Don't forget to slide the tab!

Everyone's done it.  I've done it.  My husband has done it.  Most recently (and hopefully the last time!) it happened in 2007.  First, let me back up.  You remember in 2006 when it was all the rage to get a Wii for Christmas?  My husband was one of those saps who spent the night in a cold, dark, Target parking lot waiting for that blessed surprise for "Santa" to put under the Christmas tree that year.  We got the Wii, and decided to make a fun scavenger hunt for the kids.  It included several clues along the way of where to go for the next clue and a wrapped gift containing different parts of the Wii at each stop.  It was brilliant and we knew this was going to be a memory we would cherish for a lifetime!  For sure, this would need to be captured on video.

It was as great as we had anticipated, maybe even better.  The kids were surprised and thrilled and we caught all that excitement on tape!  Awesome!  We were able to watch it again and again to the kids' delight.  We patted ourselves on the back for our amazing and insightful parenting and put the camera away.  Until...

My husband spent a time as a Scoutmaster of a troop in our neighborhood.  The boys were working on their Cinema Merit Badge and he helped them to make a movie to pass off the requirement.  A new tape had been put in, with the unlabeled "Christmas footage" tucked away in another pocket of the camcorder case.  They ran out of tape with what they were working on, but my husband saw we had another tape, popped it in an pressed RECORD.  Turns out the tape wasn't blank.  No more Christmas memories.  Now we have a bunch of 12 to 13 year old boys dressed as Harry Potter and fairy godmothers.  All of this could have been prevented by doing one little thing.  That little tab on the top of the DV tapes that says "LOCK" and you slide the switch to disable recording.  I knew it was there, I was just too lazy at the time!  I didn't even label the tape so we could at least have seen what was on the tape and known it was hands off!

On the top of all tapes (DV Hi 8, VHS, VHS-C) you can "lock" the video from being accidentally recorded over.  Some require breaking off a tab (which can still be recorded over later if you place a piece of tape of over the hole), or you can just merely slide the switch and slide it back when you want to record more on the same tape.  Since 2007, I have never forgotten to switch it to "lock"every time I take it out of the camera.  It still makes me sad whenever I think about losing out on those memories.  I guess that's why I need to keep journaling and taking still photos as well!

So next time you take a tape out of your camcorder, don't forget to lock it and label it!  Or if you use a HDD camera, be sure to make a back-up and double check everything is there before you delete footage to make room to record more memories.  You can even lock those files on your HDD camcorder, so they aren't accidentally erased in a rush to make more room on the hard drive.  It's takes a little more time, but it is SO worth it!  If you have any questions or need help locating that "switch", I'd be happy to help you!