To delete or not to delete...

[MWerner]

So, I want to clean off my hard drive a bit. I'm thinking about going through all my shoots from the last year and deleting all the unprocessed photos that I didn't use. I have all the processed jpegs and all their RAW negatives, plus the RAW files I never touched. I figure, if I didn't use them, what's the point in keeping them?

What do all of you think about this? Is there any circumstance in which I would wish I hadn't thrown away all those useless files?

[acedrew]

I flush my shots as soon as I upload them, I know in the first go-through which ones I'm going to keep, I mark the rest reject and delete them. The data is still on the card at that point, in case I delete something accidentally, also LR puts the files in the trash, so they're retrievable for a while. I shot 10,000 frames the first month I had my 50D, theres no way I can keep all those!! Nor do I want to!
Andrew Rodgers
Perfected Perspectives -- Photography by Andrew Rodgers | Andrew Rodgers (acedrew) on Twitter

[OsmosisStudios]

I think it's time for a second Drive.

[vandergus]

Don't let your good photographs get lost in a sea of mediocre might-use-someday shots. Purge!

[bryanfuller]

thanks Acedrew for your valued advice

[AgBeard]

Originally Posted by vandergus

Don't let your good photographs get lost in a sea of mediocre might-use-someday shots. Purge!

Suggest you backup to DVD first - if you must purge

[Bob McClure]

If you didn't want it just after taking it, delete it. 1000 pictures you don't want now will be 1000 pictures you don't want later.

[dcclark]

I am vicious with my photos, and usually delete all but 5 or 6 photos from any given day. It's a good thing to learn: you figure out which photos really are good, and which aren't.

That said, external storage is CHEAP nowadays, and you could easily get a 250 GB drive for next to nothing. If you're really worried about storing your photos, grab a drive and backup!

[wulf]

I am inclined to discard a lot of shots; I don't want to miss some really good shots because it takes too long to wade through lots of flawed versions. It would be feasible for me to store everything I take but not to find time to sort back through it!

Wulf

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by dcclark

I am vicious with my photos, and usually delete all but 5 or 6 photos from any given day. It's a good thing to learn: you figure out which photos really are good, and which aren't.

That said, external storage is CHEAP nowadays, and you could easily get a 250 GB drive for next to nothing. If you're really worried about storing your photos, grab a drive and backup!

I agree, i had an old(er) lap top that i store all my photos on. I HATE deleting anything, and especially hesitant to take them off the card, so having a backup storage is my savor.