It’s that time of year again when I need to clear up some space on my phone and to backup my photos.

For me, archiving my pictures has become an annual tradition, a way to preserve those moments and ensure they’re safe for years to come. I’ve been doing this since my highschool days where I have my own cheap android phone and our family digital camera.

My Archiving Process

My process is just simple, I collect all my captured images and screenshots from phone to an external storage. I will then sort the pictures based on year and then the month they are taken. I also take this opportunity to delete duplicates, blurry shots, and anything that doesn’t need to be archived. To save space, I also compress my screenshots using Caesium.

The Problem with Archiving Photos

One major problem when you have a vast number of images is that you need to have an additional redundant backup. I admit that I can’t afford to have a 3-2-1 backup to all my photos right now, but I still find ways to have options to have redundancy and to avoid a single point of failure.

With that, I decided to explore some cloud storage solutions to add an extra layer of security.

Vetting Cloud Backup Options

I look into some great and new offerings available. These are my criteria:

  • Still hot storage where I can pull images without charging me a ton for engress cost.
  • Location (Due to backup latency)
  • Cheap but still reliable storage

Some Cloud Storage Providers

  • Google One: This is great for your current gallery backup but not for long term storage. The basic tier is just 89 PHP for 100 GB but the next tier is 479 PHP for 2 TB which is just overkill to my needs.
  • Backblaze: They offer two types of backup storage. The first one is their Computer Backup where you can backup you computer files for 9 USD monthly (unlimited storage). Another one is their B2 object storage offering for those who need a high-volume storage but fairly cheap compared to other providers like Amazon S3 or Azure. B2 is priced at 6 USD per TB.
  • Hetzner: They offer 3 kinds of storage product. The first one is the Storage Box that starts with 3.20 EUR per 1 TB. Another one is the Storage Share which uses Nextcloud which is a PHP based all in one storage suite. Storage Share starts with 4.29 EUR for 1 TB. Their new offering, Object Storage, start with 4.99 EUR per TB.
  • Cloudflare R2: This is an object storage offering from Cloudflare. Their pricing starts with 0.015 USD/GB.

My Current Choice

I opted to use Backblaze B2 for my offsite storage for now. It struck the right balance between cost, ease of use, and storage capacity for my needs. Hetzner offerings are also good but their Object Storage is fairly new at this point. I really like to have their Storage Share but I don’t have enough reason for now to prepay 1TB monthly while I can’t use all of the allocated storage. Maybe when my pictures reaches 1TB above.

Meanwhile, you can check their respective websites if you want to deep dive to this and to weigh your options.

Tips for Archiving and Backing Up Photos or Even Files

If you’re considering your own year-end photo archiving, here are some tips:

  • Be Selective: Not every photo needs to be saved. Focus on those that hold meaning.
  • Limit Screenshots wherever possible: Trust me, I find it very hard to organize my screenshot collection that I just blindly delete some of them.
  • Keep It Organized: Use consistent file naming and folder structures for easy retrieval. I also heavily use ISO 8601 with my file and folder/directory naming structure to keep my files more organized.

Conclusion

Archiving my photos and securing them has become more than a chore; it’s a ritual of gratitude and reflection to me every end of the year. As someone who also experience catastrophic data loss, backing up and archiving is also personal to me. By preserving these memories, I’m not just protecting files; I’m safeguarding my stories and what makes me who I am today.