(Can you imagine not having pictures anymore?)
I can’t tell you how many people I know that have lost their pictures, because they load them onto their computer, and then their computer crashes. I literally want to cry for them, because I can’t even imagine. I recently lost a memory card that had pictures of my new little baby and I was crushed. I can’t imagine losing years of pictures. To keep this from happening to you, here it what I suggest:
Load the pictures onto your computer, and organize them by month
Open the folder on your computer for your memory card (do this by double clicking on “My Computer”, then double clicking on the memory card drive (ex. “I”)
Open My Computer again, and choose where you want to store your pictures, open that folder
Create new folders inside of the main picture folder (by right-clicking and selecting new, then folder) and name them with the month you are loading(ex. March 2012)
Organize your pictures into the folders by COPYING them from your memory card and pasting them into the correct folders. (select the pictures/video you want to copy by using the SHIFT or CTRL keys, then press CTRL and C to copy. Go to your other folder and then press CTRL and V to paste)
Once they are in the correct folders, go back to your memory card, press CTRL and A to select all the files and then hit delete. I recommend copying first because one time I “cut” the files and pasted them to the folder and my computer had an error in the middle of the transfer and I lost some of the files. This way, you won’t have to worry about it since they will still be on your memory card if there is an error.
Once the pictures are on your computer in the correct folders, I recommend doing two things with them! (1) Burn them to a DVD for backup and (2) Copying all of the files to an external hard drive! I have done this will all of my pictures for the last 10 years, and I am only on my second hard drive. I also know that I have two places that I can go to for pictures if something were to happen. I would recommend doing this with all of your computer files that you need/use.
If you don’t have an external hard drive, here are a few great ones that I recommend:
Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Black)
Western Digital WD Elements 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN
Western Digital WD Elements SE 1 TB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive
Seagate Expansion 1 TB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive STAX1000102
LaCie Porsche Design P’9230 1 TB USB 3.0 Desktop Hard Drive 302001
They are all priced at around $100. But when you think about, if something were to happen, wouldn’t $100 be worth the peace of mind knowing that your pictures are safe?I also like having the DVD backup just in case your hard drive fails, but that usually doesn’t happen. I just can’t imagine not having the pictures of my babies anymore, or of my family. I take so many pictures it is almost like a journal for me!
What do you think? What do you do to protect your pictures and other files?
