Are your photos safe on your memory cards or Digital storage mediums? No system is entirely flawless; so is the case with the digital images stored in memory cards and Hard Disks. So, I will share some tips which can help you to protect Digital photos.
As a photographer, you will have to put lots of effort, time and money in capturing those lovely moments. So, you don’t want to end up in a corrupt image file later.
How to Protect Digital Photos?
1. Buy Good Quality Memory Cards
I recommend you to invest in good quality memory cards. So, what are good quality memory cards?
Memory cards are one of the essential parts of digital photography. So, you should ensure that you use memory cards from well-known manufacturers.
SD card, Compact Flash card, C Fast card, XQD card, and micro SD card are some of the most commonly used types of memory cards.
So, whenever you are purchasing memory cards, make sure that you buy memory cards from good Brands like Lexar, Kingston, and SanDisk.
2. Check Online for any Known Issues
These memory cards will come in many series. Always make sure that the memory card you choose matches with the writing speed of your camera.
Before making the purchase, it would be a good idea to check online for any known issues with the card you are planning to buy. You can Google it to get the reviews or ask the question in any good photography forums.
3. Multiple Backups
Whenever you are storing the final files after the shoot, I highly recommend creating multiple storage backups.
You should store the image files in at least in two separate external portable Hard Disks.
These two Hard disks should be from two separate companies. It is to ensure that you don’t suffer a data loss due to that particular series or brand of hard drives.
You should keep the two Hard Disks in two separate places. It is to ensure that the data is safe even in the case of fire or other natural calamities.
4. Create an Online Photo Storage Back up
Nowadays, you have the luxury of storing your photos in cloud storage facilities. Both paid and free online storage options are available.
I recommend creating a third back up of your photos online. Free online photo storage will come with size restrictions.
So, if you are not looking for a paid back up, then you must only store selected image files (important images) in online storage.
5. Invest in a Good Memory Cards Carrying case
When you are doing a photo shoot, you would be carrying additional memory cards in your pocket.
Don’t drop the memory card just like that in your pockets or with the plastic casing which comes along with the memory cards.
If you bend or fall, then the memory cards may get damaged due to the mechanical stress. So, make use of a reliable memory card carrying case which can store multiple memory cards at a time and can go inside your pocket.
If you are into Nature and Wildlife photography, then invest in one which is rugged as well as waterproof.
6. Take the Dual Slot Advantage
Most of the medium and high-end DSLR and mirrorless cameras come with Dual memory slots. Whenever you are doing any important photo shoots, make use of this dual slot advantage.
Use the same capacity memory cards on both the slots and make the second memory card as the backup copy of the first one. So, whenever you record a picture on the first memory cards, the same file gets written to the second one too.
Thus, you can ensure that the photos are safe even if one of the memory cards gets corrupt.
7. In-Camera Formatting
You will be either connecting the camera to a computer or taking out the memory card from the camera to transfer the photos.
After transferring photos, you will have to format the memory card to free the space.
Each camera manufacturer will have a specific folder structure to store the image files into the memory card. So, I recommend formatting the memory card in the camera rather than using a computer for formatting.
If you format using the computer, then your card may not get formatted properly. It may result in erroneous writing of the image file on to the memory card.
8. Don’t carry too many Memory Cards
Carrying too many memory cards when you are doing photography will not be a good idea. It will create lots of confusion like which one is full and which one is empty.
So, instead of carrying multiple memory cards with small capacity, take cards with higher capacity. Make sure that the camera supports the high capacity memory cards.
For example, instead of carrying Eight 16 GB memory cards, take four 32 GB or two 64 GB memory cards. Lesser the memory cards, easier to maintain.
Conclusion
These tips will help you to protect your digital photos. Thus, you can minimize your data loss.
If you have any additional tips to protect digital photos, which you have found useful, feel free to share it in the comments section below.