Best way to edit and save raw images

[Alis]

I would be prefectly happy if Adobe decided to remove the 'Flatten Image' command from Photoshop

Also, I have noticed that some softwares will not work on the file if you save layers. Actually I know one of them: Neat Image.

[KentDub]

Also, I have noticed that some softwares will not work on the file if you save layers. Actually I know one of them: Neat Image.

You are very correct, Alis. The Save and Save As... dialog boxes in Photoshop have a checkbox for 'Layers' . I believe it also turns on the 'Save as a copy' checkbox as well. Usually the same programs that complain about layers in tif files are the same ones that complain about using compression on tif files. Why can't people just impliment the full file specification?!

[Colin Southern]

. Why can't people just impliment the full file specification?!

This is one of the pure joys of doing my own printing - I can even leave images in LAB mode

[Blazing fire]

These days storage is cheap, with hundreds of images fitting on a DVD costing less than a dollar. If you need more than that then perhaps people should stop trying to shoot videos with an SLR camera!

Storage is indeed rather affordable at ~ USD 0.0799 for a 1.5tb internal HDD.

Since there is a possiblity of data corruption or disk failure, it is a good idea to purchase 2 HDD and set it up in RAID 1, as Colin does. This doubles the cost per GB but it is much safer.

[Colin Southern]

Storage is indeed rather affordable at ~ USD 0.0799 for a 1.5tb internal HDD.

A 1.5TB HDD for 8c - cool - I'll take 10 for a $1 (you can keep the change )

Since there is a possiblity of data corruption or disk failure, it is a good idea to purchase 2 HDD and set it up in RAID 1, as Colin does. This doubles the cost per GB but it is much safer.

It's part of the solution - but you still need to keep offsite backups to guard against theft / fire / natural disaster etc.

[jacsul]

WOW, that is alot of great information.
I didn't realize this could be such a hot topic. I have some unnecessary files to clean-up.

Thanks guys

[KentDub]

If anyone reading this considers going the RAID route (I have been using RAID for almost ten years now) - I highly recommend a RAID 5 over the other flavors, it offers performance gains, and less loss of disk space (Raid 1 you only use 1/2 total space). It can be configured in a 3 or 4 disk configuration (4th disk is usually a 'hot spare'). At 3x the cost of a single drive, the price per GB is lower than if you did a RAID-1. RAID-5 arrays write data between disks in a special way that one drive can physically fail (two drives if doing a 4-drive configuration can fail at the same time and the data is ok). The computer can dynamically reconstruct the data on the missing drive. If you had some desire to go nuts, you can double the performance and use 6 disks for a RAID-50 (Two raid 5 arrays, then striped in a raid 0). Add some more reliability and add a hot-spare to each array for the ultimate in performance and reliability: 8-disk RAID-50 (nearly 600% faster than a single drive). And... if you want to show off - do a 8-drive raid50 using the new Intel solid state drives. Don't expect your government to let you take your computer out of the country at that point

Seioursly for a momment though. RAID is an amazing technology, and is very (very!) helpful for protecting your primary data location. As Colin points out, it is *not* a substitute for off-site storage (Fire safes are good. Safety-deposit boxes are even better). I've seen the topic of RAID come up in several threads... If anyone is interested in more details feel free to start a new thread. I'm sure all of us here that have been using this wonderful technology will be able to answer all of your questions - It can be a very confusing and complicated subject.

[Colin Southern]

Fire safes are good.

Just a small distinction here - Fire safes are not good for data - what you need for data is a data certified safe, which are designed to keep the contents at a lower temperature (eg papers at 100 dec C isn't a problem in a fire safe whereas any magnetic material at that temperature is probably going to be in poor shape).

[Bill44]

The magic words:-

Taiyo Yuden discs.
High quality burner.
Cool dark low humidity storage.
Burn two copies.
Renew every five years. (Regardless of the claims about longevity of the discs)