Photo backup: How to keep your memories safely

Photo backup: How to keep your memories safely

After we have learned on the hard tour, we share our proven photo backup systems so that you can safely store your photos

In the Cotopaxi region in Ecuador, we met Michael, a backpacker who had spent the past few weeks on a surf trip of his life. In the past, Michaels GoPro had come loose from her extension when jumping into a waterfall and had dropped deep.

"All my photos are on this camera," he told us, his face still pale from the hour he had spent to search the ice -cold water. "You have backups, right?" I asked. He shook his head. "I wanted it again and again, but ... I just never got it."

Unfortunately, his memories were lost forever.

alt = "photo memories shooting"> Atlas & Boots Peter on site in Namibia

A few months later I found myself in a similar despair. It was (ironically) a second fractional defect when securing my photos. I accidentally replaced an entire library with thousands of photos.

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

alt = "perito-goreno-glacier"> atlas & boots kia still hasn't forgiven me that I lost the photos of her at Perito Moreno in Argentina

I spent the following days to be deeply sunk into scans, to carry out data recovery software on hard drives and SD cards and slowly restore the lost photos. I recovered a part, but a lot of it was never found.

never again. I was drawn-deeply cut-and for this reason I invested in the following fail-safe photo backup system to ensure that something like this never happens again.

SD + microSD cards

As I said in my travel photography equipment leader, I tied SD cards rather casually. Against this background, however, I have invested in some high-quality transcend SD cards with a high capacity to make sure that I never lose a photo again.

alt = "Photo memories SD cards"> Transcend I use transcend SD and microSD cards

The Transcend SD and MicroSD cards were tested to withstand extreme conditions. They are temperature-resistant, waterproof, shockproof, X-ray-proof and statically resistant-ideal for an outdoor travel blogger.

In addition to the longevity, the memory cards with up to 512 GB of storage capacity enable the recording of thousands of RAW photos and hours of HD videos. With these updated cards, I don't need to delete photos from the card until I am back home.

external hard drives

If you have just finished a trip of your life or are still on the go, it is worth securing your files on external hard drives.

At home I have a few hard-wearing Western Digital My Books with fast firewire compounds for all of my documents and photos. It can also be worthwhile to think about fire -proof and waterproof external hard drives if you have particularly sensitive files or documents that need to be secured. I use the Time Machine Backup app on Apple OSX to do this automatically and regularly.

alt = “photo memories of hard drives”> Transcend on the way I need something easy but hard-wearing

I need something easier on the way. I have a Transcend Storejet 4 TB hard drive that is small and portable and has an integrated energy saving function that makes it ideal for outdoor and adventure trips.

cloud services

on the way I try to secure my photography as regularly as possible in a cloud service. This depends on a constant internet connection and is therefore not ideal. This is exactly why I lost my photography from Argentina. After a few weeks with rare access to reliable WLAN, I had overlooked securing my latest libraries. As such, I'm much more hardworking 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 produces many options.

manual backup

This is the most time -consuming method and a little “old school”, but it is worth considering if you want a third security level. DVDs are the safest format and can be stowed in easily and safely in folders. You can also create copies and leave them with friends and family or send them by post.

Of course, this should be coupled with an external or online backup that happens in real time. Otherwise, optical media leave periods in which files have not yet been secured.

one is never enough

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to use more than one of the above photo safety methods. Hardware can break, compounds are interrupted, software crashes or we forget to click on the burner button.

When I am traveling, I strive to secure all of my photographs at the following four locations at any time, all of which are kept in different places when traveling.

• Original RAW files still on the SD cards in my camera
• Photo files that are stored locally on my laptop in libraries
• All files mentioned above were copied to my portable hard drive
• is regularly uploaded to a cloud service (WLAN-dependent)

Which options you also choose, it is important that you carry out your security procedure regularly and adhere to it. If you let it slide, it will come back to bite them. Trust me.

bonus tips

• Do not edit the originals if you use photo editing software. Save them in a separate library.
• If something fails-like an SD card or hard drive-do not use it immediately. It will be easier for the data recovery software to find lost files.
• Remove SD cards, drives and devices.
• Do not fill storage devices (including SD cards)-leave some space on it.
• Delete photos on your computer, not on your camera.
• REASE SD cards regularly on the camera on which you use them.
Replace or charge
• batteries before they are fully discharged.
• Save a blocked photo of your name and telephone number or email address on your memory cards if you lose them.

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