Summary: If you don’t have your photos backed up, they can be gone in the blink of an eye.

Theft, viruses, physical damage, and even just losing your phone or laptop are a few things that can happen, and if the device isn’t backed up, everything you had on it is gone for good.

With an online backup service, you can make sure that all of the files on your devices are protected and secure.

By copying and uploading your files routinely from your devices, you can keep your photos safe, even when your device isn’t.

To back up the photos on all of your devices, get iDrive now.

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Why Are My Files at Risk?

If you’re like a lot of people these days, most of your family photos aren’t sitting in a box or a photo album – they’re in your camera and media folders on your phone and computer.

Digital photo storage is a great space saver, no doubt, but the vulnerabilities of these systems cannot be overstated.

What happens if the kids knock a glass of water onto your laptop? What if your phone gets stolen? What if your external hard drive gets knocked off your desk onto the hardwood floors?

The ‘what ifs’ may seem like just that, but all too often people realize they should have backed up their photos after they’ve been lost forever.

Don’t lose irreplaceable memories because of a simple oversight – take the precautions and act now with an online backup service.

How Does Online Backup Work?

Online backup is something like cloud storage, only it’s designed to create redundant copies of your files, rather than move them from your devices to clear memory space.

When you download and install the backup program, it often will immediately start backing up your entire system, which can take several hours, depending on how much you have stored.

From there, there are a lot of tools within these programs that allow you to tailor fit them to your needs.

You can schedule backups, or have them run continuously, and even throttle the program’s bandwidth usage so it doesn’t slow down the rest of your online activities.

In the meantime, your files and photos are stored in the company’s servers, securely encrypted and readily accessible whenever you need them.

Top 3 Online Backup Services for Photos

Your photos are important, so don’t trust just anyone with them. You’ll need to choose a company that gives you access, security, and privacy, and all at a great price.

Here are a few of the most popular backup services out there, and how they compare for storing your precious photos and memories.

#1 Choice:  iDrive – 9/10 – Back up for every device, plus sharing options

I particularly like iDrive for backing up photos, because it’s so much more than just a backup service.

If you’re not a fan of sharing photos on social media, iDrive has private sharing options that allow you to designate files and use links to share them privately with friends and family.

As for their backup service, iDrive allows you to back up photos on just about every device, from PCs, Macs, Linux devices, Android phones, iPhones, and even external hard drives.

And with 1 TB of storage space, you’ll have room for them all, so don’t be shy – get it all backed up.

iDrive is a company you can count on for privacy and security too.

Their data centers are completely geo redundant, which means if one of them goes down because of physical damage, your photos are still safely stored at another location.

If you’re still not crazy about the idea of storing your photos with a company though, you can put your mind at ease with iDrive’s private encryption key option.

This way, only you have the ability to decrypt your files, so they’re completely unreadable even to iDrive.

Surprisingly enough, iDrive is extremely affordable too.

They have service plans at less than $45 for an entire year’s worth of this comprehensive backup service.

For the best deal you’re going to find for backing up your photos, get iDrive today.

#2:  CrashPlan – 7/10 – Unlimited storage space, but can’t back up photos on mobile devices

CrashPlan is another company that puts a high priority on the security of their clients’ files.

Though their storage isn’t geo redundant like iDrive’s, they use the same high-grade military encryption to keep your files secure, with optional private encryption keys.

Though you can use CrashPlan to back up your external hard drives, PCs, and Macs though, their apps don’t yet allow you to back up your mobile devices.

You can sync your files and access them on the go, but the apps aren’t designed to back up the actual contents of your phone.

Also, CrashPlan doesn’t have a feature that allows users to share files – it’s strictly a backup service, so you’ll need to stick with iDrive to be able to securely share your files and photos.

CrashPlan has great customer support though, and despite their shortfalls with their backup options, is a sound option for backing up photos.

You also get unlimited versioning and recovery with them, so you can retrieve old versions of files, and even ones you ‘delete’ for an unlimited period of time.

Keep in mind that they’re a bit more expensive than iDrive, with less of the features.

Crashplan can be found at this website.

#3: Acronis– 5/10 – Serious privacy concerns in user agreement

Acronis isn’t a backup program I generally recommend very much – there are a lot of ‘buts’ with this one, and a lot of reasons to be wary of trusting them.

Firstly, while Acronis also includes unlimited storage space and file versioning, surprisingly enough, you actually can’t recover files deleted from your backups with this service.

Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

Perhaps most concerning of all though is the language used in Acronis’s user agreement. It’s quite different from the more private service you get with iDrive.

This is that big blur of fine print that most users just click ‘agree’ to and blast through, but this is one I would definitely read through before signing up.

For one thing, Acronis makes a big disclaimer that they are in no way guaranteeing the security and privacy of your files. Hold up a minute – isn’t that the whole point?

On top of that, Acronis concedes that third parties may have access to your files for various reasons.

And there is a lot of sketchy vague wording as to who that might be, and under what circumstances.

While Acronis allows you to share files and back up your mobile devices, their security concerns are not something I would take lightly.

Plus, for about $25 less you can get the best security and backup in the biz with iDrive.

Acronis is here.

Conclusion: Use iDrive for Secure Backup Anytime, Anywhere

Our photos are some of our most precious files, and sadly, they’re lost all the time due to viruses, theft, damages, and just plain losing our phones.

Don’t let it happen to you. When it comes to backing up your photos, look at all that iDrive offers:

• secure, geo redundant data centers
• mobile device backup
• mega storage
• optional user-owned encryption key
• external hard drive backup
• file sharing options
• file recovery
• affordable price

These guys take your security and privacy seriously, and with prices so low, there’s no reason to wait another day.

Protect your photos and memories with iDrive right now.