Today is the last day of another year and I have taken so many photos that are starting to clog my computer space,at the end of every year I declutter my digital photo files and make backup copies of all my photos. I don’t keep all my photos on my computer because there is just too many of them and I don’t want to lose them if my computer ever crashes. During the year I organize my photos by month and in each month I have files of different days,events etc,some months may only have 1 or 2 files and others have a lot. I don’t take the time to rename and label all my photos but I can easily find something when I am looking for it. I print up my photos for albums so I don’t have them in digital albums but I still want to be able to have the files for reprints etc.
I actually create 2 backups,I have an external hard drive with only my photo files and I also burn all my photos onto dvds,this year I took so many photos I used 6 dvds,and this is just for jpeg format not the raw files which would take up even more room.
After I create my backups and have uploaded my pics to ( a 3rd backup) I can then delete all the files of my computer and start the New Year off with a decluttered computer.
I use to develop my photos because they have great prices and quality and you can often get free shipping,but actually even with the shipping the per print price is comparable to other places and your print are usually delivered in less than a week. The other big advantage to Snapfish is that they have free unlimited photo storage and you can easily share your albums with friends and family.
This year my goal is to declutter not just my computer but my home as well but that will have to wait until February for me to start. Most of my January is spent doing bookwork for my husbands business which I really dislike so I spend the rest of the time working on my scrapbooks.
I would love to hear how you backup your digital photo files.
Bridget
p.s if you are interested in scrapbooking any of your photos for the year join me in Jan in the online Load (layout a day) 2012 with the fun Lain Ehmann Click here to view more details
