in the background. I’ve installed this
on both our phones, and it works like
a charm. Whenever we snap a pic, I
have full confidence it will be saved to
the cloud in a few moments. The desk-
top app sits on your desktop and pulls
down a copy of everything to send to the
cloud. This feature provides a backup
copy of all of your memories that you
can easily access in the event something
were to happen to the Dropbox cloud.
The same is true if something happens
to your home computer. There’s no need
to worry because there is a copy in the
cloud. It is an extra layer of protection. hard drive on Amazon for $60. Connect
the drive to your home computer and
copy the Dropbox folder to the exter-
nal drive. This process will take hours,
so be prepared to walk away and let it
run. Store the external hard drive in a
safe place once the process eventually
completes.
One Additional Safety Step Get Organized!
Can you imagine telling your spouse
that all the photos you both have taken
over the last few years were lost forever?
As I stated earlier, I err on the side of
caution. There is one additional safety
measure you can do every six months or
so for maximum protection.
Dropbox creates a folder on your
home computer where your photos and
videos are housed. Purchase an external
Copying to an external hard drive
provides you with another backup in the
unlikely event that both the cloud and
your home computer are compromised.
It may be overkill, but for a low cost,
you can sleep well at night knowing
your digital memories are safe.
This column focused primarily on
saving those thousands of photos your
family takes every year. Once you’ve got
the storage aspect taken care of, you’ll
probably want to begin organizing those
photos in a way that makes sense. Much
like the cloud storage options, there are
a variety of choices available to clean up
your clutter. Adobe Photoshop Elements
provides an easy to use interface for ar-
ranging, tagging, and organizing those
memories. Additionally, the software of-
fers features to help you create stunning
slideshows, collages, and videos with
minimal effort.
Creating a plan to organize and save
your digital photos may not be at the top
of your priority list. It may even seem
daunting. Start small and take it one step
at a time. Within a few months, you’ll
have a gallery that puts your mother’s
old photo albums to shame!
Mike Daugherty is a husband, father of
three young children, author, speaker,
Google Innovator, and possible Star-
bucks addict. He is a certified educa-
tional technology leader who has served
in a variety of roles through his eigh-
teen-year career in public education.
Currently, Mike is the Director of Tech-
nology for the Chagrin Falls Exempted
Village School district in Northeast
Ohio. As an IT director he has developed
creative, well thought out solutions that
positively impact teaching and learning.
August 2019 WNY Family 21