We live in the age where we have an abundance of images on our phones, computers, social media accounts (or on forgotten hard drives and USBs tucked away in storage)…and have the false confidence that the technology we use everyday will remain valid for years to come, so we don’t spend time worrying about our photos.
But what happens if one day our social accounts get hacked or our phones get misplaced? Or when we stumble across that hard drive but our computer isn’t compatible with it anymore?
With technology ever evolving, our current form of storage can turn obsolete, definitely in our lifetime let alone our children’s lifetime. (Hello burned CDs!)
““We don’t know what form digital photography is going to take in 100 years, or whether our grandchildren are going to access our hard drives or cloud accounts,” “I think there’s a big risk of losing a lot of digital photography, unless you’re really good at keeping up with it and making backups and printing your favorites.””
So what can we do to keep our images safe?
First, there is no completely foolproof method for image storage, each has its own risk so a combination of the following - multiple backups - would be the best guarantee of ensuring your images are not lost completely.
Online Storage - There are many online storage services that are either free or have a minimal monthly fee. Pros - accessible anywhere, easy to use, most have capability of automatic uploads so you can set and forget. Cons - will the company still be around in the next 20 years? Will the next generation still have access?
External Hard Drive/USB - A inexpensive way to store thousands of image and video files and doesn’t take up much room to store. Pros - a portable way to have all of your images and videos in one place with no additional expense. Cons - can unexpectedly fail after a drop or for no reason at all.
Prints - A tangible copy of your favorite images whether in prints or an album is a great physical backup. Pros - if technology fails, you still have the image and the nostalgia that comes with sitting and going through old photos and actually holding that image in your hands. Cons - must be kept in a climate controlled (dry) environment.
No matter which ways you decide to store your images, remember to test your backup methods regularly to ensure they are working properly and upgrade to the newest technology when it becomes available.
Loosing your images is an awful feeling that I wish no one has to experience and I hope this helps avoid it!
Finally, I’ll leave you with this. Because when I seen it, it got me in the feels…