Photo How To

Safe storage practices may seem like a boring topic, until you lose a bunch of images that you worked so hard to create. Then you'll wish you had taken the time to store and back up your photographs properly as we've urged in the past.

You'll get another shot at this essential task today in the quick tutorial below from the popular Trav in the Bush YouTube channel. After carefully establishing this procedure once you'll find that it's very easy to maintain as you add more images to your library.

Trav is a successful bird photographer based in British Columbia, Canada who prides himself on creating relatable and educational content for inexperienced bird enthusiasts and others who shoot outdoors. The safeguard measures he recommends today are easy to emulate for novices and pros alike.

As he says, "these are our memories, and for some of us these images are our business." Trav begins with a discussion of best practices for memory cards, how he recommends handling them, and the first thing he does to transfer the files somewhere else. His first step is copying the photos to a solid state drive (SSD).

SSDs tend to be very fast (and expensive) and Trav prefers a compact model that can be tucked into a corner of a camera bag so it's available throughout his travels. The next step is a more substantial and permanent backup on a Hard Disc Drive (HDD) that never leaves home. An HDD is significantly slower than an SSD, but the benefits here are large storage capability at a more modest price.

Trav explains why he does his post-processing to images stored on multiple SSDs rather than on the "18TB Big Boy that I don't use for work." He also has a simple method for labeling the SSDs so he can tell what they contain with a quick glance.

A note of caution: Trav urges you to leave images on your memory card until they've been transferred to both the SSD and HDD. "Then, and only then, is it safe to clear out the card." In other words, your images are only safe if they're are stored in at least two places. Trav's simple advice will prevent you from encountering the horror stories you heard elsewhere from shooters that lost some or all of their hard-earned work. So get it done on an SSD and HDD ASAP.

Be sure to check out the Trav in the Bush YouTube channel, where there are many tips and techniques that will serve you well. We also recommend watching a tutorial we featured with another accomplished pro who provides a step-by-step beginners guide for capturing unique multiple-exposure photographs in the camera.