I’ve uploaded many photos to my website gallery and to this blog, but Hurricane Katrina has made me realize just how important it is to use my website to backup the photos on only one of my computers and the photo prints I have still yet to scan. Although Dreamhost’s servers are in earthquake country in Los Angeles, as least it’s far enough away from the San Francisco Bay area that if something happens in Oakland, my photos will be safe in L. A. Obviously, I also have backups of what is on the website, so I am protected if something happens down south.
When you ask most people what they would save if they had to leave their home in an emergency, photographs tend to be pretty high on the list. Though it’s always nice to have original prints, digital copies on a web server make for a pretty convenient backup. The important thing, though, is not too wait. Even though you have more advance warning with a hurricane, you’re almost certainly going to be too busy packing up and evacuating to spend a couple of hours preparing and uploading photos.