Data Backup Day

Geneabloggers has designated the first day of each month as Data Backup Day and all genealogists are urged to backup their files. I'd like to encourage everyone who treasures their photos to participate, not just genealogists. Have you backed up your photos and genealogy research data lately? What are you waiting for, a major data loss disaster to strike? If you haven't backed up recently I urge you to do so as soon as possible. If you are up to date on your backup congratulations! Now I'd like you to consider how you are backing up your photographs. Do you use CD's? Did you know that new research indicates that DVD's have a much longer shelf life than CD's. For this reason I recommend that any photo storage you have on CD's should be transfered to DVD. However, this does not guarantee complete safety for your photographs as DVD's can also break down over time and there is no consensus on how long a DVD will last. Some manufacturers say 100 years, other experts say no more than 20 years. For this reason I also use an online service to backup my photos. I use Photo Express, a local photo/scrapbook store that provides unlimited online storage. You can check out the Foto Depot section of their site here for uploading and backing up photos, you will have to sign up to access their services though. Don't rely on only one backup source for your most important photographs. For more information on backing up photos to DVD check out this Epic Edits blog.