Storing your digital photos can be a daunting task with the number of different options available. One of the most significant issues with digital images is data loss, this happens typically when all the files are kept on a single computer. Hard drives do unfortunately crash and having all your photos on one could mean you may lose them all, this is when a safer storage method is needed. Storing your photos on your computer’s main hard drive is never a good idea as this hard drive is continuously working which will lower its lifespan. Hard drives only generally last between 4-6 years which is not a very long time but there are plenty of other alternatives to secure the safety of your images.
There are 2 types of storage – local and remote. Local backup is exactly what it says, this is when your storage device is physically located near you, and remote storage is also known as cloud storage. In this article we will be talking about local storage.
Local storage can be classed as something as simple as a USB flash drive to a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) device. USB Flash drives are handy but not greatly reliable and are also easy to lose so do not make reliable long-term storage solutions. External Hard Drive works the same as a USB Flash Drive but with a more reliable hard drive and as they are only connected when needed they are not continuously spinning so have a much longer life span. External SSD (Solid State Drive) drives although more expensive and do not come in sizes as large as conventional hard drives are even more reliable as backup devices as they have no moving parts.
The best local storage solution is a RAID Array. A RAID has to have a minimum of 2 disks this allows the RAID to store a copy of all your files on 2 disks automatically, although your computer sees it as 1. What makes this the safest option is that if a drive fails you still have a full backup on the secondary drive, so when the warning light appears all you have to do is to take out the faulty drive and replace it with another one the RAID will then automatically start writing to the new drive keeping all your data safe. Another feature of some RAID’s is that they can work independently of a computer and use your local network, allowing all your family to access the device for their storage, these are referred to as NAS (Network Attached Storage). Many NAS’s have a lot of handy features, they can be used as a photo library that can be accessed on your phone anywhere you have a data connection, as backup devices for your phone, and even as storage and control for CCTV systems. There are 2 main NAS manufacturers, there are Synology and QNAP both of these offers low and high-end models but neither come with hard drives, for them, we recommend Seagate drives. These drives have a very good track record for reliability and they also make external drives of all sizes to suit for needs.