THIS is a great article from the CREATING KEEPSAKES MAGAZINE blog that talks about how one scrapbooker backs up her photos. In a nutshell:
– Hard drive
– External drive
– CDs
– Scan old/new photos to online backup source
My method is slightly different:
– Hard drive
– External drive
– SD cards
Since I switched to a digital camera many years ago, I’ve always kept the photos on the original SD card they were taken on. While the card is still being used in the camera, I periodically go through and delete unwanted photos. So when the card is full, it’s full of good stuff, the keepers. I eject the card, write the beginning and ending dates in permanent marker on the card, and store it in a firesafe box with our important papers.
The advantages of the SD cards as a storage method are that they are cheap, easy to find images on later, and super small and easy to store. I’m no techie but I also assume that, since they are a later technology than CDs, that I will have the ability to “read” them longer than I would using CDs. One question I have but have never researched is the longevity – anyone know? I think the archival CDS have a super-long retention time so maybe that would convince me to also CD backup if I find out the SD cards won’t retain my images for years to come.
Another thing I do different than the article is that I use iPhoto so there’s no need to do any fancy folder system when I download photos onto my hard drive. It does all that work for me ~ what a timesaver!
What is your method for backing up your photos?
