Protect Your Digital Memories with the 3-2-1 Photo Backup Method
The longevity of digital photos is not guaranteed. Hard drives fail. Phones are lost. Fires, floods, and theft happen. And yet, so many of us store our most precious memories on a single device and hope for the best.
Professional Photo Managers (like myself) follow a time-tested method: the 3-2-1 Backup Rule.
What Is the 3-2-1 Rule?
This system is recommended by digital archivists, photographers, and even government agencies. It stands for:
3 copies of your files
2 different media types (like an external drive and the cloud)
1 copy stored offsite (not at your home)
This protects your digital memories from hardware failure, accidents, or natural disasters.
💻 Time Machine: For Mac Users
If you’re a Mac user, Time Machine is a great starting point for backups. It automatically saves hourly, daily, and weekly backups of your entire system—including photos.
✅ Easy to restore
✅ Great for version history
🚫 But it’s still on-site, so it doesn’t meet the full 3-2-1 strategy.
💡 Pro Tip:
Your Time Machine drive should be 2–3× the size of your internal hard drive.
Example: If your Mac has 1 TB of storage, get a 2–3 TB external drive for Time Machine backups.
Final Thoughts
Think of backup as a gift to your future self — one you’ll be grateful for in the face of a tech failure or disaster.
Your memories deserve to be protected.
If you're not sure where to start or need help evaluating your system, let me know. I can send you a Backup Checklist to walk you through the process.
