Suspenders and Belt Backups to Save Priceless Family Photos

Family photos and documents are so precious! Please consider multiple backup methods (suspenders AND a belt and maybe more) to keep digital versions safe. (I love archival boxes to keep paper-based genealogy safe and organized.)

Eleven years ago, I began backing up my digital images by storing in the cloud and burning and storing CDs every few months. Remember, ordinary built-in hard drives weren't as large as they are today. I worried not only about the size of my storage capacity but also about potential computer failure, which could cause me to lose my precious photos, both old and new.

For cloud storage, I created digital folders clearly marked with family names. For the CDs, I wrote the contents and date on each disc and slipped it into a CD wallet, filed chronologically. When I had an outside service scan 35mm slides, I filed those CDs as well. And I arranged for automatic cloud backups daily at 3:30 pm, in addition to hourly Time Machine backups by my Mac to an external hard drive on my desk. Can't have too many backups, right?

Now I'm backing up my backups with another portable hard drive, this one dedicated exclusively to digitized genealogy photos and documents. I feel more comfortable with a suspenders-and-belt approach. If one backup is inaccessible due to technological changes or hardware glitches or any other reason, I should be able to access one or more of the other backup technologies.

Don't get me wrong. CD storage technology is very good, but it won't last forever, especially if I have to read the CDs a number of times. Storing all those CDs takes more space than the newest portable hard drives like the one pictured at top, which is only a bit larger than a deck of cards. 

The other, more pressing problem with CDs is that new computers don't always come with a built-in CD slot. I bought an external CD read/write unit last year, but it gets balky with newer operating systems. Ouch! I can't risk being unable to read all those CDs when a cousin asks for a certain old family photo (as happened this holiday weekend).

Before 2019 arrives, I'll have all those CDs copied and stored in easily-identified digital files on my new "Marian's photos" hard drive. The new drive was very affordable and with 2 terabytes, there is plenty of room for family photos, old and new. Note: hard drives have a limited life span as well, which is why getting a new one every few years is probably a good idea, especially as prices come down and storage capacity gets bigger but drives become tinier and more portable.

So please make a backup plan for your backups to keep family history safe in multiple ways! As family historians, descendants are counting on us to preserve those old photos and documents for the long term. It's our priceless heritage we're protecting.