10 Places to backup your digital photos

10 Places to backup your digital photos

By Ola Pat Gbenga



In Nigeria, digital photos are now become a part of everyday life and one of the questions people ask me is: how do I keep my digital photos for the future? Unlike most countries, where most family have and own personal digital storage facilities to keep and save their digital assets, most Nigeria do not enjoy such luxury. Indeed, there are limited accesses to digital storage for individual and families considering the size of people that own or have digital products, which include photos, documents and E-books. Most Nigerians are limited to storing their digital products and asset on their phone or tablet, which have high propensity to get lost or stolen. I have listed 10 affordable medium for storing your digital photos and other digital assets. Although, they carry certain amount of risks but these can be mitigated by combining 2 or more together.



Social media account: You may be surprise but don't be. Your Facebook, Tweeter, Istagram, Google Plus can also serve you conveniently as a cloud storage for not only your digital photos but also for most of your digital assets. The current surge being experience in digital photography is due in part to the social media. Photo posted online in any of these media are automatically saved until you delete them or the company fold. A word of advice since most of these social media are free, they can close down at anytime or suspend you without prior notice.



Phones and Tablets: This is the most ready available option to the average Nigerian. Having your photos on your phone or tablet give you unhindered access to it anything and anywhere. This also makes it easy to share with others and entertain friends and guests. However, the propensity and probability of losing or having your phone or tablet stolen is too high. Thus, it is wise to backup your digital photos on another device(s).

Computer: Your digital photos can be domiciled on your home or office computer, which is one of the most secure and safest personal storage facilities until it crashes. The same thing cannot be said for the laptop, which attract both petty thieves and armed robbers, it also draw the attention of some law enforcers e.g. EFCC, the Police and the king of all SARS. But, this also provides easy access to your digital photos.
CDs: Y Before the arrival of flash and Smartphones (Android phones) became a regular feature in our lives; CDs have always top the list of options available for storage of personal digital assets. But, nothing has taken away it storage capacity. In fact, i recommend that CDs should be among your choice of saving your digital photos as a sure backup. You will need to be careful though not to scratch the CD silver underneath surface.


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SD Memory: Do you know that your phone SD memory card can be utilized as a backup storage device? Although, they are highly volatile, they can act as a good storage and backup device for your digital photos. They have a large space, so you can simply copy your digital photos and other digital assets into it and keep it in a good place.


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Flash drives: is a common storage system that can be used to store all your beautiful Digital photos. It downside however is that, it is also volatile. But taking great care can eliminate the risk and enjoy its storage facility.


External Hard disk: apart from phones and computer, this is the most reliable backup and storage device and also the most expensive option in this list. Now you may be wondering why go to such extreme to preserve digital photos. Well, I can assure you it is worth it because those capture moment are essential and gone forever. External Hard Disks are very large digital storage device, the minimum being 250GB. External Hard Disks are perfect storage system for your digital photos and assets.

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Email: Surprisingly, your e-mail account can also serve you as a cheap cloud base storage for your digital photos. You can simply use any of the different methods to upload your photos into your account. One of the methods is to email the photos to yourself or a friend. Another means is to COMPOSE an email attached the photos and then save as draft. Using an email account can guarantee good cloud storage for your digital photos and asset.


Save in the cloud: Cloud service is gradually crawling into Nigeria “digitalshere” and you can use this service to keep your digital assets. Cloud saving is the storing of your digital asset e.g. document, photos, software on a server using the internet. And these personal digital can be accessed from any computer terminal anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection.  In Nigeria, there are two cloud service providers- Main-one and Nigeria Stock Exchange, however these companies only service corporate organizations with huge important data.

Private Server: A dedicated  computer can be easily converted into a private server by individual and small businesses. This means the computer only function as a backup server for your photos and digital asset.



 
Ola Pat is a Graphic Designer, Printer and photographer based in Ota, Ogun States. He is well known for his community advocacy on his blog: www.communemag.blogspot.com. Ola Pat is a magazine editor and run a studio in Ogun state, Nigeria. Ola enjoyed sharing his vast experience in computer, journalism, printing and photography.

Fb: https://www.facebook.com/mgpat
 

 
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