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Backup Plans = Peace of Mind

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Backing up is important for both your printed and digital photos, but it’s a step that’s often overlooked. Technology has given us the blessing of so many options for our photos. But at the same time, it’s created so many more steps in the process that many people get overwhelmed and simply don’t do anything. And so we don’t have backup plans…we cross our fingers and hope (and pray) that nothing will happen.

Unfortunately, the reality is that something more than likely WILL happen at some point. Maybe fires, floods or natural disasters are unlikely, but they do happen. Photo rescue efforts are currently underway in Oklahoma, as they were in New Jersey not too long ago. Computer crashes are far more likely to happen, but we don’t usually have any warning ahead of time. So the best thing to do is to have a plan in place to protect your memories. Here’s my best tips for how to protect your printed and digital photos!

Backup Plans = Peace of Mind

Printed photos:

The printed photo is a great long term backup but should be digitized for additional backup as well. As I mentioned above, we never know what Mother Nature is going to bring, so it’s best to be prepared! I just recently wrote a post on why you should scan your printed photos, so feel free to refer back to this post for information on the importance of this step.

Digital photos:

Our digital photos present an even greater challenge because many of our photos are never even uploaded to our computers, let alone backed up and/or printed. I recommend backing up in three ways. Often times people say to me during my presentations…”I’m backed up to an external hard drive, so I’m all set, right?” Unfortunately, this gives you a false sense of security. One backup is simply not enough, and here’s why.

  • If you have an an external hard drive that is attached to your computer and backs up automatically, it’s pretty convenient. But a friend of mine had her house broken into and the computer was taken…AND the external hard drive that was attached. Two years worth of photos completely gone…because they weren’t backed up anywhere else.
  • External hard drives have a shelf life of about 5 years. Just like your computer, they’ll eventually crash. And as I mentioned before, you won’t necessarily know when its going to happen.

So here’s some good options:

External Hard Drive or Picture Keeper: Saving your photos on your external hard drive is a great option. They’re easily accessible to you because it’s on-site storage, and you can set it up so it automatically backs up and you don’t have to think about it! Another option is what’s called a Picture Keeper, and this is something that can come in extremely handy when you have pictures all over your computer. Plug it in and it finds your pictures for you, no matter where they are. You can use it on multiple computers, and it’s compatible with both PC and Mac. You can back up your videos with it too! If you run out of space, no problem, you can simply plug in a new one and it’ll pick up where the first one left offI  If you want a quick and easy backup, Picture Keeper is a great option!

Note: If you store your pictures on an external hard drive and not on your computer, then it’s not a backup. Then your external hard drive is your primary storage, and you’ll need to take that into consideration when you are planning your backups.

CDs and DVDs: Many people use these for backup. Just remember at some point our computers won’t be able to read them. When technology changes, you’ll need to re-record.

Cloud backup: When you back up to the cloud, your photos live on secure servers off-site. This is a great thing because when your computer crashes, your photos will be safe. Make sure to choose a storage system with triple redundancy, which means your photos are stored in three different places. And remember, like everything else, cloud storage isn’t fail safe either. Accounts have been accidentally deleted, and companies go out of business. You will want to read your account details as well. Your name may be sold to advertisers, or you may be viewing advertisements along with your photos. You may have to make a purchase every so often. Your account may not be completely private. Read the fine print!

Another reason you may want to read the fine print is so you know what happens to your account when you die. Will your heirs have access to your photos and documents stored there? Not necessarily! If you’re concerned about what will happen to your digital estate, you might want to consider creating a permanent family archive with Gen-Ark. Gen-Ark offers a way to store your digital assets (and your entire family’s) for the long term, privately and securely. It also gives your designated beneficiaries access to and control over content that you store in your family archive! This is a great way to preserve family photos, stories and important documents for generations to come!

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Theresa

Saturday 8th of June 2013

This is such a great post. I happened to be going though my blog last night inserting a new signature, and noticed some of my photos were missing on my older posts. This has spurred me into coming up with backup plans for photos on my blog. I guess we never really think about something like this until it becomes an issue.

I do have to update my external hard drive with all my latest family photos. Thank you for the reminder. It would be terrible if all those memories were lost...

Michelle Nahom

Tuesday 11th of June 2013

It's so important to have multiple backups...you're right...we never really think about it until something happens!

The Dose of Reality

Wednesday 5th of June 2013

We finally paid for a service that backs up everything on our computers once a week. I just got to realizing that there were SO many things I would be crushed if I lost and I got paranoid that something would happen. I'd also love to have another method, just to be safe!! --Lisa

Michelle Nahom

Wednesday 5th of June 2013

It's always best to have multiple backups! It's definitely better to be safe than sorry, when it comes to your memories!

Hope

Tuesday 4th of June 2013

Great post. I have most of my pictures backed up on Shutterfly, but I hate that when I download them, the size is smaller and the quality not as good as when I originally uploaded them. It's hard to believe that eventually cd's and dvd's will be as obsolete as 8 tracks and cassette tapes.

Michelle Nahom

Tuesday 4th of June 2013

The blessing and curse of technology! We can do so much with it, but we constantly have to be on top of it and re-record as things change!!

Mothering From Scratch

Tuesday 4th of June 2013

{Melinda} I have learned the hard way that failing to back up = complete nervous breakdown. The flash drive is my friend. Thanks for the tips and specifics here, Michelle!

Michelle Nahom

Tuesday 4th of June 2013

Flash drives aren't the greatest source of backup, nor are memory cards which many people use as well. :( But most importantly you should have multiple backups just in case!

catherine gacad

Tuesday 4th of June 2013

Well luckily we all blog. Because the pictures and memories we capture will always live on our blog. As long as we continue to pay our hosting fees. Haha!

Michelle Nahom

Tuesday 4th of June 2013

But we have to back up our blogs too!!