Backup Digital Photos

Protecting Valuable Pictures and Files

Don’t lose precious digital photos when your hard drive crashes - and it will!

When I got my first digital camera in 2003, I let the camera do its own thing regarding saving photos to my hard drive.

The default was to have pictures saved by date. That was pretty cumbersome.

So I created annual folders to hold photos from each year.

As I took and saved more photos, it became difficult to find what I wanted quickly.

'Let’s see, when did I photograph all 300 pounds of Uncle Joe belly-flopping into the pool? It must have been summer, but ..."

One day I decided there had to be a better way and went about reorganizing all my pictures.

Within my Pictures folder, I created topic folders - using family names, specific projects, or events like "Xmas 07".

This has worked like a charm for me. I try not to put too many photos in a folder and, to this end, have added subsidiary folders (and sub-subsidiary folders).

For example, my Craft Examples folder has sub folders for Decoupage, Jewelry, Candles, etc.

The Decoupage Folder has sub-sub folders for each project or project type, such as Decoupage Cross, Decoupage Plaque, and Decoupage Spice Jars.

I back everything up using Carbonite, which is an online subscription service that works in the background to automatically back up any changes you make on any files or folders you choose to the Internet.

In case of a computer failure, you know your precious photos are safe and can be easily recovered.

I haven’t needed to use it to recover files yet, but I sure sleep better knowing it is there!

P.S. Carbonite lets you try the program free for 15 days before buying. The extra peace of mind only costs $50 a year.

If you’ve never used it to restore lost files, how do you know Carbonite really works when you need it?

I learned about Carbonite at Scrap Girls, my favorite digital graphic/scrapbooking site.

CEO Ro Paxman wrote about it and recommended it. That was enough for me, because Ro is very technically savvy.

All you need do is look at the website to know that. Prior to launching Scrap Girls, Ro worked at Novell where she pioneered for-sale electronic delivery software and participated in the launch of many of Novell’s software products.

Plus, if you read the free Scrap Girls newsletter, you will find story after story about hard drive crashes and data loss.

The members who had Carbonite, breathed a sigh of relief, clicked on the Carbonite icon and got their data back in very short order.

The members who didn’t have it, shed a few tears and then subscribed to Carbonite.

How Does Carbonite Work?

Carbonite installs a small application on your computer that works quietly in the background looking for new and changed files that need to be backed up.

If you browse files in thumbnail mode, you will see a little green dot stuck to the files which Carbonite has backed up and a little orange dot on those it hasn’t gotten to yet - new files or ones you have modified.

You will also see a little lock box icon on the bottom status bar of your screen. If you want, you can click on the icon to check backup status, pause the backup and a few other things.

But you don’t need to, because Carbonite is completely automatic. The initial backup of your hard drive may take a long time.

How long depends on how much data you have to backup and the speed of your internet connection - most connections, even high speed ones are notoriusly slow at uploading.

When your computer is idle, Carbonite is working. When you’re using your computer, Carbonite goes to sleep so it will never slow you down or interfere with your Internet connection - if you choose the low priority mode.

If you accidentally delete or otherwise lose files, it takes just a few clicks on your desktop to get them back.

If your computer is damaged, stolen or "just dies" and you lose all your files, your data is still safe. When you get your computer repaired or replaced, just go to the Carbonite website.

Within minutes you’ll be able to begin restoring all your files.

I received this anonymous comment to the article above.

"On the subject of file backup, sharing and storage ...

Online backup is becoming common these days. It is estimated that 70-75% of all PC's will be connected to online backup services within the next decade.

Thousands of online backup companies exist, from one guy operating in his apartment to Fortune 500 companies.

Choosing the best online backup company will be very confusing and difficult. One website I find very helpful in making a decision to pick an online backup company is BackupReview.info.

This site lists more than 400 online backup companies in its directory and ranks the top 25 on a monthly basis."

Good resource. Thank you.

I was pleased to see that Carbonite has ranked #1 every month this year - since I've already subscribed to it! :-)

I was also interested to see SugarSync in the current review, because I'm trying that out for syncing my files. It would also be good to have as a secondary backup - although it has "features" I don't like - especially appending numbers to file names when it gets confused.

Experts advise us to have triple backups of anything we care about. Usually they suggest: your own backup to CDs; a backup to an external hard drive; and a backup to an online service.

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time getting around to doing my own manual backups. Online and automatic are very good insurance for me!