BACKUP ALERT

[ImageArt]

During my investigation of filename differences, I have discovered significant file backup issues. I have been kind of aware of the fact that some apps have their own file naming conventions. Most EXIF viewers show the Apple name of the file but the new Exif Viewer shows the file name given to the file by the app.

The fact that Apple allows duplicate file names is actually a disaster. I can't believe that this has not been changed. The same applies to allowing albums with the same name. Snapseed is a bad culprit for not giving their files unique names and this means that some of your files may not have been backed up in the past.

Some file backup apps and accessories may not be backing up files correctly because they do not account for duplicate filenames. If you are using the Sandisk iXpand drive, chances are a huge chunk of your Snapseed files have not been backed up because every time it finds a file with the same name it just overwrites the previous one! I am sure this applies to any usb drive.

With regard to the Photo Transfer app, the same applies when copying to the PC. In other words, duplicate files are overwritten. When you give a name to a project in Quik, it gives all exports the same name so only one version will be backed up. I am about to do some beta testing for the Photo Transfer app so I will alert the app developers to this issue.

With regard to copying to a Mac, I am not sure if it has different saving conventions so that all these duplicate files are still saved. I suggest you check. Try backing up the Snapseed album and see if all the files are properly copied across when using a file transfer app.

It is almost impossible to get Snapseed files with the Snapseed filename backed up if you are backing up to a PC. Google drive may be one option because I think it renames the files. However, when I used the app it crashed so still have to work on that. Dropbox gives so little free space these days backing up lots of files is useless.

It means that I have probably lost quite a few of my edited Snapseed photos from the past but not my originals. I am always painfully aware when my devices get back to IMG_0001 and always try to keep them separate.

 

[sinnerjohn]

Google drive may be one option

Google Photos works well. Flickr has virtually unlimited storage as well and saves at original size, but its slow so you need to keep on top of it.

 

[ImageArt]

I will still use the Photo Transfer app because it's quick and hopefully I can get them to save duplicate copies.
Have just saved my Snapseed files to Google Drive but the app freaks out if you try to download more than 12 files at a time so it took me a while to do the Snapseed files from my mini. The secret is to go into Exif Viewer, go to the Snapseed album and favourite (heart) the files which are only called Snapseed and then back up just the favourite album.

 

[FundyBrian]

During my investigation of filename differences, I have discovered significant file backup issues. I have been kind of aware of the fact that some apps have their own file naming conventions. Most EXIF viewers show the Apple name of the file but the new Exif Viewer shows the file name given to the file by the app.

The fact that Apple allows duplicate file names is actually a disaster. I can't believe that this has not been changed. The same applies to allowing albums with the same name. Snapseed is a bad culprit for not giving their files unique names and this means that some of your files may not have been backed up in the past.

Some file backup apps and accessories may not be backing up files correctly because they do not account for duplicate filenames. If you are using the Sandisk iXpand drive, chances are a huge chunk of your Snapseed files have not been backed up because every time it finds a file with the same name it just overwrites the previous one! I am sure this applies to any usb drive.

With regard to the Photo Transfer app, the same applies when copying to the PC. In other words, duplicate files are overwritten. When you give a name to a project in Quik, it gives all exports the same name so only one version will be backed up. I am about to do some beta testing for the Photo Transfer app so I will alert the app developers to this issue.

With regard to copying to a Mac, I am not sure if it has different saving conventions so that all these duplicate files are still saved. I suggest you check. Try backing up the Snapseed album and see if all the files are properly copied across when using a file transfer app.

It is almost impossible to get Snapseed files with the Snapseed filename backed up if you are backing up to a PC. Google drive may be one option because I think it renames the files. However, when I used the app it crashed so still have to work on that. Dropbox gives so little free space these days backing up lots of files is useless.

It means that I have probably lost quite a few of my edited Snapseed photos from the past but not my originals. I am always painfully aware when my devices get back to IMG_0001 and always try to keep them separate.

Yes, I encountered this issue too when I started to get over 3000 photos on my iPhone. Especially when some were over a year old. There seems to be only 4 digits used in Apple file names and then it starts recycling numbers. With over 100,000 photos made on my iPhone each year there is a lot of potential for file name problems. Some simpler backup systems only go by the file name and couldn't tell the files apart. You need one that also compares the date. Modification date, not just original capture date.
I don't use my Lightning/USB flash drive for backing up photos but for saving specific groups of files I don't need filling up my iPhone, such as the countless iterations of Time Stamp title files, but I still want to keep them handy in case I need to grab one. They were already backed up in my usual way via Lightroom.
When I was having problems getting Lightroom to import my photos in iOS 9 I went through a stage of trying several different backup methods and I discovered the problem you mentioned with some of them. The Photos app on Mac seemed to work OK but since my ultimate destination was Lightroom this added too many extra steps. I still have several folders full of backup images to go through to make sure none were missed. Lightroom import now works again but I don't know what the problem was. For quite a while Lightroom would not recognize any photos on my iPhone if one single tiff file was among them. As soon as I found that one file(!) and deleted it, all of the other images suddenly reappeared.
One particular app did get every single file but it had a complex folder system by date in order to accomplish it. I can't remember the name offhand because I stopped using that method once Lightroom started working again but I should be able to tell from the folder name on my computer. Lightroom has no difficulty identifying a recently made copy or edit from the original and any new photos not already in the Lightroom files always show up in New Photos.
I always import manually so I can choose to group certain photos together, and assign suitable file names on import for easier searching later. Laborious for sure. I like to import initially by outing or photo shoot and after the initial screening do my final image bank filing by topic.
One thing I started doing a few years ago is to always add "iPhone 5, or 6," etc. to my keywords so I can more easily search for any iPhone, iPad, iPod photos in my image bank.
Later, when I have some edited photos from an outing I will import them and add them to the same folder as the original outing photos. Sometimes I will regroup the whole set in that folder placing the edited versions adjacent to the originals and redo all the file names to keep them closely associated. I backup all my HDR brackets in another file and only keep the results in the image bank.
Incidentally, when I talk about doing backups I only do my iPhone backups via the USB cable, never by iCloud or wifi. Also, by my (bad) experience, any automatic backup system WILL fail, at the most inopportune moment. Now I only do manual backups and disconnect the spare copies of my backup from the system to prevent any accidents.

 

[RoseCat]

Hmmmmmm..... all my photos - originals and edits - get backed up to Dropbox. I keep forgetting to also copy them over to my iMac and external hard drive though... But when I do copy to iMac I haven't noticed any problems with overwriting (I believe it would give me a warning that there was a file(s) with the same name?)

 

[ImageArt]

Yes, I encountered this issue too when I started to get over 3000 photos on my iPhone. Especially when some were over a year old. There seems to be only 4 digits used in Apple file names and then it starts recycling numbers. With over 100,000 photos made on my iPhone each year there is a lot of potential for file name problems. Some simpler backup systems only go by the file name and couldn't tell the files apart. You need one that also compares the date. Modification date, not just original capture date.
I don't use my Lightning/USB flash drive for backing up photos but for saving specific groups of files I don't need filling up my iPhone, such as the countless iterations of Time Stamp title files, but I still want to keep them handy in case I need to grab one. They were already backed up in my usual way via Lightroom.
When I was having problems getting Lightroom to import my photos in iOS 9 I went through a stage of trying several different backup methods and I discovered the problem you mentioned with some of them. The Photos app on Mac seemed to work OK but since my ultimate destination was Lightroom this added too many extra steps. I still have several folders full of backup images to go through to make sure none were missed. Lightroom import now works again but I don't know what the problem was. For quite a while Lightroom would not recognize any photos on my iPhone if one single tiff file was among them. As soon as I found that one file(!) and deleted it, all of the other images suddenly reappeared.
One particular app did get every single file but it had a complex folder system by date in order to accomplish it. I can't remember the name offhand because I stopped using that method once Lightroom started working again but I should be able to tell from the folder name on my computer. Lightroom has no difficulty identifying a recently made copy or edit from the original and any new photos not already in the Lightroom files always show up in New Photos.
I always import manually so I can choose to group certain photos together, and assign suitable file names on import for easier searching later. Laborious for sure. I like to import initially by outing or photo shoot and after the initial screening do my final image bank filing by topic.
One thing I started doing a few years ago is to always add "iPhone 5, or 6," etc. to my keywords so I can more easily search for any iPhone, iPad, iPod photos in my image bank.
Later, when I have some edited photos from an outing I will import them and add them to the same folder as the original outing photos. Sometimes I will regroup the whole set in that folder placing the edited versions adjacent to the originals and redo all the file names to keep them closely associated. I backup all my HDR brackets in another file and only keep the results in the image bank.
Incidentally, when I talk about doing backups I only do my iPhone backups via the USB cable, never by iCloud or wifi. Also, by my (bad) experience, any automatic backup system WILL fail, at the most inopportune moment. Now I only do manual backups and disconnect the spare copies of my backup from the system to prevent any accidents.

The Photo Transfer app are correcting the overwrite of duplicate records in their next release thank goodness.

My iPhone photos are pretty well ordered and it helps that I do almost no editing on it. I group all my photos totally by device and year and this makes it easier to do a second backup when necessary. So that I can check that all files are backed up I have a file naming convention like this: iPhone 004 Oz 1980-4281, iPhone 005 HK Boat Trip 4282-5794 and this will be in the folder iPhone 2015.

However, my iPad images are just a free-for-all which worries me endlessly and is probably why I missed the fact that some were not being backed up. I hate the fact that files cannot be saved on the ipad in physical folders at the time of creation. My manipulated files on the PC are so ordered and easy to find. Although I back up images in image creation order, I am now going to create a second backup and move big projects to separate folders.

I sometimes find Apple's attitude quite puzzling. Their Photo App is hopelessly basic. You can't even rename a folder (can you?) and yet they don't want to give other developers the ability to replace it with something better. I understand that by restricting what developers can do means a safer operating systems but then they must provide the capabilities that the users want.

 

[FundyBrian]

The Photo Transfer app are correcting the overwrite of duplicate records in their next release thank goodness.

My iPhone photos are pretty well ordered and it helps that I do almost no editing on it. I group all my photos totally by device and year and this makes it easier to do a second backup when necessary. So that I can check that all files are backed up I have a file naming convention like this: iPhone 004 Oz 1980-4281, iPhone 005 HK Boat Trip 4282-5794 and this will be in the folder iPhone 2015.

However, my iPad images are just a free-for-all which worries me endlessly and is probably why I missed the fact that some were not being backed up. I hate the fact that files cannot be saved on the ipad in physical folders at the time of creation. My manipulated files on the PC are so ordered and easy to find. Although I back up images in image creation order, I am now going to create a second backup and move big projects to separate folders.

I sometimes find Apple's attitude quite puzzling. Their Photo App is hopelessly basic. You can't even rename a folder (can you?) and yet they don't want to give other developers the ability to replace it with something better. I understand that by restricting what developers can do means a safer operating systems but then they must provide the capabilities that the users want.

I suspect limitations on the Photos layout for 3rd party apps has something to do with how the Photos app on the Mac desktop computers interacts with Photos on the iDevices. The two are meant to work hand in hand and feel familiar as you switch back and forth. On the computer app you can create folders and groups or albums. I use Lightroom instead.
It would be nice to keep all related project photos together on the iDevices without seeing duplicates of them somewhere else. Later edits of photos should appear next to the original photos not somewhere down the list.
On my computer I group images based on subject matter or location rather than date. You can always sort by date if you want to within the group but the file naming pretty well looks after that on its own. For my Image Bank I use a system I started back in the slide film days and it still works today with digital images.
It works like this. You have category groups and within them are subgroups. My categories 1 to 15 are nature categories. Insects is 1. Within insects are the subgroups, b for butterflies, m for moths, d for dragonflies, etc. I try to keep the obvious ones like that. So a new butterfly picture automatically gets 1b-, and that gets it in the right place. From there I just add the next available sequence number, 1b-645, and to that I can add the name, 1b-645 Red Admiral. This keeps the newer pictures at the bottom of the list. The important thing is that as soon as I see a picture number, even without seeing the image, I can pretty well tell what it is and where it belongs. Also, I'm not dependent on completed filing. I can just sort half way and that at least puts the picture in the right folder. Later I can select a group of unsequenced images, sort them by date, and rename them automatically adding the sequence numbers.
What if I make a later edit of that photo, or a revised version. I just add 1b-645a or b, etc., and this sorts it right next to the original.
I can group scenic photos by location or theme or whatever, in the same way. It depends on how you interpret the photo. If the season is more important than the location I can use 23 for winter and that subdivides into 23a for winter close ups. I can easily add new groups any time. Found Faces, Signs.
The keywords help to find images and group them in different ways. When I got my first iPod with a camera I added "iPod" to the keywords and I can still locate all of them with a simple search.
After 40 years I've pretty well ironed out any problems. That is, besides doing it. That's why the half way sorting is so important. You don't want the whole thing to come to a grinding halt because you don't have time at the moment for all the details.

 

[RoseCat]

I group all my photos totally by device and year

That's kinda brilliant! I just do mine by year...

I sometimes find Apple's attitude quite puzzling. Their Photo App is hopelessly basic. You can't even rename a folder (can you?) and yet they don't want to give other developers the ability to replace it with something better. I understand that by restricting what developers can do means a safer operating systems but then they must provide the capabilities that the users want.

Couldn't agree more! It's beyond annoying.

 

[ImageArt]

I suspect limitations on the Photos layout for 3rd party apps has something to do with how the Photos app on the Mac desktop computers interacts with Photos on the iDevices. The two are meant to work hand in hand and feel familiar as you switch back and forth. On the computer app you can create folders and groups or albums. I use Lightroom instead.
It would be nice to keep all related project photos together on the iDevices without seeing duplicates of them somewhere else. Later edits of photos should appear next to the original photos not somewhere down the list.
On my computer I group images based on subject matter or location rather than date. You can always sort by date if you want to within the group but the file naming pretty well looks after that on its own. For my Image Bank I use a system I started back in the slide film days and it still works today with digital images.
It works like this. You have category groups and within them are subgroups. My categories 1 to 15 are nature categories. Insects is 1. Within insects are the subgroups, b for butterflies, m for moths, d for dragonflies, etc. I try to keep the obvious ones like that. So a new butterfly picture automatically gets 1b-, and that gets it in the right place. From there I just add the next available sequence number, 1b-645, and to that I can add the name, 1b-645 Red Admiral. This keeps the newer pictures at the bottom of the list. The important thing is that as soon as I see a picture number, even without seeing the image, I can pretty well tell what it is and where it belongs. Also, I'm not dependent on completed filing. I can just sort half way and that at least puts the picture in the right folder. Later I can select a group of unsequenced images, sort them by date, and rename them automatically adding the sequence numbers.
What if I make a later edit of that photo, or a revised version. I just add 1b-645a or b, etc., and this sorts it right next to the original.
I can group scenic photos by location or theme or whatever, in the same way. It depends on how you interpret the photo. If the season is more important than the location I can use 23 for winter and that subdivides into 23a for winter close ups. I can easily add new groups any time. Found Faces, Signs.
The keywords help to find images and group them in different ways. When I got my first iPod with a camera I added "iPod" to the keywords and I can still locate all of them with a simple search.
After 40 years I've pretty well ironed out any problems. That is, besides doing it. That's why the half way sorting is so important. You don't want the whole thing to come to a grinding halt because you don't have time at the moment for all the details.

But is this all done in Lightroom? After spending hours sorting out my photos when I first got Lightroom some years ago, I lost the catalogue and decided in the end it wasn't worth the hassle to do them all again. The problem with your method above with what I do is that you have to make a physical backup of the whole lot (as a second backup) when you are finished adding new photos. I just back up my 2016 photos or the actual sub-folder. Windows Explorer has an easy tagging system. I just select all the photos and add a tag or individual tags. This way if I move a photo the tag goes with it and I don't have to have Lightroom for it.

 

[ImageArt]

That's kinda brilliant! I just do mine by year...

Couldn't agree more! It's beyond annoying.

It's the arrogance that gets me the most. When I used to complain to Apple users that the Apple products were so expensive and that's why I don't buy them, they said 'yes, but Apple just replaces anything faulty with no quibbles'. . Yeah right. Anybody want a defunct iPhone 6??

 

[Twinkletoes]

It's the arrogance that gets me the most. When I used to complain to Apple users that the Apple products were so expensive and that's why I don't buy them, they said 'yes, but Apple just replaces anything faulty with no quibbles'. . Yeah right. Anybody want a defunct iPhone 6??

They only replace with 'remanufactured' if within warranty period. I had to return remanufactureds 5s twice in nyc saying they were remanuf-cktured. But the exchange scheme isnt bad - i took my 6s in to the main store in zurich a month ago and got about 40% off the cost of my latest love - matt black 7, and got 3 ropey lightning charging cables replaced free of charge at the same time.

If the 6 you have switches on, has v little wear and tear, why not do a part exchange? My 6s had camera focus issues but it wasnt noticed...

 

[ImageArt]

They only replace with 'remanufactured' if within warranty period. I had to return remanufactureds 5s twice in nyc saying they were remanuf-cktured. But the exchange scheme isnt bad - i took my 6s in to the main store in zurich a month ago and got about 40% off the cost of my latest love - matt black 7, and got 3 ropey lightning charging cables replaced free of charge at the same time.

If the 6 you have switches on, has v little wear and tear, why not do a part exchange? My 6s had camera focus issues but it wasnt noticed...

Mine is in excellent nick but I have a small scratch along the white section at the top. I slipped and fell on a slight gravel slope in Cambodia and landed on my backside. It all depends on whether the 'freeze disease' problem is happening when I take it in. I have completely reset it back to factory in the hope that it would go but it came back but I'm thinking if I do a factory reset just before I take it in, I might be okay. Tom has to hand in his company iPhone soon and needs his own so wonder if we can do an exchange for a 7 for him.

I think giving you a remanufactured device is poor if it's within the warranty period. I extended my iPad Pro warranty period to two years but if it starts going wrong I will not be happy if a remanufactured is all I get especially at a cost of GBP1000.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Mine is in excellent nick but I have a small scratch along the white section at the top. I slipped and fell on a slight gravel slope in Cambodia and landed on my backside. It all depends on whether the 'freeze disease' problem is happening when I take it in. I have completely reset it back to factory in the hope that it would go but it came back but I'm thinking if I do a factory reset just before I take it in, I might be okay. Tom has to hand in his company iPhone soon and needs his own so wonder if we can do an exchange for a 7 for him.

I think giving you a remanufactured device is poor if it's within the warranty period. I extended my iPad Pro warranty period to two years but if it starts going wrong I will not be happy if a remanufactured is all I get especially at a cost of GBP1000.

You will just get a reconstituted one! The warranty matches your existing one. They will ask you to wipe phone anyways so you could take it in prewiped and tippexed over scratch. Its called normal wear and tear. Its the glass they look at most i think.