How To: Backup Images
Digital images can be lost forever. In the good old days, we had a print or negative, to keep our memories safe. But now, images can be lost in a heartbeat. Your computer fails or they get accidently deleted.
There are ways to protect against that sinking feeling, when you think you might have lost a precious image. Help is at hand. Here are some simple tips for not losing your digital memories.
Welcome to our “How To” blogs. In this series of short articles, we’re covering all aspects of photography. Whether you want to take better pictures using your smart phone, or digital camera or maybe you need to commission images, we will have something for you. Grab your camera and learn how to improve your image with pictures.
If you post regularly to social media, make sure you back up those precious images, you have posted. Yes, once uploaded, they are backed up by the social media platform. But; what happens when that company no longer exists. Your images will be lost forever.
One simple system is to archive your images, to a cloud based service. There are a number of companies who offer this type of service. Simply put, they store your data, keeping it backed up and accessible, from anywhere in the world via the internet. A popular company and one we use is Dropbox. There are several others, Google Drive, Amazon Drive. Choose the right one for you.
A little more time consuming is to back up your images, to an external drive. External drives are inexpensive and easy to setup, most are plug and play. A common workflow to follow can be seen below.
· Remove card from camera
· Download the images on the card to your computer’s hard drive.
· Check images have downloaded ok
· Connect external hard drive
· Copy, (not move) images to external hard drive
· Check that you can view your images on your external hard drive
A word of caution, don’t format your card(s) until you have checked that they have been safely backed up and you can access the file(s).
What workflow do we have? Answer below. It’s a system that works for us and our circumstances.
A days shooting goes like this.
· Take images – take card out of camera at end of day or when full
· Place card in safe carry case such as gepe
· Plug card into card reader connected to computer
· Downloaded images from card to computer hard drive
· Back up downloaded images to two external hard drives
If you are photographing something special, like a wedding or motor racing event; have a separate set of cards for that event. Remember to take them out of the camera, at the end of the day and keep in a safe place, until you can download them onto your computer. As soon as you can download and backup to an external hard disk or store them safely in the ‘cloud’. The last thing you want, is to lose your valuable pictures, especially if it’s a one off event.
There are many ways of backing up your pictures, these are just some ideas. Whatever you decide, don’t delay. Setup a backup plan TODAY.
Should you want some more help, please get in touch.
That’s it for this one. Short on time but want Maximum impact on social media – look out for our next blog in our “How To” series. Can’t wait that long? Our personal training covers all aspects of photography helping you make a good first impression and click here stand out from the crowd.
If you have any comment or suggestions about this or other posts in the How To series we would love to hear from you.
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