What are the best places to store and backup your photos and how to get them there?
Most storage devices fall into 2 main categories: physical drive storage and cloud storage. Generally, online or cloud storage is a great option when starting out, or if you have photography as a hobby as you do not need as much storage. If photography becomes more than a hobby, with serious income, then you will need more physical, robust storage.
1. Google Drive
This is the most obvious and accessible solution. Google Drive allows you to store and share files with others, and it's super easy to upload, download and generally manage your photo files. The limitation is obviously size - you only get up to 15gb storage between gmail, drive and other google apps, so it will fill up fast. The paid version costs from around €5.20 per month which gives you unlimited cloud storage. Transferring your files couldn't be easier. Simply open drive.google.com, and use the 'drag and drop' upload function to add your files.
2. Dropbox
An even easier UI than Google drive, Dropbox offers even better organisation of files. However, the free storage is much smaller with only 2gb and the paid solution with 2TB of storage is €9.99 a month.
3. SD cards
The advantage of keeping your photos on SD cards is that they don't need to be transferred from your camera to a remote drive, as the photos are stored as you take them. You may want to consider getting an SD card that offers Wifi access, so you can send selected images directly from your camera to your smartphone, tablet, or pc. A lot of cameras now have WiFi built in so that's something else to look out for. The caveat with buying SD cards is generally is to stick to quality brands. Also look for somewhere to store your cards as their size makes them VERY easy to loose.
4. External hard drives or USB Sticks
The key to selecting a hard drive is choosing one with plenty of storage and quality speed, to allow for quicker transfer of photos. Always choose a hard drive that's portable and robust, but do invest in a padded case. SSD hard drives offer much faster speeds but at much higher prices than traditional spinning hard drives. USB sticks whilst generally cheaper are again easy to misplace or break so if you choose to use them store them carefully.
Our personal preference for those starting out would be a cloud based solution as it offers more file security. The initial setup might be tricky but once you are up and running the benefits make it a better option. There are many other options out there for cloud based storage (Apple iCloud, Microsoft OneDrive, iDrive, Adobe Creative Cloud, Amazon etc) which all have various pros and cons.
For pure volume and speed or if you have a poor internet connection then the alternative use of physical storage is still a great solution. Just be sure to make some type of backup of your physical storage as reliability can be an issue. Again stick to good brands to ensure longevity of your devices.
If you need any further advice on backup or storage please don't hesitate to contact us here in the shop and we will advise on your best options.