Like many of us, I save articles from MR, MRC, etc. At one time, I was getting 5 or 6 magazines a month, and saving the whole magazine was out of the question. I started cutting the articles out, but that was cumbersome at best - articles on different subjects on the same page, etc. A few years ago, I started scanning them into my computer. This was great, as I could sort them by many different catagories - untill I started to choke up my computer!! OK, so now I started burning them into CD’s, but even that started to be a pain.
Enter the FLASH DRIVE!! For those of you not familar with a flash drive, as was I a week ago, it’s a little gizmo about 7/8" x 2 1/4" x 1/4", that can hold up to 8GB of info!! That’s over 100 CD’s if my math is right!! All you have to do is plug it into your USB port on your computer and click on the files you want downloaded. I downloaded about 5 CD’s worth in about 15 minutes, and the only storage problem is that it’s so small you could loose it!! I paid about $45 for an 8GB flash drive at Best Buy. For those of you that make videos, it’s ideal for that as well!! Hope this can help someone! [:)]
I use to do that some time ago but found out an external 80gb hard drive does it a lot faster. I installed a firewire PCI card in my desktop. Very fast. You can get a USB 2.0 external hard drive for less than $100. My stepson just picked one up for $80. 250gb storage. Many USB systems are USB 1.1 with new computers having USB 2.0. Plus flash drives can easily be lost.
I back up to a DVD and store the DVD off site.
I have been scanning mrr magazines for a few years and it is a lot easier to find the article in my PC.
I lost a hard drive some years ago with a lot of data. Now I back up my PC hard drive to a external one. You will not understand what I mean until you lose a hard drive with all your precisions data.
Been there, done that, lost the T-shirt (the whole drive).[:(] I too back up to an external hard drive. But, to your admonition “back up, back up, back up” I have to add “back up often, back up often, back up often.” I wasn’t backing up often enough and lost a lot of irreplacable photographs. Now I do an incremental backup frequently and every time I download a bunch of photographs from my camera and periodically do a complete backup and delete the previous incremental backups. Like you say, you won’t understand how important this is until you’ve lost a drive. Oh, and don’t forget to back up your bookmarks and e-mail addresses.
OK, you have peeked my interest, but back way up. How do you scan the article? I presume you need a scanner of some sort but what kind, which is best for this purpose?
If you have several pages to scan, do you put them under the same file name for sorting purposes? I’m kinda new to all this new stuff[%-)]
I have a Canon Lide 20 flatbed scanner. There are newer models. Some flatbed scanners are part of a printer since many people scan photos into their PCs. Make sure it is a “Flatbed” scanner. I believe it is easier with the newer scanners. Mine is 6 years old.
Use Google to search for scanners, scanning magazines, using a scanner, scanning magazines, etc. It is not plug and play so you will have to practice some. In my PC hard drive I have a directory titled Trains with many sub directories in it. Each scan has its own label. I label what is convenient for me. I have only been using PCs for fifteen years so I am still learning. You no doubt will find a way I had not thought of. I just fold over the pages so I do not ruin the magazine, my way. Make sure the cover for the scanner folds out of the way if you scan from larger books.
My PCs do not have Windows and Gates. I use Linux so my methods will be somewhat different than yours.
The biggest issue is, PATIENCE. Oh, one more thing, the instruction book and patience.
The 'Net is loaded with information so searching will be a great aid.
Ok, Geezers, this is your cue to start a Rant about copying. [:)]
I use a HP 1200 series printer/scanner/copier. It’s about 3 years old & I paid less than $100 for it. I pull the pages from the mag. If there is additional text on seperate partial pages,I cut them out & scan the article in order. After scanning, the scanner will ask where you want to file the pics/text - I put them in My Pictures and start a new folder for each type of article. Example: Trn Mod Stm (Train Model Steam) In that folder I title them by type - 0-6-0, 0-8-0, etc. By titleing this way, as you add items, the computer will automatically sort it by alpha/numeric 0-6-0 before 0-8-0, Big Boy before Challenger, etc. Trn Proto Stm - pics of real trains. Hope this helps. [:)]
From one of those Geezers, it’s perfectly legal to copy for personal use.
Since we’re on the subject of scanning and computers, does anyone know of an inexpensive slide scanner, the cheapest I’ve been able to find is about $150. I’ve got a ton of slides from my pre-digital days that I’d like to convert.
I can’t agree more about backups, backups, backups. I, luckily, learned early on to back up all my data, (400+ gigs of music & another 200 gigs of video & pictures), so that drive crashes are merely inconviences not disasters. I use a free program, (Karens Replicator), to do automatic weekly back-ups. I never use my “C” drive for permanent data storage.
I have never tried scanning slides but here is a link to a bunch of info. Also, search the 'Net for prices after you find the one you want. There are quite a few online stores. I ordered my Canon some time ago through Amazon.com, Free shipping over $25.00 at the time.
I have an Epson 4180 scanner that I bought to scan slides. It also scans photos etc. I’ve scanned over 3,000 slides & many photos & articles &i t is still working well. They even threw in Photoshop Elements, which I found very helpful in restoring faded slides. The slide scanning ability doesn’t cost that much extra, think I paid around $120. JERRY
Make sure that the scanner you get will do the job that you need it to do. I have an Epson that does a great job on photos (prints) and documents, and also does 35mm negatives and transparencies, but it won’t properly handle 120 or 620 negatives. Not only is there no proper holder for the negs, but the software has trouble recognising anything beyond the size of a 35mm negative.
I accept the space saving aspect of saving articles in digital format. However there is a clear advantage of saving the entire magazine…
I have repeatedly found, that as my MRing abilities grow and my interests expand, articles that were of no interest to me before suddendly become valuable.
Hardcoalcase - Jim, There used to be 6 or 8 monthly mags I used to get - that’s now down to 2 or 3 thanks to many mags now out of business. I’ve also been buying mags for over 50 years!! Even 1 a month comes out to 600 mags!! You eventually realize you can’t save everything!![:)]
Word of caution, flash drives fail. They have a limit to the number of times they can be written to. And as mentioned, they are easily lost.
They are fantastic for transportation, and quick storage, but should be limited as per part of a data recovery scheme.
The best thing you can do is decide what is replaceble, and what is not. Those magazine articles are replaceable, a back up copy on another HD is a great idea. The picture of your kid’s first little league game, may not be. That should be burned to an optical disk (CD or DVD) at least twice, and one copy should reside off residence (office, or with family).
Pain in the butt - yup. But if catastrophe happens (fire, flood, or theft), you’ll be happy those really important things are secure elsewhere.
Also remember that burned DVDs and CDs have lifespans too. The data can be unreadable as short as 2 years. Using higher quality discs can reduce but not completely eliminate the problem. Be sure to periodicly check your backup discs and be prepared to reburn them when needed.
I got my slide/negative scanner from herringtoncatalog.com. It does 35mm negatives and slides. It is called an arcive scanner p123–$99.95. The add says it is not compatable with VISTA? It works on vista for me.
Why not get a flatbed scanner that does both flatbed and slides/negatives? Most have attachments that will accomodate slides/negs, and the quality will be at least as good as that cheapo from Herrington’s; wonder who makes it? I have an HP flatbed scanner that I use for archiving articles. The included software allows many scanning options, and the one I use for articles is a ‘scan to pdf’ option. It allows scanning multiple pages into a single pdf document. Then I save the documents off to CD or DVD depending on howmuch I have to save. Nice thing with scanning to pdf is all you need is the free download of Adobe Reader that’ll run on any computer.
For one reason they do a poor job with slides and negatives. Issue one is the need for backlighting (which some flatbeds do provide, but at an additional cost), and the other is the fact that they are suspended off of the glass, makeing a poor quality scan. A magazine article lies flat on the glass, a slide or negative in a frame sits at least 1/16" above it. Believe it or not, it makes a difference.