Photo How To

All serious photographers study their craft and practice diligently to improve their skills. Hence, the thought of losing our precious images can best be described as a nightmare. The quick tutorial below will help wipe that thought from your mind.

If you don't back up your images, well, shame on you. But even if you do there's a chance you're doing in wrong. Today we'll introduce you to the "3-2-1 Backup Rule" that provides what one pro says is a "foolproof method to safeguard your photos."

Landscape photographer James Vooght posts weekly tutorials designed to help you become the best photographer you can be, but impressive skills don't mean much if your image library disappears in an instant. In this episode you'll learn the fast-and-easy method he recommends for preserving your visual memories.

The purposes of Vooght's 3-2-1 backup strategy goes beyond accidently deleting photos or losing everything due to a crash. It will also ensure that you have all the data and images you need in the appropriate locations so they're easy to find and readily accessible. These practical tips are just as important to beginners as they are for pros.

The first component of this technique is having three different copies of your images. This is really important to guard against the potential failure of an internal or external storage device,  as well as corrupted software. Knowing your imagery will always be intact provides great peace of mind.

Vooght's second tip involves saving three backups on at least two different devices or media. These could include saving to the Cloud, on a reliable hard drive, a network connection, and perhaps on DVDs (as well as on your computer for convenience). He explains how set up an external device in a way that your images are quickly available.

By now the concept should be clear: You don't want to be reliant on one piece of hardware that could possibly fail—thereby wiping out all your hard-earned work. The last part of Vooght's backup strategy represents the "1" in his 3-2-1 method, and it's possibly the most critical.

What Vooght is talking about here is the importance of "having at least one of your backups off-site." We don't want to get into a discussion of hurricanes, flooding, fires, tornados, or break-ins, but you get the idea.

After watching this video, and hopefully following Vooght's advice, take a look at his popular YouTube channel where you'll find much more of interest.

And don't miss the tutorial we posted earlier this month, revealing the best free Adobe software alternatives in 2023.