Caring For Your Digital Files
Believe it or not, digital files do not last forever. All digital media is susceptible to deterioration, corruption, failure or simply not being accessible as technology changes. The occurrence of a corrupted or failed storage device can result in the partial or full loss of the data (your images!)
This is why taking steps to guard and preserve your data is so important. I always recommend that you keep three copies of your images. This does not mean three USB drives in the same drawer, but rather three copies in different forms and places. Check out the examples below, and simply pick two or three solutions that work best for you:
- Print your images! Put them on display, tuck them into keepsake boxes, or order a photo album to share with your family in the coming years.
- Archive photos in the cloud. Cloud storage such as Google Drive or Dropbox is fantastic because your files are stored online and can be accessed from anywhere even if you lose or upgrade your devices.
- Copy them to a USB (or two!) USBs or thumbs drives are still the most common portable storage for data, however, as technology changes, it is a good idea to update the method of storage. (Anyone even remember floppy disks?)
- Keep them on your computer’s hard drive. Again, technology will change, so view this option as temporary as well.
- Back up, rinse, repeat.