Protecting Your Digital Photos

Protecting Your Digital Photos

Pictures are more than a visual representation of a moment in time. Pictures create a unique connection between our past and future generations.
To make your memories last more than a lifetime, follow these simple tips to let future generations enjoy your pictures.

Organize Your Photos
With today's digital cameras, it's easy to take a lot of photos. Organize your images in a way that makes it easy to find them in the future. Organize by categories, by date, by subject - use whatever method makes the most sense to you.
Organize each time you save your pictures to keep the task from becoming overwhelming.

Perform Regular Backups
Your images may be saved to your PC, but did you know that the average life span of a computer hard drive is only 5 years? Worse yet, they can fail without warning making you unable to get to your pictures.

To keep your memories safe, create backup copies of your image files on CDs, DVDs, or a second hard drive; or upload them to an online photo service for storage. For your most valued photos, high quality prints and photo books are a foolproof way to ensure your memories will endure despite changing technology.

Keep Current with Storage Technology
Digital storage technologies are constantly improving and evolving, often making older technologies obsolete and unreadable. Formats that were common in the 90's, such as the floppy disk are no longer supported on most PCs. Even current storage technologies such as CDs and DVDs may become unreadable over time due to chemical or physical degradation.
Watch the industry for technology developments and keep your files backed up using the current standards.

Source: Kodak