Did you know that people all over the world took more than 1.2 trillion digital photos in 2017 alone? That amounts to over 160 pictures for each individual living on this planet. Taking pictures is simple nowadays, thanks to our smartphones that have multiple cameras installed on them.

But how to store digital photos properly and preferably forever? How do you capture these magic moments and have them preserved for eternity? This is what you’ll find out in this article. Keep reading to learn the best way to store photos and how to back up photos safely.

Make Folders and Label Them Accordingly

It’s important to stay organized when working with hundreds or even thousands of digital photos. A good way you can do that is by creating folders and labeling them by years, events, family pics, friends pics, Eric’s birthday, etc.

By doing so, you will be able to quickly find out what you’re looking for if you ever feel nostalgic. Depending on how many digital photos you have, chances are that you’ll create dozens of folders to keep your files organized and this will save time and effort in the future.

Back up Your Pictures on an External Hard Drive

You can find different types of hard drives with various storage capacities on the market today. The most popular ones are SSDs or solid-state drives. These allow a quick transfer of photos and they can hold thousands of GBs of data.

All you have to do is to purchase such an external hard drive and transfer some or all your digital photos. SSDs don’t get degraded by time, so you can preserve your pictures for decades. If you don’t want to invest in an SSD, a standard external HDD would do the trick just fine as well.

This method works well for all kinds of photos you might have stored on your computer or mobile device, even recovered iPhone photos. As an FYI, click here to learn how to recover accidentally deleted photos from your Apple device.

Back up Your Photos in the Cloud

Cloud storage services are increasingly popular these days. They allow users to store personal media in a safe place online. Companies run massive data centers that offer ample storage space for customers. You just buy a small portion of this space such as 100GB and store your files there.

You can reap many benefits for storing your photos in the cloud. For example, some of these services are dirt cheap. You can get hundreds of GBs of storage space and you’ll only pay a few dollars a month. This space can be used for storing something else such as music, videos, documents, etc.

Secondly, your digital photos will be safe. Companies that offer such services go the extra mile to protect their servers against hacking attempts and cyber threats. No one will have access to these photos but you.

Thirdly, you have easy access to your photos whenever you want. You can upload some more or download old photos 24/7 from anywhere, anytime. As long as you have an internet connection, you have access to your photos.

Back up to a Secondary Cloud Storage Space

Although most cloud storage services are reputable, no one can predict the future. Some companies can go bankrupt, others might dissolve from within because of bad management. That’s why you should create redundancy when it comes to your digital photos and upload them to a secondary cloud storage website.

A good example to illustrate this situation is given by Rapidshare.com. Almost a decade ago, this was one of the most visited websites on the internet, allowing users to upload tons of content online. Now the company is defunct. All that content is lost forever.

There is little to no chance for such a thing to happen again in our modern days. However, you should never say never. Make sure that you upload your photos to another cloud storage space, so you don’t lose them in case the first storage company goes out of business.

Back up to USB Drives as well as DVDs and Blu-Rays

This method is similar to backing up to external hard drives, but it offers a few interesting advantages. First of all, a USB drive or DVD is much cheaper than your standard external HDD or SSD. it allows those with fewer photos to back up safely without making a large investment.

Secondly, USB drives, DVDs, or Blu-Rays are more compact. They can be taken anywhere with little to no effort, even in your pocket in the case of a USB drive. You should use this method if you want to take your photos with you everywhere you go.

Although USB drives are compact, they can still pack a lot of data. Some of them can store 512GB of data and this translates to tens of thousands of high-res digital photos. Such a USB drive is a more compact, portable, and affordable version of external HDD and it can be very appealing to some people.

Back up to Gmail or Another Email Service

You probably already know that email services such as Gmail and others offer users a couple of free GBs of space such as 15GB, 5GB, etc. This space is free to use and you can upload your photos on the drive space associated with your email account.

If you don’t have a lot of photos, you can take advantage of this storage space for free. You can also buy more space directly from your email provider if necessary. Best of all, you can always easily attach photos to the emails you send because you already have them in the drive associated with your account.

Now You Know How to Store Digital Photos

Hopefully, this article answered your original question – how to store digital photos. Keep in mind that you can also scan and digitize old physical photos that you might have in your house such as a black and white picture of your grandparents, etc.

Once you have scanned these photos, you can put them in the cloud online and have your grandmother’s smile stored forever in a safe place.

For more interesting tips and tricks on how to manage your photos and videos, make sure that you check out the other articles on our website.