World Backup Day 2023

 

World Backup Day 2023
by Jen White

  • Are you prepared in the case of a computer crash? Would you lose important files?
  • What if your phone was lost or stolen? Would you still be able to retrieve your contacts and photos?
  • How about when you upgrade Photoshop Elements? Can you quickly find your most valued third-party files for re-installation?

If any of these questions create anxiety because of your lack of preparedness, read on.

http://www.worldbackupday.com/en/

World Backup Day is recognized on March 31. This annual reminder is the perfect time to take inventory and make sure your bases are covered in the event of a catastrophe.

Your bases are probably very similar to mine.

  • My computer(s)
  • My iPhone — photos and contacts
  • My Software — Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

Let’s take a look at what I (and my expert friends) do to stay safe.

 

I Back Up My Computer

The single biggest thing you can do to survive in a digital world is to back up your computer on a regular basis.

This is what I do:

  • I keep an external hard drive (EHD) plugged into my computer. My computer (using Time Machine on a Mac) backs up my computer every day. When I travel, I take my EHD along since it contains a backup of all my files… including scrapbook kits!
  • I subscribe to Backblaze. Backblaze is set to back up my computer online, every day. This backup is mostly in the event of a fire or other natural disaster. For me, the price is worth my peace of mind.
  • Additionally, I store a copy of all my photos and scrapbook pages (JPGs) on Amazon Photos. Amazon Photos gives Prime members unlimited photo storage and 5GB of video storage. Non-Prime members get 5GB of combined photo and video storage for free. I use Amazon Photos as an extra backup of my most prized possessions, and it also allows me to easily share my photos with family.

Here’s more info that may help:

Additional ideas from Jenifer:

  • The first thing I do is I pay the small 9.99 monthly fee to have 2 TB of iCloud Drive space. Because I have all Apple products, it syncs automatically and does all the work in the background. It’s easy and this way, it’s one fee for backing up both my laptop files and my phone photos.
  • The second thing I do is use is external hard drives. I have more than one because they can fail, so I try to keep two to three with all of the same files on it so that I have a backup to my backup.

Additional ideas from Syndee:

  • I save all files to a mirrored dual-drive EHD, which means that for every file I save, it’s also saved to the other drive. If one drive fails, the system will still run and keep the mirrored files safe.
  • I also have a subscription to Backblaze so that my files are saved. I love it because it runs in the background, and I don’t even have to think about it.
  • I also have copies of all my important photos in iCloud.

Additional ideas from Julie:

  • For the longest time, I had no backup anywhere. I just kept personal photos and digital scrapbooking files on an external hard drive, but that was it. I was tempting fate and I knew it but hadn’t done anything about it.
  • 5 months ago, I subscribed to Backblaze and whew, what a relief! Now I can rest easy knowing all my important personal files are backed up. It runs in the background, so I don’t even have to think about it.
  • My subscription to Microsoft 365 comes with 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. I decided to use it to backup all my Digital Scrapper Instructor files. Now, my professional & personal files are secure.

 

I Back Up My iPhone

If you’re like me, your phone contains your most complete address book and an assortment of priceless photos.

  • Is your phone set to automatically backup? If you’re not sure, call your service provider and they can help you figure it out. Knowing your information is saved will go a long way to creating peace of mind.
  • Phones (as well as thumb drives and memory cards) are not a reliable source for photo storage. These things are easily corruptible or lost.

This is what I do:

  • My iPhone is set to back up to iCloud. Because I don’t keep music or photos on my phone, I can get away with the free plan.
  • I set a reminder once a week to transfer all my iPhone photos onto my computer. Then, I delete them from my phone. At the same time, I also transfer photos from my cameras to my computer where the images get renamed and tagged.

Additional ideas from Jenifer:

  • For my photos I take with my Canon mirrorless R6 camera, I edit the photos using Camera Raw, and then save the edited version as a separate JPG. Once I have the JPGs saved to a new folder, I Airdrop those JPGs to my phone, so that they automatically get put into my Photos app. This means the photos are saved in more than one place, so I should always have them backed up in more than one place as well. It’s not necessary, but it gives me peace of mind.

Additional ideas from Syndee:

  • All my iPhone photos are saved to iCloud. We pay extra per month (it’s only $2.99) to have more space, since my kids tend to take a ton of photos and iCloud lets you have family sharing.
  • We copy important photos to an EHD so that we have duplicate copies.

Additional ideas from Julie:

  • My iPhone backs up to iCloud. I use the free plan because I don’t keep a lot of data or photos on my phone.
  • I remind myself monthly to move all my iPhone photos onto my EHD.

 

I Prepare for Photoshop (re)Installation

In order to stay current, every Autumn I upgrade my Photoshop Elements program to the latest version.

The Problem
My 3rd party files (actions, brushes, etc) do not transfer over during an upgrade.

This is what I do:

  • I created a folder in my computer’s main file system called PS Extras.
  • In that folder, I have folders for Actions, Brushes, Patterns, Styles, etc.
  • Each folder contains files I want to keep collected and easily accessible.

For example: My Actions folder contains copies of the action sets from many of the classes I’ve taken. My Brushes folder contains copies of brush sets from my favorite kits and ones I’ve downloaded from the web.

So, every time I upgrade to the latest version of PSE, all my favorite 3rd party files are in one place.

Note: I also keep a folder of Fonts, but those are not loaded into my program, instead they are installed on my computer.

 

So, what’s your plan of action? Do you have more to add? I’d love to hear about it.

Whatever you do, be sure to get your files backed up! You’ll be SO glad you did.

 

_____________________________________________


Author: Jen White, Owner of Digital Scrapper | Contact Us
All comments are moderated.
Please allow time for your comment to appear.


Comment (1)

  1. Shirl/Grambie

    I keep EHDs for backup. I joined Backblaze earlier this year and the backups were effortless. Jen, I will send you a message.

    September 1, 2023 at 10:52 am Reply
Leave your thought here


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.