iScan PhotoKeeping your photos safe
Digital photos are only as safe as what they’re stored on, and where. Here’s how we deliver yours, and how we think about keeping them for the next generation.
A USB drive
Your scans, plus the names, dates and keywords we added, in a standard format that iScanPhotoApp, Lightroom and other photo programs read. We open it and check it with you before we leave.
Extra drives for brothers, sisters and grandchildren: $25 each.
An M-DISC
A disc made for archiving, readable in the Blu-ray and DVD drives in use today. Nothing to renew, no subscription.
M-DISC archival copy: $100.
Keep more than one copy, in more than one place
Every storage method can fail eventually. The real protection is several copies, kept in different places, with at least one somewhere a house fire or flood wouldn’t reach.
How common storage compares
| Storage | Good for, and what to watch for |
|---|---|
| USB drive or SD card | Handy everyday copies. Can fail or get lost within years. |
| Hard drive | Big collections, cheap per photo. Mechanical parts wear out. |
| Regular DVD or Blu-ray | Inexpensive copies. Dyes can fade over time. |
| Cloud storage | Off-site and reachable anywhere. Ongoing fees; depends on the company. |
| M-DISC | An archive copy you own. Needs a DVD or Blu-ray drive to read. |
Why M-DISC
M-DISC records your photos into a rock-like layer instead of the organic dye used by ordinary recordable discs. Its maker rates it to last for centuries under normal storage conditions, and it can be read by the Blu-ray and DVD drives in use today.
A simple plan we recommend
- Your photos on your computer, organized in iScanPhotoApp, which can back them up for you
- A copy on a USB drive or external disk
- An M-DISC kept in a different place, such as with a relative