Digital photos deteriorating... ?

Question

I have some digital photos from several years back that are deteriorating.

On some files, the photo won't open at all (error says "invalid jpeg marker). On other photos, part of the file has black or gray covering the photo so the photo doesn't show up correctly.

The photos showed up correctly on the computer when originally taken, and even a year or two later. Now, some of them are deteriorating. I saved a copy of one of them, then cropped it, resaved on my desktop, and now even the "fixed" file is also deteriorating. What's causing this? (note, only the one file was edited.. the others are the source files from the camera.) Had multiple SD cards over the years... happening across the board on various photos..

What can I do to save my photos? I've backed them up, but the backup files deteriorate too.

Answer 1

This is rather puzzling. Normally a computer file cannot "deteriorate" it either is ok or fails its checksum and shows a read error. You are saying that the images load but are not displaying properly. This seems more like an incompatibility problem with the software you are using to view the images or a computer ram fault. If you have faulty video ram you can experience the sort of problems you describe.



I would suggest a thorough diagnostic test on your computer.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

I have digital images from several years back stored on optical media (DVD and CD's). The discs are stored in proper cases and high quality disc-albums. None of them have suffered any damage and all the photos open without any problem.



I recommend backing all your photos from time to time on good quality optical media. Use this optical media just for back-up. After maing the disc, always check it up if the data is written perfectly or not. Don't use the disc for viewing on a regular basis. A lot of CD/DVD 'writers' in computers are known the corrupt discs.



Secondly don't touch the disc anywhere except the periphery from the sides and the center hole. The finger-prints are known to cause some kind of decay in silver coating of the discs. Try looking at some very old CD's near the place you might have touched them by your finger.



Storing photos on hard-disc, magnetic media, SD cards is not a recommended way. Always back them up.



Another problem that occurs is with the operating system or the some other files used to open the photographs in the computer. They might get corrupted and cause these things to happen with the photos.

Answer 4

Photos themselves don't 'deteriorate' - but the media they're stored on may well do. What are you storing them on - hard drive, memory card, CD?



Other possible problems:

- You have a faulty card reader or USB cable (if you used one of these to get the pics onto your computer)

- Older card readers sometimes only read up to 1 Gig cards, and beyond that cause read problems

- Does it only happen after using your editing software? Maybe the JPG files it produces aren't compatible with the viewing software (e.g. it's writing progressive JPGs).



Try:

(1) using different software e.g. IrfanView to view the files - if OK then use that to re-save them

(2) if the photos are still on the memory card, see if the camera still reads them properly in replay mode - if so connect the camera to the computer via its USB cable and download them that way.

Answer 5

In my opinion really important pictures should be printed using an archival printing process. They should then be stored in archival grade albums and kept away from heat and humidity. I have black and white prints that I printed over 30 years ago and they still look great.



The problem you describe is probably more common than you realize. It is also a failing, in my opinion, of the promise of digital photography. Instead of a permanent record, images will be lost to what you described. At some point, even the currently most sophisticated storage media will become wholly obsolete and unreadable by future technologies. Diligently transferring from older storage media to the latest technology is unlikely to be done except by a few. So 50 years from now your descendants may have a DVD containing 1,000's of pictures of you and their other ancestors with no way of viewing them. An archival photo album of archival prints will still be viewable.

Answer 6

Its the camera. Most likely the resolution was much lower then (fewer megapixels). Unless you happened to get one with a low quality lens. I have a 1MP digital camera with a very good lens from 1997 and if I took a 1MP photo with a 2009 digital camera, it looks just as good (or just as bad, depending on how much you blow it up) as the 1997 camera with the same settings.

Answer 7

Where did you back them up to?



Many forms of electronic storage are temporary at best. Hard disks on your computer are a crash waiting to happen, although current technology has made them more reliable they are still potential trouble.



Currently optical disks such as CD or DVD are commonly used, although even here caution is required, with multiple copies made using quality archive grade disks.



http://photography.suite101.com/article.cfm/store_digital_photos



Another part of back-up strategy is off site storage such as Carbonite



http://digital-photography.suite101.com/article.cfm/carbonite_protects_digital_photos



This is handy for your very best or most irreplaceable images, rather than complete image library storage

Answer 8

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Answer 9

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