The holidays have always been a time to get together with friends and family to share great food and trade gifts. Of course, these moments need to be captured for posterity and the most frequent way to do it is with a digital camera. But, for all the conveniences digital cameras possess, the fragility of their memory cards is one drawback that can be extremely inconvenient.

Consider the fate of the 512MB memory card pictured here. After filling the card with shots of family and friends, the owner reloaded the camera with an empty card and continued photographing various events. Only later did he discover that the family dog had located the card and decided to give it a taste. One thing led to another and the memory card ended up in fragments - leaving one happy dog and one angry owner.

The owner sent the broken memory card to a data recovery company he'd found on the Internet. But, once they received it and discovered they couldn't recover it, they recommended DriveSavers. That turned out to be good advice as every single image on the card was recovered.

This holiday season protect your digital memories by following these simple tips:
• Backup or transfer images from the camera's Flash memory onto CDs, DVDs or an external hard drive after each use.
• Do not delete images or reformat the memory card while it is still in the camera. Wait until all photos have been transferred and verified.
• Remove the Flash memory or card reader from the camera carefully. Follow instructions to avoid deleting or corrupting photo images.
• Protect your Flash memory card from static buildup or breakage by using a sturdy container when carrying them around.
• Replace your Flash memory card over time. After an average of 1,000 uses, they can begin to wear out.

Tags: Drive Savers, Disk-asters