Preventing Bit Rot

Gary L. Friedman
Sep 1, 2018 · 7 min read
Data Decay (sometimes referred to as “Data Rot”) can corrupt your .jpgs as they idly sit on your hard drive. How many of YOUR precious memories are deteriorating on your storage media right now?

I worry about data decay. A lot. Already I have a few hundred corrupt .jpgs on my hard drive which standard file system check programs like CHKDSK (used in Microsoft Windows) have been unable to find or fix.

The problem has two main causes: 1) physical media losing its magnetic orientation and strength (this is the kind of problem that CHKDSK and the underlying file system usually excel in finding and fixing), and 2) error-prone…

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Gary L. Friedman

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Gary L. Friedman is a professional photographer who runs the stock image website FriedmanArchives.com and has written many best-selling camera-specific books.

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