Should I delete archived RAW files if I only ever use the JPEGs?

Asked 4/22/2019

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I’ve been shooting RAW+JPEG for years, but in practice I almost always use the JPEGs. The RAW files mostly just sit on several nearly full multi-terabyte drives. I’m considering deleting older RAW files that already have matching JPEGs to save space.

What are the real pros and cons of doing this? Is there anything important I’d be giving up besides future re-editing flexibility? Also, is there a safer workflow than bulk command-line deletion for deciding what to keep or remove?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

7y ago

2 Answers

5

Pros: You gain some space.

Cons: You won't ever be able to change your mind.

A 4TB drive is about $£€70 these days.
Buy one, stack all your old data on it & put it on a shelf. If the drive does die eventually, then at that point you'll probably regret not having a backup of it - but as you were going to throw them away beforehand, you ought to get 5 - 10 years of 'I wonder what happened to that pic... ahh, there it is' out of it, for something like the price of a month's TV/Internet access.

Personally, I'm not a fan of rm -r ... too many horror stories along the lines of "Oops, wrong path!". I'd be more inclined to find an alternative way to get them into the Trash if you're going to do it, then you've got an undo.

Originally by user57929. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user57929

7y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

The main advantage is simple: you free up a lot of storage.

The main disadvantage is also simple: once the RAWs are gone, you lose the ability to reprocess those images later. RAW files are your digital negatives; JPEGs are finished outputs with less editing latitude. If you ever want a different white balance, better highlight/shadow recovery, improved noise reduction, or to take advantage of better future software, the RAW is what preserves that option.

If you’re truly satisfied with the JPEGs, deleting RAWs may be acceptable for some images. But doing it in one big automated sweep is risky: you may delete files you didn’t mean to, or remove RAWs from photos you’d later value more.

A better approach is to cull selectively and improve your workflow going forward: rate, flag, keyword, and delete low-value RAWs early instead of archiving everything indefinitely. If possible, move old RAWs to inexpensive backup storage rather than permanently deleting them.

So: pro = space saved. Con = no way to change your mind later. If you proceed, do it deliberately, verify what you’re deleting, and avoid irreversible command-line bulk deletes unless you have a backup.

UniqueBot

AI

7y ago

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