If you took a lot of photos and videos during your vacation, chances are your phone is working. low storage. Well, what is it? You might want to upload all your files to the cloud, but you'll end up paying a pretty penny to do so.
Cloud storage used to not be expensive. When Google Photos debuted in 2015, it promised unlimited storage for free. I happily uploaded all my photos and videos because I knew they would be safe on the cloud and accessible from anywhere.
This story is part of 12 days of tipsto help you get the most out of your technology, home, and health during the holiday season.
And in 2021, Google pulled the rug out from under our feet. Free ride has ended. All of those thousands of photos were safe, but with each new photo my meager 15 GB of free storage slowly dwindled. Suddenly, my photography habit had a price tag and I had to pay for a Google One subscription if I wanted to keep uploading.
All those photos and videos were taking up a lot of space because what's stored in the cloud doesn't really disappear into thin air. These files reside on physical servers around the globe. Basically, they are stored on other people's computers.
Now, you'll be charged for using that storage space. I've always hated the idea of paying a monthly subscription. $10 a month becomes $120 a year, and after 10 years it becomes $1,200.
And Google One wasn't an easy-to-cancel subscription like Netflix or Spotify. If you stop paying, you won't be able to upload new photos or videos, and you may lose access to all your files after two years.
How can you back up all your memories without using the cloud?
Over the years, I developed a system for managing my files and saving copies to an external hard drive. It's a little bit more work to manually transfer everything, but for me it's a better solution in the long run and I don't have to pay for a subscription service.
Don't miss CNET's unbiased technical content and lab-based reviews. Add us as your preferred Google source for Chrome.
Why use an external hard drive to store photos and videos?
If you don't want to pay for cloud storage, you may want to buy a phone with more storage capacity. After Google Photos stopped free file uploads, my first thought was that I'd rather pay more upfront for a device with terabytes of storage than pay for a Google One subscription indefinitely.
But even the most future-proof 1TB cell phone will eventually need to be replaced. Also, if you want to keep all your old files over, your next phone will need at least the same amount of storage as your current phone, plus additional space for future photos and videos.
Compounding this problem is the ever-increasing size of image files. As cell phone cameras improve, the footage captured becomes higher megapixel files.
On my iPhone, each 12 megapixel image is estimated at about 2MB, and each 24 megapixel image is estimated at 3MB. Videos require more space. One minute of 4K video can easily exceed 1GB. At this rate, even a phone with 256 GB of storage (the new minimum for the iPhone 17 series) can fill up quickly.
Digital storage on external drives doesn't have to be expensive. 1TB solid state drives are easily available for less than $100. (Incidentally, Apple charges $1,399 for the 1TB iPhone Air, which is $400 more than the $999 256GB model.)
The best part about using an external drive is that you can store files on multiple devices. You can continue using it for a long time even after upgrading to a new phone. HDDs generally have a lifespan of 3 to 5 years, while SSDs have a lifespan of at least 5 years.
Using an external drive requires more effort than backing everything up to the cloud. You have to wait until the files are transferred from your device to the drive and then sort everything into folders. Once the file transfer is complete, you need to delete those files from your phone or computer.
Fortunately, once you understand the process and do it a few times, it becomes very easy. This is how I do it.
My process for backing up photos
When I back up my photos and videos (or when I'm low on storage on my phone), I try to make two copies of each file. One for the laptop and one for the external SSD.
My MacBook runs fewer apps and has more storage than my iPhone, so it receives a copy of all the photos and videos on my phone. My Mac's Photos app also has a handy “Delete items after upload” checkbox, which I recommend selecting.
Once all files have been transferred, connect your external drive to your computer and select all the photos you want to back up. The Photos app is useful because it sorts everything by upload date. You can select all images from the latest batch by clicking on the first photo, then holding down the Shift key and clicking on the last photo. Then drag and drop them to your external drive. If you have a lot of photos (more than 500), I often split this step up and select 200-300 at a time. Otherwise, the transfer process may be interrupted.
I try to back up my photos at least once a month or after special occasions like vacations. In some cases, you may want to create a backup before a major software update (such as iOS 26) just to be on the safe side. This process became a way for me to mark the end of one period and the beginning of the next.
I used to have trouble organizing files on an external drive. However, currently I just create a folder for each batch of uploaded photos and videos. Label these folders either by date (for example, July 2025) or by occasion (Travel to London, Summer 2024).
A similar system may work for you as well. You'll probably choose more or less frequent backups. In any case, this last step is highly recommended. Create a backup to another external drive. That way, if one drive fails, you can still use the other drive.
I’m becoming more intentional about the images I take.
One problem with storing all your files on an external drive is that you may not always have access to them. But I think it's a reasonable tradeoff. You don't have to carry every image you've ever taken in your pocket. You can usually find the photos you need on your Instagram page or in your email inbox.
I keep certain photos and videos on my phone indefinitely, but only the ones I need to refer to often (like screenshots of insurance information). I also save photos that I enjoy looking at from time to time, such as photos of family gatherings or outings with friends. This is a curated collection that looks a lot like the one or two images people had in their wallets.
Yes, managing all these files on an external drive can be a hassle, but it's well worth the effort. Not only will you spend less in the long run, but you'll also have peace of mind. Because my memories are stored in physical objects that I own, rather than being dumped onto someone else's computer.
Even if you pay for Google One or another cloud storage option, your files will feel like someone else owns them. What if Google Photos changes its storage policy again or raises the price again? You'll have no choice but to comply. My memories are at the mercy of corporations. And what if someday Google shuts down? Indeed, it is currently one of the largest companies in the world. But that was also true of Kodak a while back.
There is another unexpected benefit. Taking charge of creating these manual backups made me more intentional about capturing images in the first place. I realized that I don't need to photograph everything I see. Most of the time, that's all you can remember.
