There are a number of different devices and means to store your digital photos and videos. In this article you will find out more about the different kinds of ways to store your images.
Memory cards are a small card that fits into your camera making a connection using a series of electrical contacts on the card and within the camera. They come in a few different shapes and sizes.
Secure Digital High-Capacity (SDHC) is one of the most widely used types of memory cards in many cameras and camcorders today. SDHC is a small rectangular card, 1”in wide by 1.25”in long and 2.1 mm thick. These cards are pretty durable and will take normal wear and tear well. SDXC (eXtended-Capacity) is the same physical size as the SDHC but provides larger storage capacity, up to 2TB. Most SDHC and SDXC cards contain a small notch that slides up and down and acts as an added security feature. When the notch is in the “Lock” position, the card will be in a read-only mode.
Micro SDHC is simply a smaller version of the standard SDHC memory card and is used in some cameras, but more popularly phones and tablets. This card is .4 in wide by .6 in long and about 1 mm thick. Compact Flash (CF) is another memory card used, more commonly, in higher end consumer devices. It is also used in some professional grade cameras. CF is older and a bit larger than the previously mentioned memory cards while offering similar capacity and speeds. Another type of memory card is called an Eye-Fi card. An Eye-Fi card is the same size as an SDHC card, but it features a Wi-Fi technology that allows you to send your photos wirelessly between devices.
Different speed classes and capacities are the main differentiators between these cards. The SDHC card classes are 2, 4, 6, 10, UHS-1, and UHS-3. The numbers of these classes refer to the speed at which it writes information from the device to the card. Class 2 has the slowest write speed, while UHS-3 has the fastest. For standard definition video and most still photographs, classes 2 through 6 should be fine. If you intend on capturing High Definition Video, you will need a card that is class 10 or higher. If you plan on recording 4K or Ultra High Definition video, you will need to get a UHS-3 card.
External Hard drives are a great way to store your photos when you’ve run out of room on your memory card. They are also an excellent choice when it comes to choosing where to back up you photos. External hard drives are usually about the size of your palm. They traditionally connect to your computer using the USB port and act as a stand-alone drive within the computer. This provides you the ability to pick and choose what photos you would like to have backed-up. External hard drives come in a variety of sizes from 150 GB on up to 4TB+. In addition to this, external hard drives are usually portable, allowing you keep them on-the-go. However, many external hard drives are larger for desktop use.
Much like external hard drives, flash drives are a storage device that traditionally connects via the USB port on your computer. However, flash drives are usually much smaller; often times about the size of your thumb. Unlike external hard drives, flash drives are much more portable and durable in that they house no moving parts. However, flash drives usually come in smaller storage capacities from 1 GB up to 1 TB.
Cloud Storage
Cloud storage allows you to save your photos and videos to a ‘cloud’, which you can access from virtually anywhere. In essence, the cloud is built up of servers physically located away from your location that can be accessed via the internet in order to store data on them. This is a great way to keep your files backed-up in a place where they won’t be lost.
