You have your camera. You have all your accessories. You have your printer. Now, what do you do with all of these picture files? They are bogging down your computer’s hard drive, and what if that hard drive fails and you lose all of those files? It is a great idea to store these files somewhere to keep them safe and organized and not cluttering up your computer’s precious hard drive space.

All your files are important and should be backed up, but when it comes to your photographs, those are more than just files. They are memories or art that you can’t get back, so it is very important to make sure they are safe. The biggest nightmare of every photographer is the thought of catastrophic loss of their photographs. In the days of film, options were limited and often serious photographers would keep their negatives and slides in fire proof safes or bank safe deposit boxes. Even still several great photographers have had their work taken from them due to fire, water damage and even sub-grade storage supplies.

Digital photography provides an additional level of complexity to photographers as they look to keep their photographic work safe. Now in addition to fire and water damage there is the risk of file corruption, failed drives and file format obsolescence. With increased risk comes the responsibility to be diligent in heading off such catastrophes with a solid backup plan. Stop putting off backing up your photographs and invest in one of these methods to ensure your photos are around for you and generations to come to enjoy

1.Portable Photo Storage:

A portable photo storage device is usually a small hard disk drive or flash drive device that has memory card slots or a usb drive to transfer and store your pictures. If you have ever been an extended shoot without a computer to drop your files into once your memory card has reached its capacity, you know there is a need to have something portable to store your photos on. But that isn’t the only reason to invest in a portable photo storage device. Some portable storage devices are more simple than others. There are a few that simply have the card reader and a small monochrome LCD screen to facilitate the transfer process and that is the extent of their features. Then there are the more feature heavy models. Several companies have taken this concept to the next level and added a nice sized full color LCD monitor and now you have a portable storage device that doubles as a media player. So with one of these, not only can you store your photos on the fly, but show them off to everybody as well.

2.External Hard Drive

An external hard drive is basically the same thing as your internal hard drive… except external. These are a great way to not only back up your photos but everything else on your hard drive. Most of these require AC power, but if you have a laptop and wanna take your storage on the road, there are now more portable hard drives on the market that are powered by the laptop’s USB port. Another plus to this method, or really any method of storage, is if your computer’s hard drive should ever have the misfortune of failing (everyone knows someone this has happened to), your photos aren’t lost.

3.USB Drive

Back in the day, these wouldn’t have been the greatest way to back up your photos, because they had a very small capacity for not a very good price. These days, however, you can get a very affordable USB flash drive that will hold thousands of pictures, making them a great way to to easily store and transport your digital picture files.

4.Online Data Backup

Another storage solution that is becoming popular is to store your files on online servers. Obviously this is not a free service, but it is very secure and your files can be accessed anywhere there is internet service available. If you are worried about your files being secure, most of the sites that offer this service use military grade encryping, so no need to worry, unless you are really afraid that an international spy with superhuman hacking skill are going to steal your photos. Probably the best thing about this service is that it isn’t stored in your house. Most people, when asked what they would save if their house was on fire say they would try to rescue their pictures. If they are stored online, then they aren’t in your house if it would ever burn down, not that I’m hoping your house burns down to prove my point.

5.CD/DVD

This is the old standard which is still a viable method of data storage. CDs and DVDs are a great way to store and archive your photos and a good means of organization as well; grouping events on a CD or DVD and keeping your discs categorized. DVDs are the better of the two options, with a capacity of 2GB, or 4GB if you have a burner that will burn onto dual-layer discs, where CDs only hold 700MB. With Blu-Ray discs and burners starting to come on the scene, you will be able to store even more, with Blu-Ray discs, or BDs as they are coming to be known as. A single layer BD will hold 25GB and a dual-layer BD holding a whopping 50GB. BDs are also far more durable and long lasting than a standard DVD as well, whereas DVDs do degrade over time. If you don’t have any kind of CD, DVD, or BD burner, no worries, most places that process photos also offer a service to put your photos on a CD or DVD for you.

Photography certainly has many more dimensions to it these days and backing up photos is a critical facet to a modern workflow. Staying ahead of the game will not only help you avoid headaches at some point in the future it may actually give you a competitive edge if you expand your efforts beyond hobbyist pursuits.

So do you have your photos backed up?

Tags: burn down, Digital photography, digital picture files, flash drive, hard disk drive, military grade encryping, modern workflow., Online Data Backup, photographs, Portable Photo Storage, USB Drive