Back Up Your Photos | The Photography Shack

Back up your photos to easily retrieve your lost data, after your hard disk crashes or is attacked by a malicious virus and all your data is deleted. You always need to prepare for emergencies, because once you lose your data, you may lose precious photos for ever.

There are expensive data recovery services, where they may recover some of your data, but some data may not be recoverable from a damaged hard disk. This is why, you need to use at least two options to create data back ups and inmprove your ability to retrieve your lost data.

Two Options To Back Up Your Data

One option is to back up some or all of your data to another hard disk, DVD or other storage media. The second option is to use online back up and storage services to back up all of your precious data. Using these two options, helps to ensure you can retrieve your data when your hard disk crashes.

Back Up Your Precious Photos

Are you backing up your precious photos? Our computers and removable storage media are full with experiences and precious moments. However electronic media is not safe. Hard disks crash and removable media fails.

Disasters can happen. Digital photo albums are vulnerable and if not backed up you lose thousands of photos and a lifetime of moments in just one hard disk crash.

What are backups? backups are just copies of our files that are put in a safe place. Example of such copies can be photos put on a DVD and placed at a friend’s house. The DVD could of course be placed in your own house but that would be less safe since in case of a disaster in your house you might lose both your computer and the backups.

Two Back Up Solutions To Ensure The Safety Of Your Media

A few years ago backups were hard to make. You practically had to be a computer guru to figure out those backup software. Today however, backup has been made easy using a number of software solutions and online services. Below you can find two main options for backing up your photo albums: burning them to a DVD/CD or using an online backup service.

Backing up to a DVD/CD is done by using a DVD/CD writer drive and software that can burn files on such media. Usually using such solutions requires more technical know-how. Backing up to a DVD/CD is a cheap solution.

Burning Your Backup With A DVD Drive

You can buy such writer drives and software for probably under a $100 and each DVD/CD media should cost in the cents. One such software that has been around for a while and used by many is from Roxio.

When backing up your photo albums to a DVD/CD please make sure that you put the DVD/CD in a safe place a good option would be somewhere out of your home maybe a family member, a neighbor you can trust or a friend.

Another thing to remember with DVD/CD backup is that when you take new photos you should remember to refresh your backups. Usually unless your photo album is very big the easiest way to do that is just to burn again you complete collection.

Online Storage Of Your Backup Files

As any other service backup found its way to the Internet too. A number of sites provide backup services today for everything from digital photo albums to your word documents. Those services usually charge a monthly fee in the $10 to $20 but some provide a more limited service for free.

The idea behind the service is simple: instead of backing up to a DVD/CD you just upload your photos to a site and create copy there. The site stores the backups for you in a safe place far away from your computer.

If a disaster happens and you need your files you can simple download them back from the site or ask them to send you on a DVD/CD with the files (not all provide the latter option). A broadband connection is needed in order to use this option.

Easy To Use Online Back Up Services

There are many advantages to using an online backup service. First they are usually very easy to use. Some provide software that you download and install on your computer. You then point to the folder where your photos reside and the software takes it from there. It will make sure new files are uploaded to the backup service and that your backup is always fresh.

Examples of sites that provide such service are: Streamload that starts with a basic FREE 10GB space (approx 10,000 photos at 2 megapixels) and Xdrive that starts from 5GB for $10 a month.

Online Backups With A Web Hosting Service

Some web hosting services also offer back up services, to store your backups. Depending on the size of your back up and the type of hosting plan, you may not have to pay extra for backing up your precious files with a web hosting service. This may be an ideal solution, if you have a website with a web hosting service, then you should enquire about backing up and online storage services.

Backing up your files, allows you to retrieve your files if you accidentally erased any of your files, or your computer was attacked by a malicious virus and deleted all your data. The best back up solution, is to backup all the content of your hard drive, just in case your hard disk crashes and you lose everything. If this happens to you, then you can retrieve your data, from the backing up service.

Always Back Up Your Data Before You Delete Any Files

Burning files onto a another hard drive, external storage disk, online storage, or a DVD, allows you to delete some files you may not need any more and free up some space on your hard disk. Always remember, before you delete any files, always create backups just in case you need those deleted files sometime in the future.

More Photography Facts....

How do I choose a photographer for my wedding?
First, get some recommendations from people you know about different photographers they have used. Friends and relatives who have had good experiences with the photographers or studios they have used should be more than eager to share this information with you. After reviewing websites and online portfolios, contact each studio or photographer that you are interested.

Meet at their studio and look at samples of their work in person, preferably with each party of the engaged couple. Ask to see pictures from different weddings, and if possible a full wedding. Doing so allows for complete evaluation of photography styles and formats, or even artistic impressions that each photographer can offer you. Ask yourself if they share your artistic vision while looking through their portfolio.

Do you agree with the styles they use? Is the quality to your liking? Also, take note of how well you communicate and interact with each photographer. Besides friends and family, your photographer is the one person you will be interacting with the most.

Feeling comfortable enough to communicate with them during your wedding will lessen the stress of an already hectic day. Once you have chosen a photographer whose work you are pleased with, and whose personality is compatible with your own, you can then discuss price ranges.

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