Moment of truth – how many photos have you taken on your phone in the last year? Seriously, take a second to contemplate it… Now, how many of those photos did you print? And how many of them did you back-up?
According to a recent article, approximately one-third of iPhones suffer accidental damage or get broken each year. The most common causes of damage? Falling out of the user’s hand or lap, falling into liquid or having liquid spilled on it, and getting knocked off a table. So, what can you do to keep your precious digital photos safe? We’ve got a few ideas…
We have all had phones break and computers fail… rather than hoping your favourite milestone moments will be safe and available forever, there are easy, affordable things you can do to ensure they will be.
Check out these tips from the New York Times and National Geographic Photographer Ami Vitale, who knows a little something about losing prized pics. Hint: automatic backups are your friend; it’s smart to have more than one storage option and social media is not safe, full-resolution storage.
Here’s an at-a-glance reference for you:
Since most people don’t have a gigabyte-to-photo converter in their heads, you may be wondering how much storage you need based on your number of photos.
Below is a handy chart from Sandisk based on jpeg files, the most common format for consumer cameras. As a reminder, most smartphone photos are 12-16 Megapixels.
So if you have 12 Megapixel images and a 2 Terabyte storage option, you can store close to half a million photos. So all your bases are covered, Ami recommends combining an auto-backup solution with an external hard drive. See recommendation from Wirecutter here.
So what can you expect to pay? For a high-performing, reliable external drive you’ll shell out between $65-120. Then, if you’ve got lots of photos you can expect a monthly fee of $0.99 – $9.99 for up to two Terabytes, which is a pretty fair price for peace of mind.
And once you know your treasured photos are secure, it’s easier to get them organised and into albums so you and your family can enjoy them again and again.
So, those are our ideas… what are yours? Comment below and tell us how you keep your digital photos safe!
The above article is a timely reminder to ensure that we have our precious memories backed-up. I always print my photos, but also have two EHDs – one which I up-date every three months and store in a safe, the second one is plugged into my PC, and does an auto-back-up every day. I have heard of too many people losing all their photos when their computer ‘crashes’.
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great post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector don’t notice this. You must continue your writing. I am sure, you’ve a great readers’ base already!
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