A Definitive Guide on Keeping Your Digital Photos Safe

Digital photography has become quite popular today because of the trends in social media, blogging, and digital marketing. However, if you are a professional, or simply treasure your photos, then you can take different measures to safeguard them along with the equipment. The following are some of the things you want to keep in mind:

Insurance

There is no denying that losing a top-end DSLR camera can bring your photography career or hobby to a standstill, which is something you don’t want at any cost. So, you may want to get your camera insured by Lemonade Renters Insurance or another decent insurance company as more often than not, that would be the only thing protecting your precious equipment from physical damage, water damage, theft, etc.

Hardware Protection

Keep your camera covered and protected from humidity, water, and extreme hotness/coldness. When not in use, secure the equipment in a backpack or the proper gear to protect it from accidental drops and bumps. Also, always use top-quality memory cards for saving your photos.

Google Apps

Google Apps is one other thing that you can use to protect your photos. It is one of the most popular cloud suites used around the world and since it is easily affordable, even budding entrepreneurs in domains like graphic design and photography are able to use it without hurting their cash flow.

Google Apps’ cloud storage system allows you to store all kinds of files including photos, videos, audio files, documents, etc. on Google Drive. Plus, it also offers a collaborative environment in which any user can access these files from an approved Google account remotely.  To give assurance of storage reliability Google also offers a robust backup and disaster recovery system- a must for professionals like photographers.

If you rely on G Suite a lot for your photography business and to save all your photos, high-quality templates, and project files, then it’s important that you know a few things about its data retention policy, which are:

• The Trash folder in the G suite gets automatically emptied after every 30 days.
• Files once deleted from the Trash folder cannot be recovered.
• If files are deleted by users either on-purpose or accidentally then they can’t be recovered.

File corruption and deletion issues aside, cyber-attacks are a major concern that G Suite Users have to think about. The thing is that your docs and files on Google Storage are only as safe as your Google account. If someone gets access to your account, then your data is at their mercy. However, Google does make it difficult for hackers to succeed in their endeavors in many ways. For starters, it allows you to activate a two-factor authentication process which is more difficult to break in comparison to the traditional process. Secondly, it also encrypts your data when moved internally, including the metadata itself.

The following are some of the things that you can do to increase data protection when using G Suite:

• Enable two-step verification feature. With this, the user will have to provide additional information apart from entering the password itself, such as a code that is being sent to a registered phone number, or on the mobile app. This adds an additional layer of security.
• Install Google Drive for Desktop. With this, you can create a dedicated folder on your computer and drop the files you want to store on the cloud in it. These files are automatically synced with your cloud storage. Since these files are actually stored physically on your local disk too, the chances of data loss and corruption when syncing are quite less.
• Start Using Google Vault. Google Vault is a storage service offered by Google which gives you a number of features such as drive file searching, email archiving, exporting chats, and audit reports.

Prevention of File Corruption

Your digital photos, in the end, are data that can be easily corrupted. So, by being careful with how you handle this data, you can prevent corruption and protect your photos easily. The following are a few things you can keep in mind for that:

• Allow your computer system to finish photo-editing tasks. Interruption or abnormal shutting down programs can lead to image corruption.
• Ensure that your computer has uninterrupted power supply as sudden failure can also lead to hard disk damage
• Keep backups of your files in different locations, which also brings us to another question:

Can You use Google Drive as a Backup?

While you can use Google Storage as your
primary backup, it is better not to. This is because Google Drive doesn’t
qualify as an actual backup. It lacks many online backup features that are only
found in standard backup systems.  For
instance, its data retention period is quite limiting. Your deleted files can
only be recovered within 30 days after the deletion. However, an ideal backup
system stores your files indefinitely, or as long as not deleted manually. On
the Google system, your files can also be deleted by a disgruntled employee.
With an online backup service provider, however, your backup files are only
accessible to the MSP and thus safe.

All in all, the cloud storage system offered by Google is quite good for most photographers and small business owners. However, if you want your files to be safe and secure at all times then you must invest in an actual full-fledged backup system.

Bottom Line

Digital photography has made our lives a lot easier and simpler. However, digital photos are more susceptible to corruption or loss compared to physical photos. So, be sure to remember all the points above, and you won’t have to worry about a thing.

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