You Scanned Them, Now What? Essential Steps for Organizing and Protecting Your Digital Photos
Mission accomplished! You've conquered the mountain of physical photos. They're scanned, digitized, and safe from leaky Buffalo basements and the ravages of time... or are they?
Digitizing is a massive step, but the journey to true, long-term photo preservation isn't quite over. Now comes the crucial phase: Organizing and Protecting your newly created digital archive. Skipping these steps is like rescuing treasure from a sinking ship only to leave it unguarded on the dock.
Think of organizing and protecting as the dynamic duo ensuring your scanning efforts weren't in vain. They guarantee your precious digital memories remain accessible, meaningful, and safe for generations to come.
Step 1: Tame the Chaos - Implement an Organization System
Chronological (Recommended): Top-level folders by Decade (1970s, 1980s), then subfolders by Year (1971, 1972) or Event (1985_Smith_Wedding). Makes finding things intuitive.
Thematic: Folders by broad category (Family_Branches, Holidays, WNY_Landmarks). Can work, but sometimes ambiguous.
Consistency is Key: Pick one system and stick to it!
Start with Date: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM for chronological sorting within folders.
Add Context: Include names, events, locations (1965-07-04_Jones_Family_Picnic_Chestnut_Ridge_003.jpg).
Be Consistent: Use the same format for all files.
Add tags within the file properties (or using photo software) for people (Grandma_Betty), places (Canalside_Buffalo), events (Birthday), etc.
This makes photos searchable across folders and filenames. Invaluable!
Step 2: Build the Fortress - Implement a Backup Strategy
This is NON-NEGOTIABLE. Digital files are vulnerable to hardware failure, accidents, theft, and disaster if they only exist in one place.
Embrace the 3-2-1 Rule: This is the industry standard for data protection.
3 Copies: Your main working copy + two backups.
2 Different Media: e.g., Your computer's hard drive + an external hard drive + cloud storage. Don't put all your eggs in one basket (or on one type of drive!).
1 Offsite Copy: Crucial! Protects against local disasters (fire, flood). Cloud storage/backup is ideal. An external drive stored at a relative's house across town also works (update it regularly!).
External Hard Drives: Essential for local backups. Get one (or two!) with enough space.
Cloud Backup Services (Backblaze, Carbonite, iDrive): "Set and forget" automated backup of your computer to the cloud (recommended).
Cloud Storage Sync (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive): Good for accessibility and provides an offsite copy, but less robust as a pure backup solution. Requires subscription for large libraries.
NAS (Network Attached Storage): Good for home network backups, often with drive redundancy, but still needs an offsite component.
Automate & Verify: Use backup software that runs automatically. Periodically test restoring a file to ensure backups are working!
The Synergy of Organizing and Protecting
An organized archive is easier to back up effectively (you know what folders contain important data).
Knowing your photos are securely backed up gives you peace of mind while you take the time to organize and add metadata.
Making it Easier from the Start
Quality Foundation: We provide clear, 600 DPI scans with included enhancements.
Initial Organization: We can often deliver files in folders based on your original batches, giving you a head start.
Fast Turnaround (~7 days): You get your files quickly, ready to organize and back up.
Don't let your digitization efforts stall after the scan. Take the essential next steps to organize your files logically and protect them rigorously with backups. Your Western New York family legacy depends on it!
Need the high-quality digital files to organize and protect?
Blog Post 29