Media backup
As we expand our image and media collection, we'll not only need large capacity hard drives, but also data backups. It's important to perform backups in case the original drive corrupts, or suffers a mechanical failure. Nothing is forever and even though the drive might be a premium brand, things can still go wrong, usually when you least expect it.
There's no point in backing up images, or your Elements Catalog, to the place where the originals are also stored—typically your computer's hard drive. If it becomes corrupted, everything is lost. Consider a large-capacity hard drive that is used only for backing up your data: images, music, Elements' Catalog, and so on. Most PCs have room for additional internal drives. If you use a Mac, you'd be better off buying an external hard drive.
If you are using a Mac, backing up your data is easy using a pre-installed Apple application called Time Machine. Windows users also have it easy because most quality external drives (such as Seagate and Western Digital) come with automated backup software included.
This software takes only a few moments to set up. Once done, you can forget it, because it automatically backs all your new material up every hour, day, or week (depending on how you initially set up its preferences). Another viable option is to back up to the cloud. In many ways this is the most secure option as those companies spend an awful lot more on data security than any individual photographer! Some cloud storage companies worth a look include Dropbox, Backblaze, Google Drive, Apple, Box, and Microsoft OneDrive.
Above: This is a standard desktop hard drive with a massive 8 TB storage capacity, of the type easily purchased online or from most good computer stores. This is the perfect solution for data backup. Devices are not expensive and come in a wide range of storage capacities—and if that fills up, it's easy enough to buy more to add to the library.
Left: Auto Backups. The two screenshots here show Western Digital's free auto backup software (available for Mac and Windows) at the top, and under that Apple's excellent Time Machine, an auto backup feature that comes preloaded on every Mac.
