Given how important our photos are to us, given how often we’re told that we absolutely need to back them up, given how inexpensive and tiny most modern storage devices are, you’d think everyone would have taken care of this by now.

But the numbers tell a different story: According to a 2019 analysis conducted by Backblaze, a computer backup and cloud storage company, 20% of those surveyed had never backed-up their computer, while 25% only back-up on a yearly basis. At the same time, another report found that a full 65 percent of consumers or their immediate family had lost data from a computer or mobile device. Ouch.

Losing your data is easy — your phone breaks, your camera roll stops syncing, your home is hit by a disaster — but backing up your digital photos, and synching them, is easy, too. And it’s a process that gets even easier when you’re using the right workflow. Here are the basics, per Mylio.

Digital photo backup: Location matters

The key to thinking about your photo backup is location, location, location. Literally, three locations.

• Primary location. Often a computer or laptop, your primary location is the device where your original image files are (most likely) imported from your camera and/or phone.

• First backup location. An external hard drive that sits on your desk makes an excellent first backup. This device connects to and syncs with your primary location regularly.
Smart pick: Seagate One Touch 5TB is speedy (and can store roughly 1 million photos), per Tech Advisor.

• Second backup location. Ideally outside of your home, this could be a portable hard drive that you keep at your office, in a safe deposit box, or at a nearby friend or relative’s house and update monthly or quarterly.
Smart pick: Seagate Backup Plus Slim, recently named the best portable hard drive by The New York Times’ authoritative review site, Wirecutter.

• Cloud-based service. Many people find it convenient to also set up a cloud-based service as an additional backup location. to automatically copy as originals are added.
Smart pick: Backblaze was recently dubbed the best online backup service, with iDrive the runner-up, again by Wirecutter.

Mylio’s backup solution: Reliable and flexible

Mylio connects your devices directly over a local network, so you’re able to access your entire photo library even without an Internet connection or using the cloud. Mylio is also platform- and device-agnostic: You can use it on a Mac or a PC, with Android or iOS, with a computer or a mobile device, or any combination you like. Learn more about how to customize your backup and syncing system with Mylio in these support articles.

Phones get lost, dropped, crushed, and stolen, while computers are subject to meltdowns and fatal errors of their own. (Spilled coffee, water or wine, anyone?) Our memories are also fragile, subject to the winds and whims of time. That’s what makes our photos — especially those that preserve an emotional connection to our most important life moments — some of our most treasured belongings. With Mylio, keeping your memories safe has never been easier.