this no one can tell if the difference is a result of a psychological perception, display differences, or both.</p>

[AlanKlein]

<p>I use to make 2 DVD copies of all my pictures. The idea was if one went bad, I'd have the other. Then I realized I was keeping both copies together so that if there was a fire, they'd both go. I suppose I could give one copy to a relative to safekeep, but then I realized most of my pictures weren't really that important anyway. So now I make one backup copy in case my computer fails which all of mine have at some point. If a few pictures on that DVD or the whole DVD goes, my life will go on.</p>

[peter_roberts4]

<p>Yes in a sense that your standard for good photos rises...over time</p>

[martin_engineer]

<p>With respect, maybe the problem is with your eyes and not the technical equipment. See an optometrist.</p>

 

[derek_thornton1]

<p>Do digital files degrade with time? I really do not know. I have been keeping digital files for 5 years and have not noticed any degradation. I keep Raw images with a JPEG thumbnail on DVD and external hard drive. I am not about to tell you what I think without any facts to back it up. However, I would bet my life that a saved RAW file will not degrade as fast as film!</p>