Changing Times: Keeping Your Photos and Important Documents Safe

Many of us can’t remember the last time we printed out a photograph taken on a digital device. Gone are the days when the majority of people had to wait eagerly while their rolls of film were being developed. Now most people have a significant collection of photos and important documents saved in phones, on hard drives, and on the desktop of their computers. While there’s less to grab in the event of a fire, it can be difficult to ensure that you’ll be able to save your photos if your computer or device crashes. Here are a few tips for ensuring the safety of your precious and memorable photographs.

Back Up Your Files

It’s easy to back up your computer or device. Choose a reliable cloud to store your photos and documents, such as Togglebox Cloud. You may even want to scan or photograph your children’s art work, passports, birth certificates, and other important information to have on file in case a disaster happens and you need to be able to access the items. It may help to take some time to organize the files if they aren’t already easily accessible. Organize photos in folders according to year, and important documents by the name of the person they belong to. Keep photos and important documents separate. If you have lots of old photos before the digital age, take an afternoon or to and recruit one of your children to help scan and save them into the cloud. This would also be a good way to share old family photos with siblings and cousins without risking losing your originals.

Create a Back Up System

We all know it’s important to back up the files, but actually getting around to doing it is another story. If you have trouble remembering to do it, it’s important to get yourself on a schedule of backing everything up periodically. Create an alert in your calendar, or a physical trigger to remind you to stop and do a backup. The alert in your calendar may be every other week or once a month. If you sit down to pay bills once a month, it might be good to train yourself to perform this other important maintenance activity at the same time. Even if you want to procrastinate and put it off, make it a priority. You’ll be glad you did in the event that your computer crashes, which happens more often than we care to consider.

Back Up Music                 

If you have a large music collection, this could also be an excellent thing to back up.  You don’t want your favorite tunes to go missing or worse case scenario, disappear. Save copies of all those favorite albums in case you have problems accessing them on your computer, MP3 player, or phone at another time. It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to information storage, and finding a secure location where you can store your important files is very important in our ever-changing world. Keep your files safe.