Hard drives fail. Phones get lost or broken. Laptops are stolen. Photos are typically the files people most regret losing — and yet they're often the least well-protected. Here's how to change that.
The problem with keeping photos only on your phone
If your phone is your primary camera, all your photos are on one device with no backup. A single incident — phone theft, a drop into water, or hardware failure — means permanent loss. This happens far more often than people expect.
Automatic phone photo backup
Google Photos — available on Android and iPhone. Set it up once and it automatically backs up every photo you take, wirelessly, to Google's servers. Free for up to 15GB, then modest paid plans. The backup happens in the background without any effort. Apple iCloud Photos — if you use an iPhone, iCloud Photos does the same thing and syncs to all your Apple devices. 5GB free, upgrades available.
Backing up photos on your computer
Photos on your computer should be in at least two places: the computer itself, and an external hard drive or cloud storage. OneDrive, Google Photos (via the desktop app), or Amazon Photos (free unlimited storage with Prime) can all automatically sync your photo folders.
Creating an archive
For important photos — family events, holidays, once-in-a-lifetime moments — consider burning periodic archives to M-DISC (a millennial-grade optical disc rated to last centuries) or at minimum, keeping them in two cloud services simultaneously.
Worried about losing photos?
Darren helps set up photo backup systems and recovers photos from failing drives across Okehampton and Devon.
📞 Call 07564 432851