When it comes to something as precious as your photos and other memories, trusting technology can feel scary! But then, if you think about it, hard copy photos aren’t all that safe either, with water damage, fire, mildew, rats or clumsy guests holding coffee, all ready to damage your keepsakes.
Digital storage is often the simplest and most reliable way to store your memories – and it will save you space in the cupboards too. We asked the experts from Noel Leeming Tech solutions for some tips!
- Use the cloud
Cloud storage is everywhere nowadays, but it’s actually very recent. Without getting too technical, it essentially lets you store your personal files outside of your computer – they’re saved on servers somewhere else on the world, and you can access them any time through the internet. Cloud is a revolution because it means your files – like your precious photos – aren’t stored on a physical computer. It means if your computer goes on the blink, you can access them from any internet-connected device. There are many ways to store files in the Cloud, and lots of them are free or very cheap.
- Store memories in a few places
Just as fire and water can damage printed photos, so too can they destroy your computers and hardware. That means it’s a good idea to store your most precious memories in a few different places – perhaps one copy on a hard drive, another on your phone and a third in the Cloud. You may even like to store your hard drive somewhere other than your house so whatever happens, you know you’ll have a copy somewhere.
- Give your family access
If your precious photos are protected by a password – and they should be! – it’s important to make sure people other than you can access them.
That means if anything happens to you (or you forget your passwords!) you’ll still be able to access your memories. An easy way to do this is to upload them onto a photo sharing platform like flickr.
- Keep things updated
You may have your three-way storage, but it’s not a set-and-forget system. If your hard drive fails or technology gets old or obsolete, it’s time to get a new one, and copy your files back onto them. It’s not unusual for people to have precious memories stored on floppy disks, which haven’t been used since the 90s!
- Print some!
Memories are best enjoyed, and printing out your favourite images and other files doesn’t just protect them, it also makes it easier to flick through. High quality prints are relatively inexpensive, too. The best news? If a sticky-fingered grandkid ruins your wedding photo, you know you’ll have a digital file at the ready to print a fresh one!
Admin - 3 years ago
Hi Gary, off the top of our heads, Apple offers a certain amount of free storage space. A quick Google search will also bring up some ideas for you.