If you have not seen the linked video segment from “The Today Show” on April 21st about Shutterfly deleting peoples’ photos, please watch it now. (note you might have to click through a commercial before you get to watch it, and this is a tissue alert, I know I got sad).
Earlier this year, Shutterfly announced that they would no longer store the photos of any of their customers who had not made a purchase in the past 18 months. Yes, they announced it, and I remember even posting on my social media to check if any of my followers had photos stored there.
Well, they did it, they deleted the photos, and some people either hadn’t seen the announcement or they got busy and forgot that it was going to happen. NowShutterfly is trying to calm the waters by restoring the photos to the site. But it won’t be for long. If you haven’t purchased something in the past 18 months, they are going to permanently delete your photos from the site on May 30th. They are in the business of print books and other things, not in the photo storage business.
Preserving your memories is an important job, and we often discuss having a 3-2-1 plan.
- Having at least three copies of your data.
- Storing the copies on two different media.
- Keeping one backup copy offsite.
So this is what my 3-2-1 plan looks like.
- I have a Seagate Portable 4T External Hard Drive for my photos and some digital scrapbooking items.
- I have all my photos, videos, audio recordings, and genealogy documents upload to FOREVER. (I can help you with this).
- I have my computer and my hard drive backed up daily on BackBlaze.
About These Tools
Seagate is a trusted name when it comes to external hard drives. Popular Mechanics says it’s the “best overall” external hard drive. Besides that, my genie friend Thomas MacEntree will tell you it’s the best. I see him recommending Seagate all the time. They do come in other sizes, so you’ll have to decide what size is best for your needs.
FOREVER Yes, I represent FOREVER, but I do so because I did my homework. My mama raised me to ask questions. When I first heard Glenn Meakem speak about FOREVER, I was skeptical, but after I truly understood how it worked, I was sold.
Here’s what Glenn will tell you.
When clients purchase FOREVER Storage®, the majority of the money they pay goes into the FOREVER® Guarantee Fund, where that money earns interest, dividends, and capital gains in a diversified investment portfolio to pay for each client’s storage over the very long term.
With FOREVER, our clients are ENDOWING the preservation of their memories. And FOREVER, as a long-term business institution, is the Guardian of each client’s precious memories. All of our clients’ memories are triple-backed up in multiple, geographically diverse locations, and we will migrate each client’s memories to new data formats as technology changes over time. We guarantee that we will preserve each client’s memories (photos, videos, documents, and audio files) for the client’s lifetime plus 100 years, with a goal of many, many generations beyond.
Backbhttps://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup.html#af9hv4laze is a personal choice. I did at one time have iDrive, but I found that it wasn’t backing up my computer. When I reached out to their customer service, well, let’s just say it wasn’t a good experience. I like Backblaze because it is a trusted service in the genealogy community, but also I found it easy to set up. I get regular reports telling what’s been backed up, and I can check anytime to see as well.
The bottom line is that if you have your photos on Shutterfly and you haven’t made a purchase, then you need to download them to your computer. Even if you have made a purchase remember Shutterfly isn’t in the business of storing your photos, so you need to store them differently. You need to have a plan.
If you do decide to see what FOREVER is all about, then please accept my invitation for an intro account, and I can help you. You’ll receive a 2 GB account to upload to and try out, and this will hold about 200 to 500 photos. I know that’s not a lot, but this is to see how things work. You’ll also receive $20 to spend in the next 60 days on anything.
It’s free to join FOREVER® by opening an Intro Account, but in order to enjoy guaranteed permanence of your personal files, you’ll need to purchase one of the storage plans. You can choose between the monthly payment plan, which is spread out over the course of 24 months, or the one-time payment plan, an upfront fee. But this isn’t a subscription, so once the 24 months are complete, you own your storage, and you’d only pay if you decided to purchase more storage.
Remember that on May 30th, Shutterfly will once again be permanently deleting photos so you need to get ready and have a plan.
Note that FOREVER is in the business of helping you digitize your photos, store your photos, and create beautiful things with your photos. It’s a complete photo solution.
I’ve made some videos that might help