Photo backup: How to keep your memories safe

Photo backup: How to keep your memories safe

After learning the hard way, we're sharing our tried-and-tested photo backup systems to help you keep your photos safe

In the Cotopaxi region of Ecuador we met Michael, a backpacker who had spent the past few weeks on a surfing trip of a lifetime. Earlier in the day, Michael's GoPro had become detached from its extension while jumping into a waterfall and had sunk into the depths.

“All my photos are on this camera,” he told us, his face still pale from the hour he had spent searching the freezing water. “You have backups, right?” I asked. He shook his head. “I kept wanting it, but… I just never got around to it.”

Unfortunately, his memories were lost forever.

alt="Photo Memories Shoot">Atlas & BootsPeter on site in Namibia

A few months later I found myself in similar despair. Itwas (ironically) a split-second error while backing up my photos. I accidentally replaced an entire library of thousands of photos.

I couldn't believe I did it first. I always make sure to have copies of everything on hard drives and cloud services, but over the last few weeks of our trip I had become complacent.

alt="Perito Moreno Glacier">Atlas & BootsKia still hasn't forgiven me for losing the photos of her at Perito Moreno in Argentina

I spent the following days deep in scans, running data recovery software on hard drives and SD cards, and slowly recovering the lost photos. I recovered some, but much of it was never found.

Never again. I was scarred - deeply scarred - and that's why I invested in the following fail-safe photo backup system to ensure something like this never happens again.

SD + microSD cards

As I said in my travel photography gear guide, I've taken a rather casual approach to SD cards. With that in mind, however, I invested in some high-quality, high-capacity Transcend SD cards to ensure I never lose a photo again.

alt="Photo Memories SD Cards">TranscendI use Transcend SD and microSD cards

Transcend's SD and microSD cards are tested to withstand extreme conditions. They are temperature resistant, waterproof, shockproof, X-ray proof and static resistant - ideal for an outdoor travel blogger.

In addition to durability, the memory cards with up to 512GB storage capacity allow you to record thousands of RAW photos and hours of HD videos. With these updated maps, I don't need to delete photos from the map until I get home.

External hard drives

If you've just finished a trip of a lifetime or are still on the road, it's worth backing up your files to external hard drives too.

At home, I have a pair of heavy-duty Western Digital My Books with fast FireWire connections for all my documents and photos. It may also be worth considering fireproof and waterproof external hard drives if you have particularly sensitive files or documents that need to be backed up. I use the Time Machine backup app on Apple OSX to do this automatically and regularly.

alt="Photo-Memories-Hard Drives">TranscendWhen I'm on the go, I need something light but durable

I need something lighter on the go. I have a Transcend Storejet 4TB hard drive, which is small and portable and has a built-in power saving feature that makes it ideal for outdoor and adventure travel.

Cloud services

When I'm on the road, I try to back up my photography to a cloud service as regularly as possible. This relies on a consistent internet connection and is therefore not ideal. This is exactly why I lost my photography from Argentina. After a few weeks of infrequent access to reliable WiFi, I had overlooked backing up my newest libraries. As such, I'm much more diligent these days.

I prefer Dropbox or Google Drive with separate accounts for my photos and everyday files. There are numerous alternatives such as Apple's iCloud, Microsoft's OneDrive, Amazon's AWS and countless independent alternatives. A quick search brings up many options.

Manual backup

This is the most time-consuming method and a little “old school,” but it's worth considering if you want a third layer of security. DVDs are the safest format and can be easily and safely stored in folders. You can also make copies and leave them with friends and family, or mail them to yourself on the go.

Of course, this should be coupled with an external or online backup that happens in real time. Otherwise, optical media defaults to leaving periods where files have not yet been backed up.

One is never enough

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to use more than one of the above photo backup methods. Hardware can break, connections get lost, software crashes, or we forget to click the burn button.

At all times when I travel, I strive to back up all of my photographs in the following four locations, all stored in different locations while traveling.

• Original-RAW-Dateien noch auf den SD-Karten in meiner Kamera
• Fotodateien, die lokal auf meinem Laptop in Bibliotheken gespeichert sind
• Alle oben genannten Dateien wurden auf meine tragbare Festplatte kopiert
• Wird regelmäßig in einen Cloud-Dienst hochgeladen (WLAN-abhängig)

Whatever options you choose, it is important that you carry out your backup procedures regularly and stick to them diligently. If you let it slip, it will come back to bite you. Trust me.

Bonus Tips

• Bearbeiten Sie die Originale nicht, wenn Sie eine Fotobearbeitungssoftware verwenden. Speichern Sie sie in einer separaten Bibliothek.
• Wenn etwas ausfällt – wie eine SD-Karte oder Festplatte – verwenden Sie es sofort nicht mehr. Es wird für die Datenwiederherstellungssoftware einfacher sein, verlorene Dateien zu finden.
• Entfernen Sie SD-Karten, Laufwerke und Geräte sicher.
• Füllen Sie Speichergeräte (einschließlich SD-Karten) nicht vollständig – lassen Sie etwas Platz darauf.
• Löschen Sie Fotos auf Ihrem Computer, nicht auf Ihrer Kamera.
• Formatieren Sie SD-Karten regelmäßig auf der Kamera neu, auf der Sie sie verwenden.
• Batterien ersetzen oder aufladen, bevor sie vollständig entladen sind.
• Speichern Sie ein gesperrtes Foto Ihres Namens und Ihrer Telefonnummer oder E-Mail-Adresse auf Ihren Speicherkarten, falls Sie sie verlieren.

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