The traditional adage is that you need to havethree copies of your important files to protect yourself against data personnel casualty , but most of us square off for two when it comes to our digital photos and video recording . Here ’s why you might need to do up a third set of copies , how it can work , and what it ’s going to cost you .
One of the ideas behind experience three copies of everything is that if something disastrous happens to your originals or your backups , then you ’re at least you ’re left with more than one set of data file until you’re able to get them backed up and copied somewhere else again .
Another adept grounds to get reliever of your backups in place is that cloud storage prices and policies canquickly change : If you want to ditch Google Photos or iCloud , having your photos and videos already upload to another service means you do n’t have the dogfight of transferring them all over in a kick .
There are plenty of storage options to pick from.Image: David Nield/Gizmodo / Screenshot: Google / Screenshot: Microsoft / Screenshot: Dropbox
What Your Options Are
While you could prefer for two local copies of your photograph and videos and one in the swarm — by using external laborious drives , orNAS drives , or just throw your files on multiple computers — it create more sense to keep two copy in the cloud . It means your files are accessible from multiple devices and protect you against fires , overflow , and larceny happening at domicile .
There are legion apps and servicing to pick from , though you ’re always going to have to pay to store a substantial amount of data in the swarm . Google and Apple offer architectural plan that bug out at passably low levels : you may get yourself 100 GB ofGoogle Onestorage for $ 2 a month , while Apple will sell you 50 GB of space oniCloudfor $ 1 a month ; Google plans go all the way up to 30 TB , while Apple ’s top out at 2 TB .
Then there’sDropbox , which starts its pay program at $ 12 a calendar month or $ 120 a year for 2 TB of room on its server . Another popular and consumer - friendly option is Microsoft’sOneDrive , which is make into your calculator if it hunt Windows : you may get 100 GB of space for $ 2 a calendar month , or stomp up $ 70 a year to get 1 TB of infinite and Microsoft Office flip in .
Google is one of many companies that will sell you some cloud storage.Screenshot: Google
You might also want to consider more established cloud backup services , in particular if all your photos and videos are on your laptop or desktop computer . They ’ll function in the background of Windows or macOS and suckle up everything in the folders that you specify — while web access to your Indian file and mobile syncing is n’t available on all these services , they ’ll perfectly do the job when it comes to backing up data to the swarm . Have a look at the likes ofMega , Backblaze , CarboniteandBox , for example , to see if they can play a part in your backup system .
Getting Set Up on Your Phone
Once you ’ve pay your monthly subscription fee , having multiple cloud storage accompaniment apps running on your phone is in reality pretty straightforward — on the whole they ’ll stay out of the way of each other , back up everything new that make it in your phone ’s camera roll and sending it back safely to the cloud .
Most of the services we ’ve already mentioned — the services from Google ( via Google Photos ) , Dropbox , OneDrive , Box , Mega — have simple - to - use apps for Android and iOS that you’re able to install and use . Though iCloud backup is only available on iPhones , so Android user are out of luck there ( there is an iCloud client for Windows , however ) .
Just make trusted your apps of choice are n’t mechanically edit or compress the local copy of your photos and videos , because then the other apps you ’ve got installed wo n’t be able to access them . If you ’re using iCloud on your iPhone , for case , go to exposure in Io preferences and make certain Download and Keep Originals is ticked .
Keep your files stored on your phone as well as in the cloud.Screenshot: iOS
It ’s also deserving looking through the configurations for your chosen apps to make certain they ’re covering all the image folders on your gadget you want them to , and that they ’re not all using your data program for uploads ( unless you ’re o.k. with that ) . In Google Photos , for instance , tap your profile picture ( top rightfield ) then Photos configurations and Back up & synchronize to pick your folders and set data point use dominion .
Getting Set Up on Your Computer
Getting multiple backup services run on a laptop or desktop is more complicated , not least because a lot of applications like to have a separate , specific folder that gets synchronize to the cloud . You might have to do some pamphlet nest to get this to work — by moving your local Dropbox folder inside the OneDrive folder in Windows , for instance .
If you open up the Dropbox desktop client , then click your avatar ( top right ) and Preferences , you may set the position of the Dropbox folder on Windows or macOS : open up the Sync tab and click Move to pick a new office on the cause . you’re able to also set which leaflet are synced locally , which you will require for your pic and telecasting folders so that other backup apps can get at them .
Those of you using a Mac will have fuss backing up everything in Apple Photos , as it ’s set up as a proprietary database . While you may take tending of mobile picture and videos with an app , if there are images that are only on your Mac , you might have to specifically export them to a unlike folder before punt them up , or just cut Apple Photos completely and employ two other swarm services instead .
You might need to do some folder nesting on your computer.Screenshot: Dropbox
There are macOS and Windows guest for Dropbox , OneDrive , Google Drive , and most other cloud services , andan iCloud client for Windowsis also useable . For the best resultant , verify your chosen backup apps are launching at the same time as the operating system , so any change or unexampled Indian file are synced as rapidly as possible .
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