How to Backup Your Priceless Photos While Traveling |Travel Tech Gadgets

Mar 26, 2018

How to Backup Your Priceless Photos While Traveling

On March 31st, it is the World Backup Day. It is a reminder to make sure you back up all of your important data be it on a computer, phone, or any other electronic device

Did you know:
30% of people have never backed up

It's tragic when your phone is lost or stolen while you're on vacation, and it happens to contain thousands of pictures you took on your holiday.

What's the best way to backup my photos while I'm on the road?

» The simplest and easiest way to ensure you never lose any of your photos is to sign up for an automatic photo backup service, which will store your images in the "cloud." It doesn't matter which cloud service you use. There are several. Apple users may opt for iCloud. There's also Google Photos, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive, and even Facebook.
But there is one big caveat to using the "clouds". Backing up to these services requires that you have a data connection, and roaming overseas can get costly. So make sure you're only backing up pictures while using Wi-Fi.

Cloud services:
– Google Drive (up to 15 GB)
– Microsoft OneDrive (up to 5 GB)
– Dropbox (up to 2 GB)
– Apple iCloud (up to 5 GB)
– Amazon’s Cloud Drive (unlimited storage for Amazon Prime members)

» If Internet access is too pricey or you have security and privacy concerns about storing all your images in a cloud service, you can use a portable hard drive that connects to your phone via Wi-Fi or some other short-range wireless technology to transfer files. It is a great lightweight alternative. To transfer your files from card to hard drive you will need a portable card reader. For Apple devices, you can get widely available Lightning to Card Camera readers or Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit.

» You could also just take your laptop, or get a cheap netbook, and back up pictures to it, which is likely what you do at home.

For best results, use both. Using both a portable hard drive and automatically storing images in a cloud service will ensure you don't lose any of your priceless memories from your vacation.

» Some cameras have dual card slots, such as the D810 and 5DS R, and can automatically write the images you take to multiple cards simultaneously. This is perhaps the best way to handle backups while traveling since the work can be done without any additional steps. However, you have to make sure that you keep the camera safe and with you as both cards are within the same location.

» And leading from above, make sure to bring a few SD cards with you on your travels as they create extra storage options, take one with you and keep the other in the room with transferred photos. Memory cards are relatively cheap these days, and having a few on hand for making copies can only benefit you. It is best to travel with multiple smaller cards, rather than a few larger one such as 128GB. You can fill up the smaller cards and then transfer to larger. And if you lose one or it stops working, you will not lose as many photos.

Additional travel tips:
» Before you leave home, make sure you have enough memory on your phone. Delete photos that have already been backed up to the cloud or your computer, as well as digital books you're not reading and music you're not listening to. And uninstall nonessential apps.
» When using Wi-Fi to send your pictures into the cloud service, set it up to transfer at night while you sleep in your hotel. The Wi-Fi network will likely not be overtaxed then, and you'll wake up knowing all your pictures are safe and sound.