Mine are stored on my computer and also my tablet. In addition, I have them on a flash drive. I used to put them on Photobucket, but after the mess they made of switching over to a fee site, I decided I'd no longer rely on third party photo storage services.

My method for sorting/organizing them is similar to yours, but not as detailed. I don't made sub-folders very often except for things like a long vacation. For example, I will make a folder that is named "Asia Trip" and in that create sub-folder labeled things like Bangkok, Saigon, Hanoi, Chang Mei and so on. In that folder I might also have sub folders like food, transportation, x festival, temples, elephant sanctuary, Angor Wat, etc. But, most of the time I'll label a folder things like deer, roses, 4th of July, car show and so on without needing additional sub folders. That's enough to help me remember where to find a photo. It's a rare day that I can't recall where I've put a photo simply by looking a the names and dates of the folders/sub folders.

I have external hard drives. I save to more than one as they can crash as well.

I use external hard drive too. I try to do a backup every couple of months. I also have tried to arrange them in appropriate named files but sometimes I just dump them onto the external hard drive with just the camera's number. I keep meaning to go back and edit all my pictures, but get overwhelmed by the number of photos. I have taken more photos with digital cameras in 15 years than I ever did with all my film cameras in 50+ years.

I have had my computer crash a couple of times in the past. You can get software to retrieve lost files, but it can't retrieve really damaged files. When DVD's first came out, I used them to back up photos.

I have been saving mine on Snapfish but they made changes to the site that makes it hard to manipulate the photos, so I will be moving away from that. Other than that, I’ve got over 4,000 photos on the iCloud. Less than ideal. I will be looking back at this thread.

I use my external hard drive mostly and organize by year. Within each year I subdivide into categories like vacations, gardens, family, personal files, etc. Within ‘family and friends’ for example I can do sub folders for things like weddings, graduations, Christmas, or other family get-togethers.

I have some stored on Shutterfly but only because I occasionally make photo books or order a few prints and have to upload photos to their site to do so.

I store them in a file on my computer desktop. the I plug in a stick to my usb and drag them onto the stick/thmb drive.

I just save them on the Cloud. I've created folders to organize them. As soon as I take a pic with my phone, it's automatically uploaded. I can access them no matter where I am. Some of the things you folks are doing seem time consuming and extreme. Maybe I'm missing something, but how I organize pics works fine.

I keep the ones I save (maybe 10-15% of those I take) on my computers. The plural here is because I have 3 on my desk, 2 Macs and 1 Windows machine. All have external backup hard disks. Both Macs use 'Time Machine' backup and the windows machine does a full automatic backup weekly.

Use of a cloud of other web solution is completely impossible for me as we have only very-slow ADSL connections in our area.

Computer files. I also bought a flash drive to put them on in case my computer goes belly up...but I haven't done it yet.

Since I lost everything in the flood, including my external hard drives. I use flash drives, Google photos which syncs frequently. I use some online storage like Dropbox. I had a lot of stuff on an online storage site that somehow lost my entire account. So you can do everything the way you should, several locations, several methods, and still lose it. The flash drives I was able to save because they were small enough to carry. Synching to Google photos for all devices to one account is quick and easy.

Also use a thumb drive to back up the computer. Most of the photos (that are in digital format) that I really care about saving are related to my genealogy research, and so some of those have also been uploaded to Ancestry dot com to share.

I have been thinking about using OneDrive as an additional backup.

I really need to get several of my albums of family photos and documents scanned and saved too, in case the house burns down or a tornado hits.

I use an external hard drive. My photos are filed first by year, with sub-folders for special events. My genealogical photos are by family name first and then by decade. I download and save all documents from ancestry.com because if I ended my membership there I would no longer have access to them.

My most precious photos are in the cloud and also with family members.

When your hard drive crashes, you will lost everything; photos, work files, but most annoying is you also lost all your software.

I have an external docking station ($25.00?) which allows me to clone identical hard drives.

If anything happens to my main drive, I just plug in the cloned drive, instantly, I am back in business, everything same as before.

dcarch

In a box! Actually, I've lost so many due to computer crashes etc., I'm going back to printing pics of trips etc..

Dcarch I had that set up also. Unfortunately none of it survived the over 7 ft of water.

I try to make sure I have at least 2 places my photos are stored, mainly on my mac which I then back up to a hard drive.

I am an ostrich... as in my head is stuck in the ground.

I know, nothing is forever... and I know, my daughters will not be interested in "my stuff". Thus, even though I have pictures as far back as 2004 plus an folder with really old pictures that were scanned in... in a system like some others have.. yearly, monthly and even daily... I overall do not worry about them.

None of my photo albums survived the divorce, and the momentary move for "love" to Florida. I am ok with that. The important times/pictures are in my head.

I have learned, it is ok, not to have some things.

Moni

I store them in folders on my computer - our computers are automatically set to back up every night onto a server so if there's ever a problem - the pictures are still accessible.

Lars,

I got a 2T external hard drive and put everything there (once the photo folders on the laptop get too large) - it's an evolving process, and one day, I'm going to have two millions photos to go through. Something to look forward to in retirement.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my recent efforts to get a grip on organizing my photos. I had them everywhere, from old family history ones that are in print, small vintage snapshots, color slides from mid century, 4x6 from the 70s/80's, and a ton of digital images when the grandkids started to arrive. They were a mess!

I tackled the printed photos first and went through them and eliminated so many non descript ones that were really of no account. I did not really even know those people in that photo, and who needs year to year school photos of cousins, neices and nephews?

Then, the digital photos were the biggest obstacle. I have eliminated a lot of them, also and put the rest into files and subfiles. I have put them on an external drive and what I plan to do with them is to go through and print out a few of them with us and the grand kids and put them in a little album for them, and the rest on some sort of drive.

it has taken me days and days and I am still not finished with them.

One thing that I have decided is that I am putting each of my kid's photos of our family years into albums, each containing some photos of the other. I am going to go ahead and pass them on down to them. They each have their own homes and their own families now.

Just like any other thing that is seeking storage, the first thing to do is to edit and eliminate the low hanging fruit. The ones that were culled have not actually left the house yet. I am waiting until I feel that I have gotten my final arrangement before that happens. But, they are gone from the assortment and it is much easier to handle them.

Even many of the digital ones are still in the trash on the desktop, awaiting the final sort.

My dilemma right now is to find the right sort of album for keeping what are mostly 4x6 prints. So many of those albums have such silly stuff printed on them. I want something more respectable than something that says something silly like "I believe", or "Live life", or something equally nonsensical.

What a chore to corral all of the images and prints and slides!! I have mailed some out to other family members.

Don't forget to send all you VHS tapes to have them converted to digital and store on your hard drive.

Tapes do not last forever, They get brittle after a while.

dcarch

Rina, I use a Canon PowerShot SX520 HS, and this info is store in Windows Explorer until I edit it in Photoshop, but after I edit it, rename it, and save it in a web version, the camera info is lost, along with the original date the photo was taken.

For viewing photos, I use FastStone Image Viewer, which is free, but they ask for a $15 donation (one time) which I gave them because I think it is worth it.

I almost never take photos with my phone, unless I have to send them in a text to someone, such as a contractor, or if I don't have my regular camera or enough batteries with me. I did run out of battery power in Florence at the Uffizi Gallery, but I have since bought two more batteries.

I have some photos stored on thumb drives, but those can fail also. The photos I value the most I have stored in three or more places. I have four external hard drives, and one of those is 2T, one is 1T, but the other two are smaller and older. Those can fail also, which is why I have multiples. I've taken digital photos that I have lost in the past, but not since 1999, I think.