Over recent years, advancements in the cloud and external hard drives have made it easier to store and access photos than ever before. When it comes to storing photos, it’s essential to consider how much space you need right now, as well as how much you’ll need in the future.
In order to stop stressing about whether you’ll be able to fit all your photos on your computer, here’s how to figure out how much photo storage you really need.
Determine your current storage requirements
Whether you’re a professional photographer or you love taking pictures on your smartphone, most people don’t know how many pictures they currently have in storage. To start, look through your photos and decide what you want to back up. Next, put all of these photos together in one place, like a folder on your desktop computer. To further organize your photos, create folders by date or location.
After organizing all your photos, you can find out how much space the folder is taking up. For PC users, right-click the folder to view its properties. For Mac users, hit command-I.
Consider how often you take pictures
While some people only take a few pictures each year, others take thousands. Figuring out how often you take pictures can be difficult, as few people take the same amount of pictures every day. However, you can figure out how many pictures you take on average by looking back over the past few years and seeing how many pictures you’ve taken annually.
Find out how many megapixels your camera is
New DSLRs and smartphone cameras are constantly experiencing increased camera resolution. For example, the 2010 iPhone 4 had a 5-megapixel rear camera, while the iPhone X has a 12-megapixel rear camera.
Although considering how many pictures you already have can help you determine your current storage needs, it’s also important to base future photo storage needs on whether you plan to upgrade your camera. Since storage needs increase as photo resolution increases, upgrading your camera will lead to an increase in your future storage space.
So, how much storage do you really need?
Ultimately, photo storage space varies per individual and depends on how often you use your camera. If you’re a professional photographer who shoots regularly and edits photos, aim for 250,000MB of storage space in addition to what you’re currently using. In addition, you may want to add around 120,000MB for personal photos, totaling 370GB for one year of storage.
Regardless of what kind of photographer you are, opt for overestimating the amount of storage you’ll need in the future. Overestimating can prevent you from deleting photos or losing photos you were unable to back up, and you’ll likely end up using your storage to its full capacity over the course of a few years.
How to store photos
Since storing all your photos on your computer’s external hard drive isn’t a preferable option, finding a user-friendly and accessible way to store your photos is essential. Ibi the smart photo manager eliminates the need to delete old photos in order to make space for new ones.
Ibi offers an incredible 2TB space at an affordable one-time cost, making it more affordable than most monthly cloud subscriptions. Plus, ibi makes it possible for photographers to store photos in their homes, rather than storing photos remotely on someone else’s corporate cloud server.
Along with immense photo storage capabilities, ibi features private photo sharing to share photos with friends and family. Users can post photos and videos, as well as create and share albums, in private feeds without worrying about a crowd.
Regardless of how often you use your camera, ensuring that you have enough storage to hold all your photos can save you peace of mind. Ultimately, deciding how much photo storage you need varies per individual, but opting for user-friendly storage options can help keep your intimate memories safe and secure.
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