Are my digital photos safe?

What might happen to them if you were to pop your clogs?

 

I can probably answer that for you right now. They are probably not very safe at all.

So let’s start with the definition of 'safe'. You probably won't put an estimate on the value of your cherished memories or works of photographic genius until you have had a close shave or worse still, you've lost them all on a broken or lost device.

 

They might have been your smart phone or the PC or laptop you had them stored on when suddenly......click, click, click, click.

That's the click of death to us folks in Tech-land. Your hard drive is screwed!

Your smart phone might have been lost or stolen or have a fault like a defective charge port. Now what?

 

Now you are starting to understand the value of your photographs ! 

SAFE ?

If you think having your photographs backed up on a memory stick is the answer then think again.

Memory sticks are great for temporarily moving files such as data and photographs conveniently from one place to another, but they are easily broken, corrupted and wiped by storing near door keys, a mobile phone or simply snatching it from the USB socket on your laptop or PC without following the 'remove safely' procedure.

So not such a great idea.

 

"But" you say" I've got them all on CD in cases on the shelf in my spare room where we have our PC.

Hmmm, did you know over time (and I've seen this happen in just a couple of years) your CD's can delaminate?

That means the foil , adhesive and plastic that form the layers of your CD's can start to come apart.,

Now your discs are unreadable by any machine.

 

But then you say “I’ve got them on my laptop, on a spare external hard drive and also on CD’s”

I say “Well done you, but all my files and photographs are all kept in the same room in the same office” So what happens if it gets robbed or your building is flooded or there is a fire?

Well that might sound like I’m clutching at straws to win an argument.

I promise you that’s not the case. These things are all unlikely but can all realistically happen and they do unfortunately. 

I’d suggest moving your external hard drive to a different geographic location i.e. not in the same building. 

Cloud. 

The cloud is a storage facility that lives within countless servers across the world accessed via your Mobile data, wired or wireless internet at your home, on the move or place of work.

It's litterally your stuff sent up in the clouds!

 

Backing up to a cloud storage service is probably your best bet.

You can back up your smart phone automatically via an APP like drop box, google photos, or even the iCloud for Apple users. 

Your laptop or PC can be backed up to OneDrive (Microsoft’s own cloud storage), Google Drive or any of the above as well as many more. 

Often the first chunk of storage is free so you can play around with it and get used to it before committing to any monthly or yearly Cloud storage plans. 

I juggle my data around taking full advantage of the free chunks of space on lots of different services free of charge. 

But here’s a big question for you. 

What would you like to happen to your digital photographs in the event of your departure from this mortal coil? 

If you want your family and friends to be able to see and access the pictures you so lovingly took of them all, you’re probably now wondering how they would get their hands on them. 

What you shared with them on social media is going to be hard to recall easily. Often images are cut in quality and resolution just enough for them to be displayed clearly on a mobile device (tablet or smart phone). 

If you look at anything your shared on social media (Facebook and the like) on a fair size PC or laptop screen, you’ll notice it will appear grainy and will have lost its detail and lustre.

 

Are your family going to be able to access your cloud service in your absence?

Even if they could, what’s the likely hood of them taking up your subscription to maintain your photo legacy?

 

So here’s my solution, go low-tech, get them printed.

 

Either print your favourite snaps yourself on your own printer and put them in a tin in the sideboard like your granny used to, or how about getting them uploaded to a web printing service like HP snap fish, PhotoBox or Jessops where you can have them custom printed straight into books, on mugs, keyrings, mouse mats etc.

At the very least it’s cheaper than printing at home and far less hassle.

 

Opening a drawer full of photographs and sorting through them, reminiscing and chatting about who that was and where it was taken might sound a bit nostalgic, but personally I don’t think it can be beaten.

Andrew Cherry   November 2015