About how much file space does metadata add to a file?  I have some friends who strip MD from thier files because they say it add too much space.  I say the extra spave is tiny unless you have extensive and detailed info, descriptions, etc. in the MD.

For a saved jpg that is around 200 kb I would guess basic MD is probably a kb. 

Any thoughts?

If you do this report back your findings as it will be of interest to others.

Just tried it quickly on a file that saved as jpeg Max and 1,8 MB large and normal metadata with description, copyright, exif and a few keywords.

original:

1.781.638 bytes

second test file (select all, copy, create new document, paste - same file and size but stripped from metadata):

1.772.431 bytes

Third test file, same as before but now with also deselect sRGB color profile attached to the file (a very bad idea and to my opinion stripping metadata is just as bad but that aside)

1.775.566 bytes.

Strangely enough without the sRGB profile the file is again a bit larger but different color profiles can add very different sizes to the file.

Like Curt said, no image is the same and yes, metadata is usually a matter of a few kb's, some specific colorspaces can add far more to the size.

Bottom line:

Nowadays space is really not an issue anymore, on the other hand, preserving quality files for the future should be an issue for everyone.

The price of a good quality 1TB Hard drive (even with higher prices of this last half year) are still less then a tenth of the price you paid for a Compact Flashcard sized 128 MB 10 years ago....

Keep your originals in as good a quality as you can and if needed distribute files at the sizes needed (and save for web without metadata can create very small files with good screen viewing quality) but be sure to have your originals in good quality and also have a proper back up of them

most Professionals strip the metadata.

If a 'professional' should do so I would not call it a professional.

Without metadata you have no copyright info, no description, no keywords.

You are not likely to earn money if no one can see who has copyright of the image and if they can't find your files at all because there is nothing to look for so not even a change to earn money and therefore not able to be a pro....

dhdnyc1 wrote:

 

  I cannot put a Description in without Bridge giving me an error message that it cannot write to my file. 

Sounds like a permission error from the OS.  External drive?

Right click on Bridge icon and start as "run as administator".  If this works you need to find the permission problem.

Might check this past post to see if you have ownership of your HD.

The key to solving this issue lies is understanding that in terms of Windows 7 Security, every internal or external hard drive, plus folders, sub-folders and files thereon has an OWNER. Also each OWNER has a certain level of PERMISSION to do things such as moving files to a different folder, deleting or re-naming them etc. If you try to do things that you don't currently have Permission to do, that is when you get an ‘Access Denied’ error message. Also your system has an Admistrator or Administrators and at the outset you need to ensure through the Control Panel that you are listed as one of them. .

If, like me, you didn't realise these things, (and why would you if Microsoft or your computer or hard drive suppliers couldn't be bothered to really make sure you knew about them), then trying to fathom the ‘Access Denied’ problem becomes a stressful and frustrating nightmare as I can testify having spent a week at it!

The steps that I took to resolve the issue and which I believe now constitute the 'Correct Answer' are as follows:

1. First make sure that you have Administrator rights on your system via the Control Panel
   
   
2. Next ‘right click’ on the Drive whose files you want to gain full access to, for example the drive that your pictures are stored on, and click on 'Properties'.
   
   
3. Under the Security tab you will see a list of Groups and Users on this drive and the Permissions that they have to do things.
   
   
4. Before doing anything to edit these Permissions, first click on the Advanced button. This opens another window with a tab showing the Owner of this drive.
    
   
5. Click on the Owner tab and if you are not already listed as the owner, make yourself the owner by selecting your name from the list. I believe it should appear there if you are an admistrator or user. (In my case at this stage the owner was initially shown as an obscure string of numbers and letters which I believe identified the drive when it was connected to the lap top I was using before I upgraded my machine)
   
   
6. Now be sure to check the box that says "Replace Owner on Subcontainers and Objects" and the click Apply. On completion of this step, the drive in question and all the folders, subfolders and files thereon should now be 'owned' by you. You could check this out by right clicking on a particular folder then clicking Properties > Security > Advanced > Owner. Your name should appear. So far so simples!
   
   
7. Now go back to the Security Tab for your drive (Step 2 / 3 above) and look at the Permissions you currently have. Your aim now is to allow yourself 'Full Control.' If you don’t currently have this level of permission click Edit, select your name on the list, check ‘Full Control’ and 'Apply' the change.
   
   
8. I think I'm right in saying that at this point whilst still working in the Drive directory you are now given the option of ticking boxes which allow you to, in effect, cascade the permission you have just granted yourself to all the files and folders on that drive. Tick the box to allow this and Windows should then take care of the rest.If I'm not quite correct here then in my particular case, for example, all my images were stored on my external drive. The top level, or 'parent' folder in which all my pictures could be found was the 'My Pictures' folder and I had created a number of folders and subfolders ('child ' folders) within that folder. The permissions I gave to the Parent folder – My Pictures – were cascaded down through the Child folders.
   
   
9. On completion of the above step I tested the result in Windows Explorer by dragging a few files back and forth between folders and it now worked perfectly - I was now able to move / delete / rename etc all files without now getting the dreaded access denied message. What a sense of relief! This meant that I could now open Bridge normally rather than having to right click it and 'Run As Admistrator' - albeit that is a very useful thing to do until you get the problem sorted as described.

Mac also has drive ownership.  I have read to correct proceedure to find this but can't recall well enough to describe.  Are you working on an external drive?  Do a web search for old forum threads.