Almost everyone taking a holiday, a wedding or even just a day trip somewhere tend to take a device capable of capturing digital photographs, sometimes taking a hundred or more photos in a single day. While the quality or subject of many of these photographs and videos are of dubious value, each one captures a unique moment, most of which we want to keep. Often, copies are uploaded to social media sites, but in many cases with a loss in resolution, so the original image or video may still be extremely important.
It is when we go on holiday that your storage media tends to be at the most risk, which can range from misplacing your phone or camera to it being stolen, through to the media becoming damaged. Weddings, parties or a night out, especially if it involves a lot of alcohol increases these risks. Cameras and mobile phones do not mix well with sand and water, especially at the seaside, so if you do take them on the beach, it is important to ensure they are not exposed to sand and water, the later being extremely corrosive.
The common dangers to your memory card or a USB device you may have transferred the files to, fall into two categories, user error and physical damage. Reformatting the media or deleting photos are common errors, so it is important to take a few extra moments before you do either of these, especially as it is likely that such an error will not be noticed until you’ve written more files to the storage media. Preparing and labelling media before you travel may help avoid these situations.
Physical problems can be as simple as poor storage, such as placing a card in your pocket after placing a new one in your camera and forgetting about it, or placing it so it at the side of your suitcase, where it can easily be hit during your travels. As already mentioned, sand and water can damage your camera, but heat is one of the most serious dangers to the media. Avoid leaving your camera in the sun, as the build-up heat can severely damage the memory card.
The use of a padded waterproof camera bag and storing all media carefully should hopefully avoid the disappointment of finding your precious photographs or videos have been lost or damaged.
