What makes you feel that your digital photos are safe?

I just filled up my first memory card, but I can’t seem to feel comfortable erasing it. I only have the pics backed up on one hard drive. What do you folks do for backup? Cloud? Multiple hard drives? For now I just bought another memory card, but that’s expensive storage long term.

 

Mine are all safe cause they are on an external HD that the drive mechanism is broken on and will have to be repaired first to pull all of them off.

 

mine are in a few places . starting at original sd cards . then various hard drives plus some old ones on cd.s as well . i favour the sd cards lasting the longest .

 

Yeah Ive got every SD card Ive ever shot. Then all my pics are backed up on a 1TB external hard drive. Bob

 

Most of my stuff is backed up on an external drive, plus the lab computer and a flash drive. I still don't consider them safe. The idea of losing all my images is frightening, but in reality it probably wouldn't matter to anybody but me.

 

Computer in studio, regular backup to two hard drives, one in studio and one kept at home. All important ones on a cloud server.

 

Sounds like my plan of Laptop HDD + external backup HDD (only attached when needed) + cloud is as good as any. What cloud services take RAW files?

 

Security meaning your photos being stolen, or security meaning your photos just disappear? I’m not super worried about the former. As far as the latter- I agree it’s a bit of a risk, but I think you are likely OK as long as you go with one of the bigger players.

 

Mine are all on a 4 bay network attached storage (NAS) device on the network. Each slot has a 2TB solid state drive.

Drive 2 backs up drive 1, drive 4 backs up drive 3.

 

Yeah, I get that. I'm getting squirrelly about my pics too. I don't give out full rez images, and only post low rez stuff online.

It's good, but I think you need some off site storage to really be in the clear.

 

Yeah, you can always archive a disk in a safety deposit box, use the cloud, buy some off-site server space, etc.... if you wish.

 

I use USB thumb drives to back up my HD. They are fairly cheap and hold a lot.

 

I don't think I have enough time left on earth to upload all my images and related stuff (raw files, sidecar files for Lightroom, etc.) to the cloud.

I have it backed up on an internal and an external drive.

One note about the external drive: I only power it up and connect it when actually doing backups:
1) it may increase the life of the drive (I say "may" because some failures apparently are due to outgassing or migration of crud)
2) the drive is not connected in case of a ransomware attack

I have not been diligent about putting the external drive out of the house somewhere, but due to the discussion here I think I will be putting it in a fire resistant safe with other important documents.

Before huge drives became so cheap, and before I started shooting raw files, I backed up all my photos to CD or DVD. I still have those, but have no idea if they are still readable or have deteriorated.

 

I've had memory cards go bad, even name brand cards. Plus, what's to say they won't ever get lost, or stolen? I see them as only temporary storage.

I store all pics on two different network drives, plus I have a third location that syncs to OneDrive (I have the 1TB plan). On a trip, I immediately copy all the day's photos to the laptop, and sync them to the cloud. Photos from the phones are synced to two cloud services automatically, one of which syncs back to my network drive at home.

I'm covered, at least for digital photos. I have way too many I have to scan, both slides and negatives, to back up my film images. I'll probably never complete that job in my lifetime.

 

All mine are backed up to: 1> A 1TB Toshiba HD. 2>A 1 TB WD HD. 3> The CLOUD, which is probably the least secure.

I'm in my mid-60s and after I'm gone nobody in the family will care if the files all disappear.

 

Do you only use the card once? I am confused.

 

I back up my photos to several different hard drives from several different manufactures. This way if a hard drive has an issue from poor manufacturing, a second manufacture will probably not have the same issue.

I also keep images on hard drives at my wife’s office. (She brings the current drive home every month or so.)

I should also do the same with hard drives stored hundreds of miles away. But, I am not quite that paranoid.

 

I hope you read the rules before submitting images to “contests.”

Many of them seem to be a rights grab from those submitting images. (Those calendars like “cat a day” are an example of the publisher taking all rights from those who submit photos,whether published or not.)

And, I am pretty sure, Facebook owns any images posted there. (I don’t use it.)

On another note, there have been several threads here on AK about copyright issues. Many of our members don’t seem to have issue with unauthorized usage. If that is the case here, one could imagine the general public’s attitude toward the issue.

 

I use physical diversity: HDD's in two different locations miles apart, and FLICKR cloud backup of everything I shoot.

 

Important photos that I shoot or otherwise I put on CDs and store them in an album. This way they are not lost or modified in a computer, no third party control.