Why it's important to backup your holiday photos
Far too many people still don’t realise the importance of backing up their photos until it’s too late. In the old days of film this was less of a worry, as everything was printed and no one would steal prints. Also, a reel of 36 film got changed more often whereas your memory cards can now hold several thousand pictures at once, meaning you are likely to not even change your card once while on holiday.
Your nice camera and in particular now your fancy smartphone are a bigger target for thieves. Plus it can be very easy to lose your phone as you are carrying it everywhere.
There are a variety of ways you could lose your holiday photos such as:
- Theft
- accidental deletion
- hard drive or card failure
- viruses
Cloud backup
The first place you can lose your holiday photos is of course while you are still on holiday. There can be nothing worse than this. The most common cause would be theft or loss of your phone or camera bag with the camera and all memory cards. Worse still, you could have all your bags stolen or lost in transit. If you have backed up to a laptop or external drive, that would be lost too.
There is also the chance of drive or card failure, or you could accidentally delete some or all of them.
Therefore the only real safe way to ensure you don’t lose your holiday photos is to use cloud backup.
Cloud Storage
Here are some of the best cloud storage options available today. The majority of hotels, cafes and restaurants have WiFi, so it’s easy to do while on the move.
1: Idrive
For only US$79.50 per year you can get 5TB of storage for one user and unlimited computers and phones. For $99.50 you can get 10TB. You simply login from one of your devices and select which files, folders or entire drives to backup.
This is also a good option if you are using a smartphone. Simply download their app and backup photos from your phone too.
2: Smugmug - take out a free 14-day trial just before you leave
Yes Smugmug is a photography website builder, But one unique feature is that it offers unlimited photo storage with all its plans. As part of your plan you are allowed to upload unlimited full resolution photos, which are then resized for use on the website and galleries you build.
The full res photos are stored on their servers and can be downloaded at anytime.
Smugmug also offers a RAW storage management service, so you can upload and store your RAW files if you shoot this way.
You can try Smugmug free for 14 days and get all of these features during your trial. There is no obligation and no need to hand over your credit card details either. So you could signup just before you leave for your holiday and use it as backup each day. At the end of the trial you are free to either sign up for a plan or not.
Sign up for your trial with my affiliate link and if you decide at the end of the trial to purchase a plan you automatically get a 15% discount applied to whichever plan you choose.
3: Google Drive
Google Backup and Sync, as it’s also called, offers 15GB free to everyone who has a Google account. You may not even realise that you have it. Simply download and install Google Drive from here:
If you want more space then there are various plans starting from £15.99 per year for 100GB. Also, if you have an android phone then the Google photos app will automatically upload your photos to your cloud storage as you take them.
Google Prime members also get unlimited photo backup.
4: Dropbox
This was probably one of the earliest ever cloud storage services, and still remains one of the best options. Like Google Drive there is a free option and then you can pay for more storage space. Click the button for a list of plans:
Don't lose your precious holiday photos
I’ve worked as a professional photographer now for over 20 years and the thought of losing all my hard work while I’m away constantly terrifies me. Cameras and cards can be replaced, your images cannot.
