How Do You Backup Your Photos?

StrawberryAlarmClock

My laptop is getting old and I want to back up all of my photos in case it kicks the bucket. I tried buying CDs but they only hold about 90 photos each. I've got a lot of photos. 

Do you like any of the internet photo storage sites? I'm hesitant to use Snapfish or Shutterfly because it seems like once you upload your photos, they "belong" to them and you have to pay to use them. I just want to be able to attach them to email, take them to Target and print them out, upload to Facebook and - in general - have them for all posterity.

 What's you favorite method?

TIA

2Gma

I use a flash drive (they stick into a USB port), they hold a TON of photos. Get one with high gig storage. Great for sticking in your purse and bringing to Target, work, etc. I also back up on Shutterfly, its free. I like knowing I have them saved in 2 seperate places should one fail. I would be devasted to lose years of memories!

Andrewsgal

I use an online back up. I use mozy but there are several. A virus could wipe our my hard drive, external hard drive and yes even ub sticks, but my info and everything on my computer is safe.

Ms5586

If they're high resolution photos, you're going to need something fairly major (an 8 or 16 GB jump drive won't do it). 

We use an external hard drive that gets backed up once every 2 weeks or so, but we also have Carbonite back up service.  It's about $60 a year, and is the best peace of mind.  It automatically backs up any and all files we have in case the hard drive crashes.  If it does, we contact them with our password, and get all of our files back to us, no problems.  It's foolproof, and completely secure.

jlw2505

I do a few things.  I do have all my photos on Shutterfly as I make my photo books through them and I have a share site that I use for family/friends to see.  DH has us set up on a server that backs up nightly so if my PC crashes, the pics are still safe.  He also puts them on discs every so often as another way to make sure we don't lose them.

Meeshe

I use Snapfish (mostly for ordering and sharing with the family).  We also have Carbonite backup for everything.  Our old computer crashed once and luckily we were able to recreate, but they warned us it would likely happen again.  Thank goodness we got Carbonite before that happened or I would have lost all my videos and pictures (well they would have been on Snapfish and youtube-at least most of them) but that's not the same as having them on your computer with easy access.

august06mom

Flash drives are a terrible way to permanently back up your photos. They are way, way too easy to lose and break.

Get an external hard drive or use an online backup service.

ETA: Carbonite is a great service too.

KL777

An external hard drive.

StrawberryAlarmClock

Great, thanks everyone!! I will have to look into an external hard drive and the Carbonite service.  I'll keep adding pics to Shutterfly, too. You're right that the share feature is nice.

Thanks so much for all the advice!!

Zenya

mozy.  $6 month.

wildfloweragain

Flash drives.  We keep one set in the fire safe.  A friend keeps a set in a safety deposit box in the bank. I like that idea but haven't done that. 

We also have an external hard drive that backs everything up.  I don't know if we have carbonite service.

 

We use snapfish, but that's limited to sharing with family mostly.  I do print things from there, but you're right, we can't just attach one photo to an e-mail from there.  They have to sign up for snap fish to see things.

Mylittlebee20

I upload them to Kodak Gallery.

tammyz25

an external hard drive