Back up photo stick: I have thousands of photos on my computer so as a non techie when it crashed I feared the worst. Turned out the repair shop was able to save them. Now thinking I...

warrenm

I have thousands of photos on my computer so as a non techie when it crashed I feared the worst. Turned out the repair shop was able to save them. Now thinking I should get one of those photo sticks. Any thoughts or recommendations?

THANKS

Warren maurer

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

They are junk.

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

warrenm wrote:

I have thousands of photos on my computer so as a non techie when it crashed I feared the worst. Turned out the repair shop was able to save them. Now thinking I should get one of those photo sticks. Any thoughts or recommendations?

THANKS

Warren maurer

Forget the photo stick. Go out right this minute and buy two hard drives. Back up everything on your computer to both of them. Do this back up every week and keep those drives in separate places. You need a backup plan not a photo stick.
…Cam

warrenm

Wow! Thanks for the heads up

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

CamB wrote:

Forget the photo stick. Go out right this minute and buy two hard drives. Back up everything on your computer to both of them. Do this back up every week and keep those drives in separate places. You need a backup plan not a photo stick.
…Cam

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

Longshadow wrote:

Good advice.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

rck281 wrote:

They are junk.

Agreed.
Last I knew, they will look for and copy EVERY image on one's computer, including system and application images.

Best to learn the file system on the computer and how to move/copy files.

(Hopefully you have (or will have) a good filing structure for your images.)

warrenm

Sounds like a better plan. Thanks

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

The photo stick is programmed to find ALL the images on your computer.

You don't want ALL the images, only YOUR images.

There are lots of images embedded in software to display buttons, headers, backgrounds, etc. They are useless outside of the software that holds them.

The photo stick will just clog up your list of images with junk.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

DirtFarmer wrote:

The photo stick is programmed to find ALL the images on your computer.

You don't want ALL the images, only YOUR images.

There are lots of images embedded in software to display buttons, headers, backgrounds, etc. They are useless outside of the software that holds them.

The photo stick will just clog up your list of images with junk.

warrenm

Glad I asked before getting the stick ! Really appreciate the feedback

warrenm

Well I’m not all that computer savvy but it’s obvious the photo stick isn’t the answer. Any photo editing program you like?

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

warrenm wrote:

Well I’m not all that computer savvy but it’s obvious the photo stick isn’t the answer. Any photo editing program you like?

The second part of your question is like opening pandoras box. Everyone here has their favorite editing program. I'm thinking, for you, one step at a time. Get that computer backed up first then start looking at programs. There are many endless discussions about 'best programs' here on UHH.
...Cam

warrenm

You’re right about the backup and I’ll get that done. Truth is I don’t do much editing other than basic stuff such as cropping, etc. I’ve always liked the shot the way it was taken. just curious what fellow foto fans are using. Thanks for the response

jcboy3

warrenm wrote:

I have thousands of photos on my computer so as a non techie when it crashed I feared the worst. Turned out the repair shop was able to save them. Now thinking I should get one of those photo sticks. Any thoughts or recommendations?

THANKS

Warren maurer

I recommend a backup hard drive that's at least the size of your computer drive, but 50% larger is better. Get a full sized drive (3.5") and one that does not use Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology, as SMR drives will slow down to a crawl when backing up large amounts of data after the first full backup. Two is better, with a staggered backup schedule so you can recover files that have been corrupted or accidentally deleted.

Then, I recommend you get cloud backup storage and back up your critical files to an off site location for emergency access (in the event your house burns down, for instance).