How to Protect Your Digital Photos from Natural Disasters
As many of us know – from painful first hand experience or simply reading the news – Mother Nature can strike with devastating ferocity. The last two years alone have brought earthquakes, record heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts to many parts of the world. During these extreme weather situations and natural disasters, the last thing on our minds is protecting the hard drives on our computers. Yet by not thinking about them, we leave the digital memories stored on those devices at risk.
Our friends at DriveSavers, the data recovery folks, have compiled a list of several precautions to take during extreme weather warnings to protect hard drives and precious data residing in them.
Before the Storm:
. If possible, unplug your hardware, laptops, printers and other electronic devices from all power sources.
. Invest in a surge protector. Surge protectors and battery backups should be checked or replaced every few years to ensure the highest level of effectiveness.
. To protect your electronics from possibility of water damage, be sure to enclose any valuable devices in plastic, or place in a water-tight plastic bin. If your hardware is on the ground of your home or office, be sure to lift them from the floor to protect them from flood damage. (In fact, as a matter of course you should not store sensitive electronics directly on the floor.)
. Sometimes it is inevitable that hardware will be damaged so back-up your data and back-up often! This will prevent data loss even if the device itself is destroyed. (Learn how to back-up your photos here.) While there are reasons to be wary of online data storage, it may make sense for people in disaster-prone locales since you’ll be storing your files on remote servers that will be safe from whatever disaster takes down your computer.
If Disaster Strikes
So what happens if an act of nature does damage your computer or external drive? Here’s what to do, and what not to do:
. Do not use utility software if the drive makes scraping, tapping, clicking or humming sounds.
. Do not power up a device that has obvious physical damage or is making unusual sounds.
. Do not attempt recovery yourself if a drive exhibits the above symptoms (i.e., turning the computer off and on, using over-the-counter diagnostic tools). This may cause further damage or permanent data loss.
. Don’t panic! If you have lost critical data, there are many professional data recovery companies that could recover your data, quickly and securely – provided you’re willing to pay.
The bottom line: if you live in an area that’s at least somewhat prone to serious natural disasters, flooding or catastrophic storms, it’s worth taking steps now – before disaster strikes – to safeguard your digital photos and videos. We’re big fans of using external hard drives to store your data, and it makes a lot of sense to store those drives in waterproof/fireproof safes when not in use. It’s your digital life – and only you can protect it and pass it down to future generations.
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