Save your Photographs from Disaster

First let me start by saying I am obsessed with picture taking. It may be because at the age of 8 I lost my mom and after she passed there were not many photos of me. So as I got older I always had a camera and I took pictures of everything. Of course when my kids were born I was even more obsessed. I would take so many photos develop them, make doubles, put one set in the album and the other to give away and frame. Then came the digital camera - the printing stopped and now they are all on the computer - I must have no joke - over 6GB worth. We currently store them on an networked attached server - so they are safe from computer failure and stored separate from our personal computers..But what if there was a fire?

My husband fixes computers for friends and family. The first thing always asked is "Can you save my Pictures?" Why do they ask that, because photos are irreplaceable. Once gone they are gone you cannot get them back again.

So what happens if there is a fire?

YES - It will not be easy, but there are ways you can protect your photographs from fire and other disasters. You need to have back up. If you are like me you have tons of printed pictures and old negatives as well. Of course there is also all those digital photos that are on your computer too. So I will talk about the ways you can get started to back them up and save them from disaster. Back up is the key.

This will take time to do, but the first order of business to start backing up your printed photographs is to start scanning them and turn them digital. Yes this is a long process, one that I have not done myself. BUT if you are wanting to save these this is the way to go. You will need a good scanner, lots of time, a DVD burner and archival DVDs.
What you will be doing is scanning them and backing them up on DVD's, BUT you will make 2 copies of each and either store your second copy in a safety deposit box or give a copy to a relative to hold for you.
There are companies out there that can do this for you, but you have to in trust them with all of your precious photographs - you can also choose to back them up to online photo storage services as yet another option.

One that I wanted to know myself since there has been many conflicting answers to this. So I called The Sentry Safe Company to ask them direct. The answer is yes, BUT there are only 2 models they carry at this moment that are rated for keeping Photographs and Negatives safe from fire with a 1 hour time limit. It is important to note that every item has a Flash point and Photos and Negatives have a very low Flash point. The other thing about this is that storage room is very limited in the boxes so you will not be able to fit many in the box itself. You must always read the description very carefully when choosing a Fire Safety Box to what it is rated for. Again the best way to store any photos in a Fire Safety Box is to back them up onto CD's, DVD's Hard Drives, Memory Sticks etc.. then store them into a box rated for that type of media.

Here's a solution that is more along the lines of "high level" backup , or at least it used to be. The cost of hardware has dropped so much that what used to be considered unattainable solutions have become quiet affordable. This is one example I'm going to be implementing shortly. As you may have read or heard hard drives are the most stable place to keep our digital information ( that's why we use them in our computers) but like any mechanical device , it's not a question of if they're going to fail it's a question of when. Currently with today's advancement in technology hard drives are built so well that its almost unheard of, that a hard drive will fail before five years and most last much longer than that. Now that is running in a computer almost all the time. Now imagine how long that same hard drive will last if you were able to just turn it on backup your data and turn it off , as long as the hard drive is off its not wearing so your data will last virtually forever, there are quite a few products out there that make this a very affordable and easy process , there called hard drive docks , there priced anywhere from 20 to 60 dollars, they vary in connection options from usb 2.0 , fire wire , esata or all of the above. I recommend a fast connection like fire wire or esata, but for most people usb 2.0 should work just fine , They also except 2.5 or 3.5 inch hard drives , these are purchased separately , and the size of the hard drive really depends on your back up needs, although it is a progressive process so you will want to get the largest you can afford, some of these docks also have features like one touch back up. And most of the units I've looked at will work with any backup software you may have, although you do not need to use software if you do not choose to, me and my wife like to keep our digital photos backed up so I simply drag our photo folder over to our network attached storage device and I'm done , but that's a hard drive that's always accessible and the more we stand to lose the more I want something for the long haul. I hope this helps some of you make a more informed decision, good luck.

Vantec NexStar NST-D100UFS Hard Drive Dock - 2.5"/3.5" SATA to USB 2.0, eSATA, Firewire 400
Click on the Photo to Order
The Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock is a complete and easy way to add or swap hard drives to your computer. It gives you the flexibility of connecting any SATA I/II hard drive to your computer via USB 2.0, eSATA, or Firewire connection without opening up your computer case or installing into an enclosure. Simply just insert any 2.5" or 3.5" SATA I/II hard drive into the NexStar Hard Drive Dock and you are ready to transfer, copy, or backup files. Quick and easy, the Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock is the perfect solution to access your hard drive in seconds.

For more Hard Drive Docks Visit Tiger Direct for great Deals.

This lens is another RocketMom assignment that has been so much fun. Thanks RocketMoms I would not have done this without all of you!!!

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