Want some Photo Insurance?

Backup Photo Storage
is the answer

Unlike home or auto insurance that people take for granted, nobody has photo insurance. "But, how can you monetarily compensate me for photos that are irreplaceable?" you ask. Exactly. Nobody can.

Photographs are in a very unique position. Other physical possessions are insured for their value, or replacement cost.

Artwork gets a value appraised and can then be insured accordingly. But, what do we do with photographs whose real value far exceeds what it cost to produce, and yet is impossible (in most cases) to replace?

Since it's not realistic to place a value on the only high school graduation picture of your great grandfather, what do we do? We "insure it" by creating redundant backup storage. With digital images, it's rather easy; with prints it's slightly more complex.

Photo Storage for Digital Images

1. Do NOT keep backups of your images on your digital camera's memory card - It is far too expensive and impractical.

2. Decide whether to use a single redundant storage system (one duplicate of everything you have on your PC hard drive) or a double redundant backup system (either DVD back-ups plus a PC stand-alone drive, or a stand-alone drive AND an on-line service).

   Personally, I am most comfortable with 1 on-site PLUS 1 off-site backup. So unless you want to store your DVDs in a bank's safety deposit box, I would seriously consider an on-line service.

3. Start out using rewriteable Cd's until your digital image files exceed 3-4 GB. At that point, you probably want to go with the convenience of rewritable DVDs.

4. If you decide to use a single redundant storage system, please store the backups at a location other than where your PC is located.

   There's not much point in having a backup system if it and the primary can both be destroyed by the same event.

5. The ideal location for off-site photo storage is a bank's safety deposit box. Personally, I have over 40 GB in my box, and I have one of the smallest sizes available at the bank.

6. If using a double redundant storage system, it's OK to have one of the sets at the same location as your primary.

7. You don't need to use the same frequency with both sets of backups. For example, you can perform a backup on one photo storage every 2 weeks, while the other backup system is done every 2 months.

8. If it makes sense to you, use both Cd's and DVDs, rewritable and one-time-use-only.

9. Let's face it... making backups is not fun. It's for a very good reason, but it's still not too enjoyable.

   Therefore, decide how often you're going to do it, and stick to it; because I guarantee even if you don't procrastinate on anything else, you will when it comes to backing up photo storage.

10. As far as backup frequency, be reasonable. Even if you're adding 300 MB/week to your photo storage inventory, it's probably not necessary to backup every week.

    Conversely, backing up once every 6 months places too great a risk on your images. There's no magic number for frequency. Be reasonable, but once you decide on a number... like Nike says... "Do It!"

Photo Storage for Prints

1. If you have the negatives for your non-digital prints, visit a retail photo store and purchase storage material for your negatives. Then secure your negatives in a fire-proof box or bank vault. (Not quite as easy as digital photo storage, but still better than losing photos.)

2. If you do not have the negatives, scan the photos with as high a resolution scanner as practical. This can be done by most photo stores and labs, if you don't own a high-quality scanner. Once the prints are in digital form, refer to the "Top Ten Tips" above.

3. Note that many higher-quality scanners can also scan negatives (generally, it requires a separate negative adapter that comes with the scanner). There are also several scanners on the market that only scan negatives. For those would die if I lost these negatives pictures, consider backup digital photo storage, since negatives are more fragile and susceptible to damage.

4. Once a print is scanned, today's editing software can work wonders on restoring and removing scratches, cracks, and other defects. Color cast and tint can also be changed, if desired.

5. For your most valuable prints, keep a second set of prints archived at an environmentally appropriate off-site location. Of course, first follow the tips on proper storage.
   
   
6. Check out the offerings of photo album manufacturers. They generally have a wider product offering than simply albums. Individual photo holders ("folios") could be used for both display and storage for smaller-sized prints.