Physical pictures

Hi everyone! I have probably 300 to 400 physical pictures of many different sizes from when my family members passed away.
I would like to digitalize these to preserve them but I am not sure that if I scan them with my regular printer if it will be the highest quality or save in the correct format.
Can anyone help shed some light?

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DunningKruger · 61-69, M

Your printer's scanner should be all right as long as it's clean. Scan in the highest resolution available to you. The only reason to scan in anything higher than 300 dpi is to increase the size of the image if you were to use it in a print document, but it's better to get as much data as you can while you're doing the work.

As far as format goes, I would recommend TIFF. While JPEG is common, it is a lossy format, meaning that you will lose data from the file each time you save it. JPEG tosses out data in order to compress the file as much as it can. TIFF is a high-quality format, but that quality comes at a cost in terms of storage — the files are going to be big, especially if you ramp up the resolution.

Storage is a consideration. You should store your files in a system that is backed up regularly, and you will likely need to update your storage media every few years. Hard drives will fail, inevitably. And be sure you keep your original prints in a safe, cool, dry, dark place in case you need to scan them again.

katydidnt · 61-69, F

@DunningKruger Agree with all you've said. I'll just add that...
...Re the TIFF/JPEG decision: you may know what you want to do with the data, but this is work you'll be doing for posterity. Storage is cheap, so go with TIFF at the finest resolution your device can deliver. Your descendants, equipped with better image-handling tools, will thank you. If not for some 1896 deciders in the U.S. concerned more about the here-and-now cost and inconvenience of a change-over to the metric system, we would have fewer math haters and a system of quantities without the potholes we suffer daily. Don't be a jaypegger--keep that tiff upper lip and do the right thing for people past your time.