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Quick tips for organizing digital photos

Content starts here
» Making photos digital
» Portable storage options
» Flexible DVD media
» Software options

Introduction

There are many options for preserving memories, but creating a digital archive is a great way to make sure they last, especially when you save photos to DVD. Discover how easy it is to make a DVD of your pictures and learn more about creating a digital archive.

Making photos digital


Take a look at how you store old snapshots. Do you keep heirloom photos in a musty corner of the basement? Your photos, especially those developed prior to the 1980s, can be damaged from something as seemingly harmless as the humidity in the air.

Preserving photos digitally has considerable advantages. You can:


It's easier than ever to convert your images into digital files, whether they're photos, slides, or negatives. Flatbed scanners from HP feature handy one-touch scanning. For slides or negatives, you'll need a scanner specifically built for that purpose, like the HP Scanjet 4890 scanner. Some scanners also have optional slide and negative adapters that you can add on.

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Portable storage options


Once you've converted your photos to digital format, consider storing them on a DVD or CD. They're cheaper and easier to mail than printed photos, and less likely to get damaged. And consider this: The lifespan of a disc ranges from 10 to 100 years, depending on storage conditions and media quality.

DVD technology has many advantages over other portable, shareable digital storage options. A DVD holds 4.7GB of data, which translates to more than 15,000 high-quality pictures. That's about seven times the capacity of a CD. And HP's innovative double-layer recording technology lets you use double-layer DVDs to record almost twice as much data as you can on single-layer DVDs. Compare CDs and DVDs to see what's right for you.

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Flexible DVD media


You can record photos to DVD+R ("recordable") discs, which record data only once, or record them to DVD+RW ("rewritable") discs, which you can write or record over about 1,000 times. DVD+R discs are cheaper, but you may want to spend a little more on DVD+RW discs for the added flexibility.

DVD writers are not only fast, but also versatile. The HP DVD Writer 740i writes discs at 8x double layer (both sides without turning over). You can literally burn thousands of photos to a DVD in minutes, and tens of thousands to a double-layer DVD. And with LightScribe technology you can burn silkscreen-quality labels and artwork directly onto LightScribe-enabled CDs and DVDs—right inside the drive!

DVD+R with photos on them can be played on most DVD players, including computer DVD drives and TV DVD video players.

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Software options


Discover how software like HP Photosmart Premier can let you remove red-eye, adjust colour and lighting, and fix brightness and contrast in your digital photos. It's included with many HP imaging products—or you can download HP Photosmart Essential for free.

Consider using ArcSoft Showbiz editing software (included with most HP PCs and DVD writers) to produce your photo scrapbook as a movie. Or you can use HP Photosmart Premier and Windows XP Media Center Edition to create a slideshow with music.

Once you've got your photos and movie masterpieces archived on a DVD, give the disc a professional-quality label. Most HP PCs feature LightScribe technology, which lets you burn personalized, laser-etched labels directly onto the disc.

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