Confused about backing up photographs..

Keeping_Motivated

I want/need to back up the photos and videos on my laptop.

I am quite basic when it comes to computers so I have had to do a little reading up on my options...however I am now confused!

Hard drive - might break/doesn't last forever (is that right?)

CD - Make 2 copies incase 1 fails (what if both fail)

Picassa - sounds good but is it totally free? And can anyone then view my photos? I am a little private

Memory Stick - again would I need a back up for this too

Gosh so everything I back up my photos to also needs a back up...no wonder I am confusing myself.

Any advice?

Thanks

trets77

we use Picassa . the free storage will fill really quickly . we pay £10 a year and you get more than you will ever need for that .

you can arrange the albums like for like . and you can also designate a privacy setting for each album . private means you need to be logged in with the password to view them . The public option is good for sharing with friends and family .

Personally i think £10 is very reasonable , because how upset would you be if you lost your photos for ever due to a hard drive failure or if your house went up in smoke . you know they are 100% safe forever on Picassa .

CD's and Hard drives are not totally free are they .so Picassa is only a tiny bit more expensive in the long run IMO

closed

leave your master copy on the c drive always.

1 or more copies on an external usb hard disk

1 or more copies on DVD (or CD, but dvd's hold more), recopy them from c drive every few years to a new dvd. Store in a case, in a dark place. Check you can read the data on the CD/DVD after you have made them

store a copy online or at someone else's house too if you are really paranoid, the above method protects against everything apart from fire or theft. You could also print them

Memory sticks are more useful for transferring data, don't rely on them as your only backup media.

The important thing is to not rely on only one method, especially an online company

aerostar

Anything mechanical WILL fail at some time.

Anything electrical WILL fail at some time.

CDs/DVDs WILL fail at some time.


Best course of action, keep your stuff on 2 different forms, regularly check them, if one fails then the other is most likely to be OK, make a backup of the still working one.

Part of the problem is people treat hard drives, cd/dvds memory sticks badly. Dropped laptops, hit desktops, cds lying around without envelops to be scratched, Keys getting lost

Keep your cd/dvds in a cool but not cold, and in dark place.

Check them every 6 months or so.

If you want to be as safe as possible, keep backups in different locations, eg 1 cd/dvd at parents , 1 somewhere else. Think if you keep all your backups in one place and that place has fire/flood/burglar then the lot would be lost.

Even putting things into the cloud is not 100% safe as there have been problems with online storage in the past. What if that company goes bust.

Whilst storge is getting better nothing is forever.

Keeping_Motivated

Ok thanks so I need to be double safe and use at least 2 forms.

Didn't know the CD/DVDs needed not to be in a cold place? I was going to put them in my safe but its in a cold place? Why can't they get cold?

Keeping_Motivated

Any opinions on this hard drive?

Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

Its £44.50 at Amazon.

penrhyn

You could put your videos on the You Tube, access can be restricted.
While you are at it you could make some slide shows and put your stills on as well.

aerostar

Keeping_Motivated wrote: »

Ok thanks so I need to be double safe and use at least 2 forms.

Didn't know the CD/DVDs needed not to be in a cold place? I was going to put them in my safe but its in a cold place? Why can't they get cold?

If you get large temperature changes it will speed up the degradation of the discs, so if you have a safe in the garage that gets very cold in winter and baking hot in summer then that will speed degradation up.

Keeping them say in a bedroom that does not get large temperature swings would be ideal, in a wardrobe of chest of draws (not where it gets sunshine then that temperature would only change by small amounts during the year.

trets77

aerostar wrote: »

Anything mechanical WILL fail at some time.

Anything electrical WILL fail at some time.

CDs/DVDs WILL fail at some time.


Best course of action, keep your stuff on 2 different forms, regularly check them, if one fails then the other is most likely to be OK, make a backup of the still working one.

Part of the problem is people treat hard drives, cd/dvds memory sticks badly. Dropped laptops, hit desktops, cds lying around without envelops to be scratched, Keys getting lost

Keep your cd/dvds in a cool but not cold, and in dark place.

Check them every 6 months or so.

If you want to be as safe as possible, keep backups in different locations, eg 1 cd/dvd at parents , 1 somewhere else. Think if you keep all your backups in one place and that place has fire/flood/burglar then the lot would be lost.

Even putting things into the cloud is not 100% safe as there have been problems with online storage in the past. What if that company goes bust.

Whilst storge is getting better nothing is forever.

i doubt Google will be going anywhere in the next 100 years .in fact i would put money on it