What Are Your Photos Worth?

A few days ago, I had one of those moments every photographer dreads.

My main hard drive died.

At first, I didn’t realize it had happened. Lightroom still showed all my folders,

collections, and those familiar little thumbnail previews, so everything looked

normal. It wasn’t until a few days later that I discovered the truth—the drive

that held more than 5 terabytes of photographs was gone.

Years of images. Portraits. Events. Memories. Work I can never recreate.

My first thought was simple: I’ve lost everything.

Then I remembered something.

For years I’ve been paying for online backups.

I contacted Backblaze and requested a recovery. They shipped me a hard

drive containing my files. I purchased a replacement drive for my computer

and started restoring everything.

What a relief.

The truth is, my failed drive was more than 10 years old. Hard drives are

mechanical devices—they don’t last forever. We know that intellectually,

but somehow we always think ours will survive just a little longer.

This experience also reminded me of stories from people in Paradise who

lost homes, family history, and irreplaceable photographs in the fire.

Sometimes disaster doesn’t give us warning.

There is a cost to being prepared. In my case, backup service runs about

$18 per month for two computers (about $9 per month for one computer).

But when I asked myself, What are my photos worth?

The answer was easy.

They’re priceless.

If you don’t currently have a backup plan for your photographs and important

files, this might be the reminder to set one up before you need it.

I can personally say that having a backup turned what could have been a

disaster into an inconvenience.

(If you’d like to try the same service I use, I’m told this referral link includes a

one-month trial: Learn More Here)