Brian

Hello Ashley! My apologies for not seeing this thread until now. Have you bought a computer by now or are you still looking for advice?

Oh, give this article a read as well... https://macpaw.com/how-to/clean-up-html5-local-storage-on-mac-os-x That article is a bit out-of-date. Click Privacy in CleanMyMac X and then hit the "Scan" button. Before you click "Remove" you will be given a choice of options. I'd start checking things, but be careful, if you aren't careful, you could nuke any saved logins. Here is a screenshot from my computer. Safari and Firefox are the only two browsers installed on my computer, if you have more they will be listed on your computer. If you don't have CleanMyMac X, I'd buy it.

I get what you mean. You will want to do a "Secure Erase" of the files on your computer. If you are wanting them to be gone from your computer, you will need to delete everything that is associated with those files. I would also upload them to Dropbox directly via their website, rather than putting them in the Local Dropbox Folder on your HD, which automatically syncs to Dropbox's Servers. Now for the easy part, when it comes to Macs, it's really tough getting files back once you delete them. The macOS does have some built in features that allow you to do a secure erase and a program that I often recommend, CleanMyMac X, has a "File Shredder" option, which makes it easy to securely-erase files. The folks at MacPaw who create CleanMyMac also were nice enough to give you quick-and-dirty instructions on how to securely erase files manually. Now, if you are super-paranoid, I wouldn't have imported them to a Main HD. I would have used a Thumbdrive or an external HD with nothing on it but those images and then did a secure format, 3 passes should be sufficient, but you could have gone as high as five. I would also purge any cache files that deal with Photoshop or Bridge and if you are using Lightroom, more than likely you will have to delete your catalog as well. Every little bit of those files / side-car stuff...everything needs to go. Unfortunately, I've never gone to this extent in trying to cover my tracks, so my knowledge is limited, but definitely start by doing a "Secure Erase" of those images/files on the local side of the computer. Oh, make sure your Dropbox Password is very secure. Don't use simple passwords like your Kid's / Dog's names, make it at least 15 or so characters, with letters, numbers and multiple symbols. Also use a e-mail address that isn't a normal one. Since it seems to be only these images you are looking to secure, I would create a new e-mail account on another computer (Not G-Mail, they read your stuff) and setup a new Dropbox Basic account. You just need this e-mail in order to create a new Dropbox account. I think you get 2GB of free storage, which should be enough for your group of files. Then load those files directly via a web browser. Then run CleanMyMac and have it do a scan and delete stuff.

Oh boy! You fear of hard drives will ultimately come to bite you in the arse. I'm very concerned with your data backup method. DVDs are not a long term solution for storage or archiving, especially for something like weddings and other important events. Why? DVDs and other media that you burn / create yourself, usually suffer from what's known as "Bit Rot." What is Bit Rot? Bit Rot, also know as Digital Rot, to put it simply, the 1's and 0's that make up your data / images on your DVDs fade away over time as the material that makes up the DVD degrades. In essence, your data/images go "Poof" over time. You do nothing to cause this; Digital Rot just happens over time with the discs sitting on your shelf or in a drawer. Even the United States Library of Congress, who is responsible of keeping records of all media produced in the US, is trying to figure out ways to combat this. So if the US Government, with Trillions of Dollars at its disposal can't figure this out, Sophie the Photographer won't do much good either. LOL!! If you are going to keep burning DVDs as a way to backup, please choose Archive Grade Media, though is not 100% bulletproof, but has gone through additional testing and is reportedly viable for 100 years. I like the brand Verbatim. Here is an Archive Grade DVD-r 100 Pack. We will see in 100 years time if the Discs hold up. At this point, I want you to start pulling out your old DVD Discs and try to see if you can get to your data. DVDs have gotten better over the years, but the ones from the early 2000's seem to suffer the most. Better to be safe than sorry, even if it will take you an afternoon to accomplish. Now for Hard Drives. There are a few brands that I recommend, and a few recommended models within those brands. Personally, I would never buy the $79 Special from Best Buy or any "Green" or "Eco-Friendly" Hard Drives as they have a high tendency to fail. Unfortunately, people don't know better and are usually price-driven. They know they should be backing up, but spending $500 on an external Enterprise-Grade HD seems a bit much, so they usually get that WD Elements Green Drive that's on sale for $129. Or the Seagate EHD that has "Low Power" advertised on the box for $99. Sounds like a deal, right? In reality, these drives usually contain lower-quality components and really did not save that much power in the long run. Why did they make them? To put it bluntly, it's a huge profit maker, for both the manufacture and the reseller. The COGS and R&D for the manufacture are very low, and that sets the price for the reseller at a good cost, which allows them to either double or triple their money. To give you a reference point, Best Buy makes more profit from selling three over-priced HDMI cables than it does selling a single Sony PlayStation! That's why they are always trying to add things to your purchase, including "Service Plans / Extended Warranties." It's based on making pure-profit. As far as the "Eco-Friendly" portion, it just makes people feel better. Well, at least the ones who pay attention to that sort of thing. In reality, a 10-15 Watt power-saving difference (I'm generalizing here) is a "drop of water in the ocean" in the grand-scheme of things. With the known high-failure rates of these drives...it doesn't do the planet a damn bit of good if they end up in a Landfill somewhere. See what I mean? Not to mention the stress and panic that it causes you when you suffer from a catastrophic data loss. The good news is, unless that EHD that failed had a physical data-crash, the data might be recoverable. It will just take a professional service to do it and that isn't cheap. Usually that cost is between $1000-$2000, though it could be more or less and depends entirely on the situation/status of the Hard Drive. If you are wondering who I recommend for this type of recovery, it's Gillware Data Recovery. Now hopefully, your eyes haven't glazed over and you are still with me. At this point in the game, people are yelling at their screen, "Just tell me WHAT TO BUY!!" My first response is, "What is your budget?" I'm a firm believer in "Buy it Right-Buy it Once!" Philosophy. Often my recommendations are a little on the higher-side, but that's due to me wanting things to last...and when it comes to hard drives and data storage, I'm not cheaping out. I'd rather spend a few hundred more now to have a HD that I won't have to worry about, then spending as little as possible only to fork out $1500 when the drive dies and I need to finish editing that wedding. There are also more options than backing up to a single HD, those units are known as NAS units, or "Network Attached Storage." Often these NAS units have data mirroring and other features that span the data across multiple hard drives, so if one HD dies, you can still get to your data. So, now let's talk numbers and tell me, which computers do you have? Are they all Macintosh based? Or do you have a Mix of Windows and Mac Computers? Where are all of your computers? At your studio and home? Or just the studio? Give me an idea of your import process and how you backup. Also what method / folder structure do you use. If you just want to know what HD to buy, I can give a quick answer. If you want your process analyzed and critiqued, we can do that as well.

Answer number 101, copied from another thread. Here are the current specs (1-2020) that I'm recommending for a "What's a good computer to buy?" threads: Intel i7 / Intel i9 (or AMD Equivalent) 16GB RAM / 32GB or more (Preferred) 500GB Main SSD HD with a larger 2nd 7200 RPM 4TB HD / 1TB Main SSD HD with a larger 2nd 7200 RPM 8TB+ HD (Preferred) A video card that has is own separate and dedicated Video RAM. 4GB (Minimum) / 8GB (Preferred) A power supply that has enough wattage to support the video card Windows 10 Home / Windows 10 Pro (Preferred) I'd get a i7 now as the current versions of PS CC are taking advantage of the Architecture that makes a i7 faster. Personally, I'd skip getting a i9 or AMD equivalent. Photoshop doesn’t utilize a i9. Now if we were editing video, that’s a different story. PS/Bridge...i7 is perfectly fine. Take the savings on the processor when choosing a i7 and put it towards a graphics card upgrade that has it's own dedicated video memory.

Check the threads in this group. I have answered this question at least 100 times.

This is the problem with laptops. That model does not have a IPS-Based Display Panel, which is what you want if you are editing photos. That laptop would probably be good for culling, not editing. Sorry.

Oh, the ONLY time you edit in 16 bit, if if you have severe banding or have a photo that is going to take a lot of work / fixing. 98% of the time, editing in 8 bit is fine. I don’t care what website claims otherwise. They are lying.

Backup any important stat files, actions, favorites, etc. before doing anything.

As far as the current versions of Photoshop CC, you want to keep up-to-date. I'm not understanding the 16-bit part...you mean 64-bit? If so, that applies to Mac Users running mac OS Catalina. It also really applies to people running Photoshop CS6. If you are on Mojave, you are fine. It's the Catalina Users that have to worry.

As far as the Dell 8700 handling Win 10, it should...if Windows 7 works on it, there is a good chance Win 10 will be fine. Once Caveat, If there is some sort of driver that isn't compatible with Windows 10, and there isn't one available, you are screwed. Case in point: I upgraded a friend's 2012 Sony VAIO Laptop to Windows 10. The update went well. Everything worked...except for the WiFi Adapter. That's right, a laptop that has no working WiFi after the update. Sony's answer? Buy a new laptop. Fortunately, the Ethernet Port Worked. You need to have a blank 8GB or 16GB Thumbdrive Handy and use the Windows Media Creation Tool. I can't link to it with my Mac, as Microsoft is detecting it, but if you Google "Windows Media Creation Tool" it will be easy to find. Basically, if you have Windows 7 Pro, you should be able to upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro for free. You just need to have enough HD space available (500GB free is a safe number) and a Thumbdrive that will be used for the Windows 10 Installer only, so after you create it, but it in a bag and label it. After you create the thumbdrive, you boot off of it and follow the prompts. Leave your computer connected to to the internet and it will contact Microsoft's Servers and upgrade your License Key. Bear in mind that this is a one-way proposition. You will not be able to down-grade back to Windows 7 if something isn't 100% compatible.

Windows 7's end-of-life is Jan 14, 2020. What does that mean? To put it bluntly, Microsoft is taking it behind the barn and shooting-it-dead. There will be no support or updates, no security patches or service packs starting in 5 days from now. Will your Windows 7 stop working? Of course not. It will work just fine. That said, it's a sitting duck and any malware or other nasty stuff that takes advantage of a security hole can be exploited. So being on the internet with Win 7 isn't a good idea after Jan 14. Of course, Microsoft hasn't really been pushing out updates recently for Win 7, so it's probably not a huge deal for the short-term. Since they are dropping ALL support for it in a few days, IF something were to happen, requiring an update / patch...guess what? You are SOL.

Sweet!! Permissions will mess you up. "Everyone" usually works for a Home Workgroup.

Here are the current specs (1-2020) that I'm recommending for a "What's a good computer to buy?" threads: Intel i7 / Intel i9 (or AMD Equivalent) 16GB RAM / 32GB or more (Preferred) 500GB Main SSD HD with a larger 2nd 7200 RPM 4TB HD / 1TB Main SSD HD with a larger 2nd 7200 RPM 8TB+ HD (Preferred) A video card that has is own separate and dedicated Video RAM. 4GB (Minimum) / 8GB (Preferred) A power supply that has enough wattage to support the video card Windows 10 Home / Windows 10 Pro (Preferred) I'd get a i7 now as the current versions of PS CC are taking advantage of the Architecture that makes a i7 faster. Personally, I'd skip getting a i9 or AMD equivalent. Take the savings on the processor when choosing a i7 and put it towards a graphics card upgrade that has it's own dedicated video memory. That computer at B&H does not come with any storage or operating system. You will need to purchase that separately. Personally, that computer is not for you. I realize the price-tag is small, but you are throwing money away. It's for people like me who have spare parts laying around. Honestly, the "Gaming" in the title is really pushing it. That's marketing. I would never use a computer like that for gaming. What I'd use it for? Building a Lab that has it's own server and need workstations for educational purposes. Not to do any real work. So take the $720 price tag. Now add $215 for a 1TB m.2 drive and $100 for Windows 10 Home. So that automatically puts the cost to $1035. Not to mention you are stuck at 8GB. There isn't a way to upgrade the RAM!! So please, for the love of all that's Good-and-Green, DO NOT BUY THAT B&H COMPUTER. If you want to throw money away, I take donations. Here is a Dell XPS Configuration that meets my specs. As I have stated above, today's $700 computers are last years cheap $400 models. It's a really bad time to be buying a computer that is made in China. You are looking at spending between $1200-$1500 these days. Sorry, no way around it. "But...but!! My Budget!! I can't afford..." Save up for a few more months. The Tariffs aren't ending any time soon.

You can always add a second hard drive for not a lot of money. Yes, you can install it yourself. It will take you about 15 mins to accomplish. Yes, you can do this, even if you aren't technical. Yes, I can help you. The tough part? Getting the friggin' case open. LOL!! THAT'S the hard part. Mounting the HD is usually pretty straightforward. Most HDs clip into today's cases. Now, with that Dell it meets all of my basic specs except for one thing: I do not like the "Integrated Graphics." You definitely want to spend a little more and get a better video card. Trust me on this. Please...Spend the extra $250 and get the AMD Radeon RX 570 with 4GB dedicated video memory. The AMD cards seem to play well with Photoshop these days vs. NVIDIA Cards, at least as far as their drivers are concerned. Granted, NVIDIA usually has a different set of drivers that work better with PS, but there is more leg-work of un-installing and re-installing a new set of drivers. The current versions of Photoshop rely on the Video Card GPU (CPU) and it's dedicated video memory for a performance boost. Video Cards are becoming just as important in choosing the right CPU chip and this trend when it comes to Adobe will continue from now and into the future. You do not want to have "Integrated" or "Shared" anything when it comes to a video card and Photoshop. Now if you were just wasting time on FB and watching Netflix, then it's fine. Photoshop? Notsomuch. WD Elements External HD. I'm not a fan of those, even though I love Western Digital Drives. I personally buy the WD Caviar Black 7200RPM line. They are great drives, run fast, run cool and are reliable. Those cheaper HDs will fail on you. It's just a question of when. Here is an internal 6TB Caviar Black Drive on Amazon. If you really are determined and want an external HD, I'd pick this WD External HD instead. Yes, even though it's a "Gaming EHD," you can simply re-partition / reformat it for use with a Windows (or even a Mac) computer. It's a high-quality drive and I know this is due to it being a 7200RPM model. The "Green" or "Eco-Friendly" HDs fail all the damn time. I want my HDs sucking up power and being reliable. It doesn't do the planet a damn bit of good if it ends up in a landfill. In reality, there isn't THAT much of a power savings with a "Eco-Friendly" drive. We are only talking about a couple of watts. It's not going to make a dent in the grand-scheme of things.

I was going to suggest a zoom with a fixed aperture. You listed both. Since your camera body has a APS-C (Crop) Sensor, you take the focal length and multiply it by 1.5 to get the "Angle of View." 16mm on a Crop = 24mm on a Full Frame Sensor, and so forth. Since both lenses are 16mm, that takes care of the wide. The difference is the Aperture, having the ability to shoot at f/2.8 at all focal lengths is a nice thing to have. The 16-55 f/2.8 also more of a higher-end lens and will definitely replace your kit lens. So ask yourself this, do you want more "reach" or want more shallow Depth of Field. If you are looking at a walk-around lens, either will do. One just has more reach and the other gives you that fuzzy-wuzzy backgrounds a little better. That said, since you have a 24mm f/1.8, that takes care of this issue. I'd say go for the 16-70 f/4. It's $700 and is more of a multipurpose lens. You need more zoom / reach and not DoF at this point. You have that covered with your primes.

The funny part is, the 50mm f/1.4G works better on a DX camera than a full frame. So if the lens checks out, feel free to sell it.

Buying a new lens instead of computer / camera body is actually smart. You'd be surprised on just how much a difference a pro-grade lens is vs a consumer model. You will end up spending LESS time in PS, believe it or not. That's due to the sharpness, colors and contrast are all better that you get with a quality lens. If you want my help with the lens, post a thread in the "Gear Talk" section."

Can you post a screen shot? I have lots of experience in this area. Are these shared / mapped drives? Are you on a Workgroup? Is your computer's IP Address Static or Dynamic? There is also another Windows 10 feature that needs to be turned on that isn't on by default in order to access mapped drives. Usually though, that is with servers. Anyway, post a screen shot. One thing with buying a digital copy of Windows 10 Pro, is that it is married to the Windows that you upgraded on your computer. YOU CAN NOT TRANSFER IT TO ANOTHER COMPUTER. I've tried. The only way to do it, is within say 14-days or less it to call Microsoft and have them void the license key and refund your money. Even then it will take an hour or more of convincing the Microsoft Reps to do it, and they will need to speak with multiple managers. I speak from experience. It's a real Pain in the Ass. (I had a customer buy a laptop from Best Buy and had to do a "Anytime Upgrade" to get it to Pro so they could join their Domain. Unfortunately, the laptop crapped out in a week and they exchanged it. Found out the hard way that we couldn't just unregister the Windows 10 Pro key and put it on the replacement. It doesn't work that way.)

You betcha. And faster. And it has a stationary screen that's easier to calibrate. Lasts longer too. Truth be told, I DO NOT RECOMMEND LAPTOPS FOR PHOTO-EDITING. But people keep asking and want to buy them, and I got tired of arguing. To really get a decent laptop for editing photos, you are looking at spending $2000-$2500. Why? Mostly it's finding a IPS-based screen. The other thing is getting a laptop that has enough space on the boot HD, and has at least 16GB of RAM, preferably 32GB. Not to mention having a video-card with it's own dedicated video memory. All of that adds up and at that point you are into a "Gaming Laptop" for those kind-of-features, not the "$500 Special" at Best Buy. Low on budget and lasting a long time...those are contradictory phrases in 2020. If you want something to last 7-8 years, you are going to be spending more. Period. It's always been that way. As with a lot of things, you get what you pay for. With the current US-Tariffs on China, it's a real bad time to be buying a computer. The Manufacturers have passed the Tariff Charges down to the customer. It's a $300-$500 increase from prices in 2019. So today's $700 computers are last year's $400 models and you really need to read the fine-print on the specifications going forward. That said, you can get a decent computer for about $1000. Anything less and having it last 8 years might be pushing it, but YMMV. I used my 2009 iMac just fine until I got a Nikon D850. That caused all sorts of upgrades to my computer. Talk about expensive. Before that I shot with a D700 and then a D3s and had that replaced with a D4s. So I was stuck in 2009-2014 and my 2009 iMac worked just fine. Fast-forward a few years and I ended up spending way more money than I wanted to. Building your own PC, it sounds romantic...but you will usually end up spending way more money in the long run. Sure, it's great to customize it and get quality components, but that costs money. Just like eating Steak at a fancy restaurant vs buying a Big Mac at McDonald's. The volume that manufactures purchase things makes the computers more affordable. Look at what you need to buy: Case Power Supply (At least 500 Watts) Motherboard (One that works with the CPU Chip you select.) CPU Chip (Intel i7 or equivalent) RAM (16GB at a Min / 32GB Preferred) Video Card with it's own dedicated Video Memory (4GB Video RAM at a Minimum) SSD Boot Drive (500GB at Min) 2nd Larger Data Drive (1TB is fine, the more the better) Microsoft Windows Home (Windows 10 Pro is preferred) Each time I try to Build-my-Own computer, and I have higher-requirements than most people, I end up around the $2700 mark, and I still need to buy a monitor. So if you want to go with low-end components, look at building a low-end gaming computer. That should be $800-$1000, plus the cost of the monitor. As far as brands that I recommend, I usually tell people to look at the Dell XPS line, as they are decent for what they are. Unfortunately, prices have risen and they are putting in cheaper components to keep the costs down. Just like you don't truly get a "Gallon of Ice Cream" anymore; it's "Almost a Gallon," but still costs the same. Anyway, back to the Dell XPS series, you really need to look at the "Special Edition" to get the better quality options and it pains me to write that. A year ago, I could recommend a $800-ish system for smaller budgets and it would work well. Now...that price is at least $1349 and you still need to spend around $200 for a IPS Monitor. (See that $500 China Tariff increase?) At this point, see what your tech-friends can find for you. Otherwise, I'd plan on spending $1500+ in today's market for something that is decent and "lasts."

You mean like this one? Sandisk USB 3.0 Card Reader It's about $30. Chances are, your fancy memory card is too powerful for the card-reader that is built into the computer. From a technological standpoint, it physically won't work. The cool part with that reader is it takes both modern CF and SD cards.

Today's 8GB is yesterday's 4GB. It's way too small for today's modern Photoshop. In fact, I recommend 16GB at a bare-minimum in 2020 and really would like for you to have 32GB. Especially if you have a camera that is 24MP or more. Heck, I have 64GB of RAM in my iMac to handle my D850 100MB Raw files. I don't think you can upgrade the RAM on your laptop as it's soldered to the board. You are forced to upgrade at the time of purchase and pay Apple's extremely over-priced upgrade options. Often upgrading to 32GB adds $600 to the cost. If I went 3rd party and got the same configuration from say Crucial.com, it's be less than $150. That's right, a $450 "Apple Tax." I'm afraid it's new computer time. Budget for a new MBP that handles Photoshop well: $3800-ish. Mac Laptops are insanely over-priced and really only give you a good 4-5 years before you look to purchase a new one. Just like the boat you are in now. 2014-2020 is what, 6 years or so? I'd say you have had a good run. It's only money, right? Edit: If you are running PSE, 8GB "Might" be enough, but in 2020 I still recommend 16GB RAM at a minimum.

Older calibration devices, like the ColorMunki have a temporary work-around using another calibration tool's software. Spyder5 Series has some sort of update patch to make it compatible with Catalina. Long term, look at buying a SpyderX Pro, which is what I'm going to do. Older calibration devices, while work-arounds are in place, there is no guarantee that the older devices will work long term. Going forward, you want 64-bit software on everything. From Microsoft Office 365, to calibration software, to browsers...EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE 64-BIT FROM THIS POINT GOING FORWARD. Starting in the year 2020, 32-bit is dead as far as Apple is concerned. They migrated iOS to 64 bit a few years ago and now they are enforcing it with the mac OS. So if you are determined to keep using 32-bit, you are stuck on Mojave. Period. If you are buying a new Mac or want to upgrade, 64-bit is mandatory. I'd buy a SpyderX Pro, which has 64-bit Calibration Software. Yes, it sucks to spend money, but in this case, it's the best recommendation I can give you.

Third party lenses like Sigma, Tamron, etc. Plan on going through 3-4 lenses to get a good copy. Those companies aren't known for great Quality Control. So you can send in the body to have it looked at, but parts are really rare for that camera. Nikon doesn't even repair them anymore. It might be time for a new camera body.