I used to add all of my pictures to Google Photos. When the service debuted in 2015, Google promised free, limitless cloud storage for pictures and movies. I beloved it as a result of it allowed me to entry my full library of reminiscences from any gadget and since it made these reminiscences really feel safe — even when I dropped my telephone in a lake or if my laptop computer died, I’d nonetheless have a duplicate of the whole lot saved within the cloud. But in 2021, Google Photos ended free limitless storage. The hundreds of pictures I had beforehand uploaded had been nonetheless there, however I could not add new recordsdata with out consuming up my valuable 15GB of free storage. If I needed more room, I needed to pay for a Google One subscription.None of the above was a shock. Even for an organization that makes as a lot cash as Google, providing free limitless storage is not a sustainable enterprise mannequin. All these pictures and movies had been taking over a whole lot of house, as a result of what’s saved within the cloud — in contrast to the title suggests — would not vanish into the sky. Those recordsdata exist on bodily servers right here on Earth. Essentially, they’re saved on another person’s laptop.And now I used to be being charged to make use of that cupboard space. I’ve all the time disliked the thought of paying for month-to-month subscriptions: $10 a month turns into $120 a yr, which turns into $1,200 after 10 years. And Google One wasn’t a subscription that I may simply cancel like Netflix or Spotify: If I finished paying, I would not be capable of add new pictures and movies, and I’d doubtlessly lose entry to all my recordsdata after two years.How may I again up all my reminiscences with out the cloud? Over the years, I developed a system for managing my recordsdata and retaining copies saved on an exterior arduous drive. While it takes a little bit extra work to switch the whole lot manually, it is a greater long-term resolution for me, and it would not depend on paying for a subscription service.Why I take advantage of an exterior arduous drive for storing pictures and moviesIf you do not wish to pay for cloud storage, chances are you’ll be tempted to get a telephone with a better storage capability. After Google Photos stopped letting me add recordsdata without cost, my first thought was that I’d reasonably pay extra up-front for a tool with a terabyte of storage, than pay indefinitely for a Google One subscription. But I quickly realized that even probably the most future-proofed 1TB telephone will ultimately have to be changed. And if I wish to carry over all my outdated recordsdata, my subsequent telephone might want to have at the very least as a lot storage as my present one, plus further capability for my future pictures and movies.To complicate this problem, picture file sizes proceed to develop. As telephone cameras enhance, the footage they seize ends in higher-megapixel recordsdata. My iPhone estimates every 12-megapixel picture is roughly 2MB and every 24-megapixel picture is 3MB. Video takes up much more house: a minute of 4K footage can simply exceed 1GB. At these charges, even a telephone with 256GB of storage (the brand new minimal for the iPhone 17 collection) can replenish quick.There’s some excellent news: Digital storage would not should be costly. There are loads of choices for exterior arduous drives, and you’ll simply get a 1TB solid-state drive for lower than $100. (For context, Apple costs $1,399 for the 1TB iPhone Air, a $400 premium over the $999 256GB mannequin.) Western DigitalThe greatest a part of utilizing an exterior drive is you can save recordsdata throughout a number of gadgets. You may preserve utilizing it lengthy after you’ve got upgraded to a brand new telephone. Generally, HDDs final three to 5 years, whereas SSDs final a minimal of 5 years. Using an exterior drive requires extra effort than backing up the whole lot to the cloud. You want to attend in your recordsdata to switch out of your gadget to the drive, after which kind the whole lot into folders. Then, after file switch is full, you should delete these recordsdata out of your telephone or laptop. Fortunately, as soon as you’ve got discovered the method and finished it a couple of occasions, it is fairly easy. Here’s how I do it.My course of for backing up picturesWhen I’m as a consequence of again up my pictures and movies (or my telephone is working low on storage), I wish to make two copies of every file: one for my laptop computer, and one for my exterior SSD.My MacE book runs fewer apps and has extra storage than my iPhone, so it receives a duplicate of all my telephone’s pictures and movies. The Photos app on my Mac additionally has a useful “Delete items after upload” checkbox, which I like to recommend choosing.Once all of the recordsdata have been transferred, I plug my exterior drive into my laptop and choose all of the pictures I wish to again up. The Photos app helpfully types the whole lot by add date. I can choose all the pictures from the most recent batch by clicking on the primary picture, holding the Shift key, after which clicking on the final picture. I then drag and drop them into the exterior drive. If I’ve a whole lot of pictures (over 500), I have a tendency to separate up this step and choose 200-300 at a time, or there might be some interruptions to the switch course of. Jeffrey Hazelwood/CNETI attempt to again up my pictures at the very least as soon as every month, or after an important day like a trip. Sometimes, to be on the protected facet, I’ll additionally make a backup earlier than a significant software program replace (like iOS 26). The course of has grow to be a manner for me to mark the tip of 1 interval and the start of one other. I used to wrestle with organizing the recordsdata on my exterior drive. However, I now merely create a folder for every batch of uploaded pictures and movies. I’ll label these folders both by the date (e.g. July 2025), or the event (Trip to London, Summer 2024).You might discover {that a} related system works for you. Maybe you may go for roughly frequent backups. Either manner, I extremely advocate this closing step: Make a backup of the backup on a separate exterior drive. That manner, if considered one of your drives fails, you may nonetheless have the opposite.I’m extra intentional in regards to the pictures I seizeOne problem with retaining all my recordsdata on exterior drives is that I do not all the time have entry to them. But I feel that is an affordable trade-off. I need not carry each single picture I’ve ever captured in my pocket. I can often discover the pictures I want on my Instagram web page or in my e mail inbox. I do go away sure pictures and movies on my telephone indefinitely, however solely ones that I must refer again to typically (a screenshot of my insurance coverage data, for instance). I additionally preserve some pictures that I take pleasure in seeing infrequently: a picture from a household reunion; a time out with buddies. It’s a curated assortment, a bit like these one or two pictures that folks used to maintain of their wallets. Jason Chun/CNETYes, it may be a problem to handle all these recordsdata on an exterior drive, but it surely’s nicely value the additional effort. Not solely do I spend much less cash in the long term, however I additionally really feel reassured: my reminiscences are saved on a bodily object that I personal, reasonably than being dumped onto another person’s laptop.Even if I did pay for Google One or one other cloud storage choice, I’d really feel as if another person owned my recordsdata. What if Google Photos makes one other change to its storage coverage or raises costs once more? I’d haven’t any selection however to go together with it. My reminiscences could be on the mercy of an organization. And what if Google shuts down sometime? Sure, it is one of many greatest corporations on the planet proper now. But that was additionally true of Kodak, not too way back.There’s yet one more sudden profit: By being chargeable for creating these handbook backups, I’ve grow to be extra intentional about capturing pictures within the first place. I’ve realized that I haven’t got to take an image of each single factor I see. Most of the time, I can simply keep in mind it.
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