Do you have copies of all those pictures on your camera or phone? What happens if you lose your phone or camera? Or It gets stolen? Or you drop it in the toilet? (Don't laugh, it happens!) If you lose your camera or phone your pictures are gone and you will never get them back! Now, before going any further pull out your phone and scroll through those pictures. Could you imagine losing them forever? If your answer is no then please read on…
We live in a digital age that requires some responsibility. One responsibility is to back up those images. Make copies and put them away where that cannot be harmed, lost or stolen.
First of all, a back up doesn't exist unless there are at least 2 copies on different media types. Therefore, if one is lost you still have the other. And if one media type becomes non existent (as did the vinyl record, 8 tracks, cassettes, and VHS) the other copy is still there.
There are probably a dozen different ways to back up all your images and I will touch on a few. Bottom line, back it up cuz you can't get it back!
On a regular basis download your images to your desktop or laptop. This is you first copy. Then burn those images to a rewriteable DVD (so you can continue to use the same disk) Now you have a second copy. But don't store both of those together. What if there is a fire? Your computer will burn and and your DVDs will melt. Put it somewhere else in the house, or at work, or at your Mom's house.
What other types of media can you use to back up your pictures? Here is a short list of ideas;
(Please note that I am not affiliated in any way with these products nor have these companies paid me any fees to advertise their products. I have either used them or have it on good authority that they meet the industry's expectation for their services.)
Thumbdrives - a 64 GB thumb drive is just $40 on amazon. The average picture is about 3 megabytes, you can store almost 22,000 images.
External Hard Drives - 500 GB for $79 at Walmart.com Store up to 170,000 images!
OnLine back up is another great option but a bit more pricey than the previous. For about $60 a year these companies will back up all the important files on your computer and secure them in the cloud. No fire or flood in your home can destroy a back up in the cloud.
Bottom line, Back it up or you won't get it back!!!
