How to Make Your Photos Last A Lifetime (and Beyond)
Digital cameras are great, and thanks to smartphones, we have one with us almost all the time. Weíre taking more photos than ever before, and building a lifetime of digital data. But despite the enormous value of these photos and videos, most people donít have a backup. Itís time to shine a light on this essential task and make it a regular habit before those precious memories are gone forever.
If you asked someone what possession theyíd save from a house fire, most would say photos, and theyíd make a point of grabbing a frame or album on the way out. But with digital photos, you donít need a fire to lose everything, they could simply disappear in the blink of an eye with hardware failure or theft. Thereís no warning, no smoke alarm, and without a plan already in place, no chance to recover the data. Itís time to get set up with a true backup system.
Is one copy enough?
You might think saving your information to an external hard drive or flash drive is enough. Youíre right, itís better than nothing, but since the data is stored in only one place, this isnít a backup – itís just storage. That drive could fail at any moment, perhaps from age, malfunction or plain old theft.
Often enough, that drive even becomes lost over the years, put somewhere ësafeí and promptly forgotten! And with the way technology is moving, accessing that data in 5 years might even bring up compatibility issues ñ some newer computers donít even have CD/DVD drives, yet hundreds of thousands of homes would still have photos stored on a disc.
Two copies?
You might have your extra storage drive as backup and keep a copy on your computer. This is a better solution, and how most people store their data, but it still isnít enough. While youíre protected against device failure, that house fire is going to take both copies up in flames. Thieves would probably grab the external drive while theyíre bundling up your computer too, so again, youíd be left with zero copies. Itís close, but itís not a true backup system.
The rule of three
We subscribe to the backup rule of three. Just reading this may sound like overkill, but tech is fragile and device failure is a constant risk. We recommend keeping one copy on the computer/device, another on an external drive, and a third copy as last resort tucked safely away in the cloud. The cloud backup can be fully automated so you donít even need to worry about remembering to do it. If the day comes that you need your data back, itís ready and waiting in perfect condition. Cloud technology also means your data is far away from any potential fire or flood, itís secure and with the right provider, guaranteed against loss.
Thereís a saying in the IT industry: “There are two kinds of people: those who backup, and those who have never lost all their data”. No matter what the cause of your data loss, it always has a deep impact, particularly when it comes to precious data. While re-creating some homework or the family budget might just be inconvenient, thereís no way to recreate photos once theyíre gone. Itís a loss that hurts for a long time, but itís also so very avoidable.
If you value your data, give us a call at 623-208-7567 to implement a well-rounded backup system.
