“My computer crashed and I just lost all our engagement, wedding, and family photos.”
“I can’t find my wedding photos from 10 years ago.”
“I can’t find the link to my wedding photos you sent me 10 years ago.”
These are just some of the emails, texts, or phone calls I’ve received over the years from clients (who are wonderful and very organized individuals) in a panic over losing their precious memories on accident.
As a professional photographer, I have my own archiving systems and backup practices to keep all my clients’ precious photos safe. I spend hours and hours backing things up, making multiple copies, keeping them in multiple locations to cover myself in case all the worst-case-scenarios happen. All this work on my end to keep things safe and I haven’t spent much time sharing these practices with you so you can keep your family’s photographic legacy safe. I am so sorry. We’re going to make this right. So here we go, we’ll start here–external hard drives.
External hard drives are great because you can save copies of your photos somewhere off of your computer. That way, if your computer crashes, gets lost, or your toddler dumps water all over it, your precious memories are still safe… somewhere else. So if you don’t already have one for your wedding photos and family photos, get one now. It’s worth the investment. Here are two I love and currently use:
SanDisk 2tb Extreme Pro Portable SSD
This is my current favorite and currently lives in my wallet so it goes EVERYWHERE with me. It’s tiny, it’s quick, and it’s super reliable. I have friends who’ve used these for years without a hitch. It’s currently on sale on Amazon for $279.99 for 2 terabytes, by the way (usually $509). The 1 terabyte option is also great and is also on sale for $169.99 (regularly $309.99).
It runs for about $135 for 1 terabyte and $350 for 2 terabytes. It’s also tiny, super fast, and I like that it has optional password protection.
The subject of photo storage and safety will continue in future blog posts where we’ll talk more about online storage, automatic backup storage like iCloud and Google Photos. But for now start here. Get yourself an external hard drive, drag and drop your photos onto it, and store it in a safe place like a fireproof safe or a filing cabinet. You got this. I believe in you.
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