The first rule of preservation, be it a photo, a document, a video, etc., is DIGITIZE IT AND BACK IT UP!  Many have made the unfortunate mistake of using the “money under the mattress” way of saving their precious memories.  A good country ballad could be written concerning the terrible things that have happened to photos in boxes, VHS tapes, 8mm film, vital records certificates, and so on.

So let’s say you’ve digitized everything.  Now what?  Just leave it on the hard drive on your computer, or burn it to a disk and throw it in your closet right?  The risk of loss is the same as if you hadn’t digitized at all.  Fortunately there are several cloud services out there where you can safely store your precious digitized memories.  But which one to use now becomes the question.  I came across a great article in Consumer Reports which very nicely lays out the pros and cons of each cloud service.  Check out the following link:

https://www.consumerreports.org/digital-cameras-photography/best-cloud-storage-services-for-photos/

For additional preservation tips and recommendations check out Scott Fisher’s podcasts at Extreme Genes at www.extremegenes.com The earlier episodes include discussions with Tom Perry, owner of TMC.