Hi everyone,

I was just wondering what all your thoughts were on archiving/cataloging your digital photos.

Personally, I've decided to shoot RAW but can't decide how to store the photos once I have "processed" them.

Option A - Store the RAW, final Tiff, and web jpeg all together in one "categorised" folder.

Advantages - I have the option to go back to RAW if I decide to (but I think that would be unlikely). I could also go back to the tiff to either edit or create different sized jpegs if needed.

Disadvantages - HDD space would disappear very quickly. Could become difficult to locate photos with 3 versions of the same image cluttering up the folder.

Option B - As above, but only permanently store tiffs/RAW and create jpegs as and when needed, deleting them after they have been uploaded/printed.

Advantages - Slightly smaller disk usage, simpler file structure (less clutter).

Disadvantages - Slight hassle having to go into the tiff and re-save to jpeg...no big deal though.

Option C - Only keep tiffs following editing. Create jpegs as and when needed.

Advantages - Much lower disk usage, far less clutter in folders.

Disadvantage - Fewer options for going back to re-edit if I decide I've badly cocked it up... but then, how likely is it to cock up the editing so much that editing from tiff would be a bad thing?

Other options

Store RAW+large edited jpeg - Lower disk usage but if having to re-size from jpegs I believe I would sacrifice some quality.

Store large jpeg only - Best for saving on disk space but too many sacrifices here.

...so, what do you think? I guess if storing RAW files it would be best practise and more organised to keep them in the same file as the edited versions and under the same file name (different extension obviously)...or do people archive their RAW files away somewhere?

Advice needed!