Dave, a seasoned IT professional with a decade of experience under his belt, often shares a valuable piece of advice: “Anything stored in one place is something you don’t mind losing.” Having witnessed numerous investment bankers lose crucial documents over the years, his words carry weight and serve as a vital reminder to back up your photos while traveling.
However, as a stubborn traveler, I don’t appreciate being dictated to. So when a fellow globetrotter criticized my backup system as horrendous, I made it my mission to prove him wrong.
In a devastating turn of events, I found myself facing the loss of all my precious photos from my Guatemalan adventure.
Witnessing the sunrise at Tikal, one of the most enchanting experiences of my life, is a vivid memory that I can only relive through the lens of my recollections.
It’s a question that haunts many travelers: how did I lose those precious photos? In my case, it was due to leaving my SD card in my MacBook for far too long. Disaster struck when I accidentally dropped my laptop, causing it to land on the SD card and subsequently shattering it across the room.
Farewell to all the cherished memories captured in photos that I failed to back up while on my adventures.
I’ll never forget the time my hard drive broke after carelessly tossing it into the depths of my backpack, resulting in the devastating loss of several months’ worth of cherished photos.
There I was, having accidentally dropped my phone in the toilet, only to realize that I had just lost two weeks’ worth of cherished travel photos.
As a seasoned traveler, I’ve experienced my fair share of photographic mishaps. While I may appear nonchalant on the surface, the truth is that losing precious travel memories is absolutely devastating. Each time I’ve lost photos, I’ve been heartbroken. As a professional journalist for a travel blog, I cannot stress enough the importance of backing up your photos while on the go.
After much trial and error, I’ve discovered a foolproof backup system tailored for those laid-back, hopeful travelers who, like myself, never think disaster will strike their precious memories.
Discover Why Crashplan is Essential for Your Travel Adventures
Crashplan has become a must-have for my travel toolkit, and I cannot emphasize enough how highly I recommend it.
For just $5 a month, Crashplan provides an online backup service boasting unlimited storage capacity. Setting it apart from competitors like Dropbox, Crashplan seamlessly backs up your entire laptop in the background, requiring no effort on your part.
It’s incredibly easy to get started with backing up your photos while traveling. All you need to do is download the app, install it, and choose whether you want to back up all of your files or just specific folders. Once that’s done, the app will continuously run in the background, checking for new files every few minutes and providing support when needed. Plus, it offers some of the strongest file encryption available, ensuring that your memories stay secure no matter where you roam.
In the unfortunate event that your laptop gets damaged, stolen, or you inadvertently delete an important file, fret not! With Crashplan, you can easily retrieve and download any essential data you need while on-the-go.
Here’s an added bonus: if you happen to delete a photo from your laptop, perhaps because you’ve taken so many that your hard drive is full, fear not – Crashplan won’t remove it from their storage. Your precious memories will remain securely in the cloud, ready and waiting for you to access them whenever you wish. This sets Crashplan apart from most other online backup services, which typically delete files 30 days after they’ve been removed from your laptop.
Imagine if, tomorrow, every piece of technology I own were to be stolen – my laptop, phone, camera, SD cards, and external hard drive. While it would certainly be an inconvenience to replace everything, I wouldn’t be completely out of luck. Thanks to Crashplan, I could simply purchase a new laptop and restore all my data from the cloud. Admittedly, it might take a while to complete the process, particularly if I don’t have access to a high-speed internet connection. However, eventually, my new laptop would contain exactly the same content as the old one, including all of those precious travel photos.
The only drawback of using Crashplan is the time-consuming initial backup process, which can take several weeks with a sluggish internet connection. I first experienced this when I was island-hopping in Thailand, where it took nearly six weeks to complete my initial backup. To avoid this delay, it’s highly recommended to sign up for the service before embarking on your journey, allowing you to backup all your files in advance.
Frankly, Crashplan has been one of the best investments I’ve ever made. As someone who frequently forgets to back up my files, and often gives up on the process when I do remember, this service has been a lifesaver. The fact that Crashplan continuously operates in the background, safeguarding my precious memories, provides me with an immense sense of relief and peace of mind.
In Addition to an External Hard Drive
Crashplan is an excellent backup solution for safeguarding your photos in case of a lost laptop or accidental deletion. However, it may not be as effective in remote destinations with limited internet access, such as Burma, where I found myself struggling to download just three emails over a 14-hour period.
When you’re constantly on the go and can’t rely on fast internet speeds, it’s wise to invest in an external hard drive to store all your precious travel photos. This ensures that you can easily access your memories at any time, even when an internet connection isn’t available, making an external hard drive an essential tool for preserving your travel experiences.
Another option to consider while traveling is to bring multiple SD cards and avoid deleting any photos. When a card becomes full, simply swap it out for a new one. I personally use a compact, affordable case to store my SD cards, ensuring they stay dry and secure in my backpack during my adventures.
To ensure I never forget, I’ve set a monthly reminder on my laptop to prompt me to back up all my cherished travel photos to an external hard drive. This simple trick has saved me from potential heartache and loss of irreplaceable memories.
