External Hard Drives
Magnetic storage refers to any storage that involves a hard disk. Although most computer manufacturers are moving toward solid-state drives (SSDs), the conventional hard disk is still in use, both in computers and in external and portable storage units. Magnetic storage is stable and holds a huge amount of data. Capacities are measured in units as great as terabytes. Among the drawbacks to external hard drives is their vulnerability to physical damage, such as from a fire or some other disaster. Also, magnetic drives rely on physical moving parts, making them more vulnerable to mechanical failure than SSDs. Many photographers who use hard drives store second drives at additional secure locations.
Solid-State Drives (SSDs)
SSDs use circuits and, sometimes, flash memory to store data. They lack moving parts and, therefore, are quieter, faster, and more reliable than conventional hard drives. These benefits come at a premium, but you might find them worth the extra cost when you consider longevity, security, and portability.
Secure Digital (SD) Cards
SD cards are tiny, rectangular disks that fit inside electronic devices and card readers. Available in various sizes, they can store enormous amounts of data. Their tiny size makes them portable, but this also makes them easy to lose or misplace. They have limited lifespans, specified as power-on/off cycles.
Optical Storage: DVDs and CDs
CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs are optical storage technologies. All are available in various R (read-only) and RW (rewriteable) formats:
RW discs are rewritable.R discs can be burned only once, but this also means they can’t be accidentally overwritten. On average, R discs are more stable over the long term than RW discs.
Here are a few capacities to keep in mind:
Standard CDs hold 700 MB of information, which translates to around 125 12-megapixel JPEG images, or 40 12-megapixel RAW images. Single-layer DVDs hold 4.7 GB of information, which is about six times more than a CD. Double-layer DVDs hold 8.5 GB of data. Blu-ray disks hold 25 GB of data on single-layer disks and around 50 GB on dual-layer disks.
Most disc-burning programs come with a verification option that is essential to follow, although it lengthens the process of burning a disc. During verification, the program checks that the information burned on the CD or DVD is the same as that data found on the computer’s hard drive. The major drawback here is that many computers (particularly laptops) no longer ship with CD/DVD drives. You might need to buy an external DVD drive to continue using DVDs and CDs after your next computer upgrade.
Cloud Storage
Uploading computer files to the cloud is a convenient and increasingly popular way to create backups. You can set these services to upload your photos to the internet automatically. Paid online backup services such as Carbonite continually back up your computer files to online storage. These services charge a monthly or annual fee, but they’re convenient in the long term. They also update the files that you change, and most store files even after you delete (accidentally or on purpose) them from your computer.
USB Flash Drives
Flash drives are extremely convenient, and they hold more files than ever before. Their small size makes them attractive for storing and sharing many images at once. As a long-term storage solution, however, they’re not the best option because they can be damaged or lost easily, and the information they hold is too easy to erase.
Know How Much Storage Capacity You Need
For the newest devices and services, storage capacities are typically measured in terabytes (TB), surpassing the gigabytes (GB) and megabytes (MB) of older technologies. 1 TB is slightly more than 1000 GB; put another way, a 1 TB storage solution holds 1000 times more data than a 1 GB. The number of photos you can store depends on their resolution and format. JPGs are compressed and consume less space, whereas photos shot in RAW format are uncompressed and larger. For example, assume you’re shooting at a 16-megapixel resolution. One TB of storage space holds about 183,000 JPG photos or about 18,300 RAW photos. If you don’t need that much space, consider solutions with capacities in the GB ranges.
