Whether you’re spending a weekend away in the countryside, attending a tropical destination wedding, doing a postgraduate tour of Europe, or taking a year off to travel the world, one thing is for certain: You’re going to be taking a lot of photos. Each snap you take will immortalize those special, once-in-a-lifetime moments, and will bring you happy memories for years to come.
If you take care to do travel photo backup up properly, that is.
Cloud backup may be the last thing on your mind when you’re traipsing around a new country, but we highly recommend you bring it to the forefront. Every picture you take will be irreplaceable so you’ll want to safeguard them as best as possible, lest you smash your smartphone or camera during a Full Moon party or hike in the jungle and they become lost forever!
Start putting together your backup strategy by reading BestBackups’ list of the best Cloud providers for travel photo backup after the jump.
5 Best Providers for Travel Photo Backup Summary
[top5table Dropbox IDrive MediaFire iCloud OneDrive ratings=”5,4.7,4.5,4,3.5″]
Winner
Dropbox
[vpnbest value=”5″] 5/5
PROS- Easy-to-use software
- Simple file sharing
- Quick and easy access
- Option to backup from multiple devices
- Well-developed mobile App
CONS- Limited security
Dropbox is one of the most famous names in the Cloud backup business for good reason. Its software is simple to navigate and has highly developed syncing and sharing options as well as relatively quick file upload speeds. Best yet, you can upload from an unlimited number of devices, which means that you don’t have to choose between uploading pictures from your computer, tablet, or smartphone (which are sure to each be filled to the brim with snaps from your holiday!).
Each Dropbox user receives 2 GB for free upon signing up, but as photo files are quite large, they’ll eat that storage space up quite quickly. As such, we’d recommend signing up for the Dropbox Pro account, which entitles users to 1 TB of space and additional sharing controls for $11 a month.
Do we have you sold on Dropbox yet? Test this excellent travel photo backup provider out for yourself by signing up for one of their free accounts via the button below—you’ve got nothing to lose!
2nd place
IDrive
[vpnbest value=”4.7″] 4.7/5
- PROS
- Backup from an unlimited number of devices
- File syncing option
- Simple file sharing
- Social media backups
- End-to-end encryption
- Well-developed mobile App
- CONS
- Auto-renewal at the end of subscription at a higher price
IDrive boasts a lot of the same features that make Dropbox so appealing to those looking for travel photo backup, such as backup from an unlimited number of devices, integrated file sharing, and a well-developed mobile App. IDrive even gives you the option to backup the photos from your social media accounts!
The downside of this popular provider? You can only subscribe to their services on a yearly basis, which will be off-putting for those traveling on a shoestring budget who don’t have a lot of money to throw around. Moreover, all of its plans auto-renew at a higher price at the end of their first year.
That said, we think that IDrive is worth its cost and yearlong commitment—and we believe you’ll agree with us if you give it a spin yourself. Sign up for one of their free accounts today using the button below!
3rd place
MediaFire
[vpnbest value=”4.5″] 4.5/5
- PROS
- Simple file sharing
- Easy-to-use software
- File versioning up to the past 20 versions
- Well-developed mobile App
- CONS
- No end-to-end encryption
MediaFire is a simple but effective backup solution for anyone looking for smartphone and memory card backup on a budget. Its 1 TB Pro account is a mere $4.99 a month and has great features that travelers of all kinds will surely appreciate, such as file versioning and deleted file recovery, a versatile mobile App, and the ability to create public links for easy file sharing.
MediaFire’s main shortcoming? Its security appears to be next to non-existent, which may be a serious deal breaker for the more online safety-conscious among us. That said, users concerned about such things could always encrypt their files using third-party software before transferring them to MediaFire.
See if MediaFire is the backup provider for you by testing out their free 10 GB Basic account. You could also immediately sign up for a Pro account if you fancy—it’s risk-free thanks to their 30-day money back guarantee.
4th place
iCloud
[vpnbest value=”4″] 4/5
- PROS
- Built into all Apple products
- Backup from an unlimited number of devices
- End-to-end encryption
- Plenty of backup options
- CONS
- No file versioning
- No file sharing option
iCloud is arguably the most convenient provider for travel photo backup for those with Apple devices. (Though we’re not looking to exclude Android and Windows users with this selection—iCloud is compatible with non-Apple mobile devices as well as PCs.)
After setting up iCloud via the settings on your Mac, iPad, and iPhone, syncing your camera roll and photo library, and doing the initial upload of existing files, uploading your new pictures to the Cloud will be a near-instantaneous process. What’s more, you can backup from an unlimited number of devices without paying a dime over the price of your selected plan (which range from $0.99 a month for 50 GB to $9.99 a month for 1 TB).
The cost of this convenience? No file versioning and no file sharing option.
If you’d like to give iCloud a go (or don’t already have it set up on your Apple devices), you can do so by visiting their website via the link below. Thanks to its free account with 5 GB of storage space, you’ll be able to experience its full range of features before putting down any money!
5th place
OneDrive
[vpnbest value=”3.5″] 3.5/5
- PROS
- Built into Microsoft products
- Easy-to-use software
- Simple file sharing
- Well-developed mobile App
- CONS
- Limited security
- No file versioning
We couldn’t include an Apple-made backup provider on our list without including one from rival Microsoft as well. Like iCloud with Apple devices, OneDrive is built into all Windows PCs, with a well-developed mobile App available for download for both Android and iPhone.
While OneDrive does offer file sharing, its file versioning is sadly nonexistent. Its limited security also pales in comparison to iCloud’s, which is end-to-end.
That said, its easy-to-use software and low prices (1 TB of storage space for $6.99 a month) undeniably make OneDrive one of the cheaper and more convenient ways to backup your files and photos while globetrotting.
If you’d like to learn more about OneDrive before taking the plunge and signing up for a paid account, you can do so via the link below.
Other Tips for Travel Photo Backup
While the Cloud is without a doubt the way to go when it comes to backing up when traveling—it’s inexpensive, fast, convenient, and weighs nothing—there are other ways to safeguard your data while you’re living out of a suitcase.
Our favorite tips? We’d suggest purchasing a lightweight, portable external hard drive to perform weekly backups, as well as keeping multiple SD cards on hand so that you can easily backup, swap out, and store your filled ones when necessary. We’d also recommend you limit your electronics to tablets and smartphones, and leave your heavier (and likely more valuable) laptop at home. If you can’t be without your computer, however, we’d strongly urge you to look into putting together a 3-2-1 backup plan in case disaster strikes when you’re miles away from home.
Our Criteria
Here at BestBackups, we select our top providers based on their security, range of features, quality of customer service, value for money, as well as overall performance. In the case of this specific list, we thought of the Cloud backup needs of travelers—that is, a way to safely store their various snaps and selfies of unforgettable moments that is within their shoestring budget—and looked for the services that best served them. As such, every provider on this list boasts unlimited storage (or plenty of it), a well-developed mobile app, fast upload speeds, and perhaps most important of all—a low price!
5 Best Providers for Travel Photo Backup Conclusion
Most people come back from a trip to someplace new and exciting with an SD card or smartphone packed full of pictures. While backing them up may seem like a tedious task when you’re meant to be enjoying your vacation, it’ll just take one broken camera or wiped SD card to make you wish you spent those few minutes each day backing up all of your new pictures via a mobile or desktop App to the Cloud. That said, we do want to make things as easy for you as possible so that you can get back to having fun in the sun (or the mountains, or the beach, or the snow—whatever floats your boat!). That’s why we put together this list of best providers for travel photo backup: So that you can start, and hopefully finish, your search for travel photo backup as quickly and efficiently as possible.
[top5table Dropbox IDrive MediaFire iCloud OneDrive ratings=”5,4.7,4.5,4,3.5″]
