In today’s blog, I’m talking about backing up your photographs and why everyone should be using some form of back up service or method.
The importance of backing up your photos
Imagine if I told you that every photograph you have ever taken or had taken was lost forever with no way of ever retrieving them? How would that make you feel? I would be devastated if all of my photo memories were gone. I’d never be able to look at the photographs and be reminded of fond memories or look through the photographs I have of relatives who have since passed.
You can avoid all of this though by simply creating a backup of all of your precious photographs.
Some of the options available for online backup services
Google offer a free of charge storage option for photographs and any other files too.You first 15gb of storage is completely free too making it a top choice for an online backup service.They offer an app too for your phone and tablet so you can access all of your files on the go wherever you are (does require wifi or data).You can invite others to view your photographs in Google drive whist keeping some files private.If 15gb isn’t enough then you can upgrade.£1.99 per month will give you 100gb of storage and £7.99 will get you 1tb.
If you’re an Amazon Prime member then you have unlimited storage for your photographs.You can also nominate 5 other family members to also get unlimited storage too.Access your photos anywhere using their phone app.Along with free photo storage Amazon Prime offers its members unlimited next day delivery on thousands of items on the Amazon Website.Access to films and TV programs on Amazon video.Access to a selection of ebooks to read each month.Access to over two million songs on amazon music.They offer a free 30 day trial (although you must remember to let them know if you don’t want to continue it as payments are taken automatically)All of this will then cost either £7.99 a month or £79 per year.Not bad when you consider what you’re getting for that price.
Dropbox offer 2gb of free storage for all of your file types.Of that’s not enough storage for you though they offer two upgrade options.For £7.99 a month you’ll get 1tb of space which is plenty for the average user.If like me though you have a number of photographs you want to store you might need to have their professional plan which is quite pricey at £19.99 a month and only gives 2tb of storage.
if you have an apple product then you’ll already be familiar with icloud.If you don’t own an apple product though then an icloud account probably isn’t for you.If you’re interested though, Apple offer 5gb of free storage on their icloud service.You can use this to store any file and share across your apple devices and make automatic backups.If you run out of storage though their back up options are 0.79p per month for 50gb, £2.50 per month for 250gb and £6.99 a month for 2tb.
This is just four of the many online options available. A quick google search will no doubt give a lot more options. Options which you may already have access to but didn’t realise. Email hosts, internet service providers all are likely to offer some form of storage.
How does online back up work?
Once you have downloaded the relevant software for your backup choice it is likely that you can set it up to backup certain files and folders automatically meaning that you don’t have to remember to save your files to your backup source.
Is it safe?
The biggest issue with using cloud storage is data security, as you are relying on the service to keep your files and documents secure. If your account is hacked, your files are immediately available – so always weigh up the risks before uploading more sensitive files.
Cloud storage companies typically use encryption to keep your information safe and two-step verification to ensure the right person has access to the account.
Encryption scrambles your data so that anyone unauthorised is unable to get to it. The strength of the encryption is at three levels, starting at 128-bit, rising to 192-bit and with 256-bit as the most secure. Two-step verification involves sending you a message and asking you to respond when you login or amend your account to check you have the authority to do so.
It would be great to hear from you if you’re using a backup service not mentioned here and equally if you are and have any comments to add about that service. Feel free to comment below with any questions or comments you have.