Ask anyone what they would grab in a house fire and “the photos” is usually near the top of the list. Yet most family photo collections today exist only as files on a single phone or computer, one accident away from being gone forever. Here is how to protect them properly, in plain English.
The golden rule: three copies
Professional backup advice boils down to this: keep three copies of anything irreplaceable, on two different types of storage, with one copy somewhere else. It sounds like overkill until the day your laptop dies and your backup drive was sitting next to it during a power surge.
For most families, a simple version works beautifully:
- Copy one: your photos live on your computer or phone as normal
- Copy two: an external hard drive at home, updated every month or two
- Copy three: a cloud service like iCloud, Google Photos, or OneDrive
Option one: the external drive (the reliable workhorse)
An external hard drive costs around $80 to $120 and plugs straight into your computer. Windows has a built-in tool called File History and Macs have Time Machine; both can automatically back up everything, not just photos, on a schedule.
The trick is actually doing it. Pick a date, like the first Sunday of the month, plug the drive in, and let it copy while you make lunch. Then unplug it and put it somewhere sensible, not still attached to the computer it is protecting.
Option two: cloud backup (the set-and-forget)
Cloud services copy your photos to secure servers over the internet. iCloud suits iPhone families, Google Photos works across everything, and OneDrive comes bundled if you already pay for Microsoft 365.
The beauty is automation: photos upload themselves in the background. The catch is that free tiers fill up fast, so expect a small monthly fee for a decent amount of space. For most families, a couple of dollars a month is cheap insurance for every photo of the grandkids. If you want something more serious, we deploy Acronis backup for customers who need whole-computer protection, including versioned backups and ransomware protection built in.
Do not forget the photos on your phone
Your phone likely holds more photos than your computer does. Check that it is actually backing up: on iPhone, look under Settings > your name > iCloud > Photos. On Android, open the Google Photos app and check that backup is switched on.
Warning signs that it is not working: constant “storage full” messages on your iCloud, or a Google Photos account that has not uploaded anything since you set it up years ago.
And the old photos in the cupboard?
Printed photos, slides, and negatives are one house fire or Queensland summer from being lost too. Digitising them, either with a scanner or a scanning service, brings them into your backup system and makes them easy to share with family.
A ten-minute check you can do today
Ask yourself: if this device died tonight, what would I lose? If the answer makes your stomach drop, that is your cue to set up one of the options above.
