You've heard it recommended to backup your most precious files. Years ago, we converted old video reels to VHS. Then we copied those to DVDs. Finally, this madness can finally stop. Here are the top five reasons to preserve all your media to the cloud.

1.  Your Loved Ones

Your memories are priceless and deserve preservation.  Have you properly secured your family's cherished photos and videos?  Barring a total loss due to a fire, flood, or storm, does your family even know the media exists?  One of the most effective habits of highly effective people is to "Begin with the end in mind."  Without sounding morbid, what will your children, grandchildren, and other heirs think as they comb through dusty boxes of old memories after your death?  Instead, might they prefer you share them today in a way that the whole family can enjoy, together?  Putting your memories on the cloud, privately or publicly, is the best way to stay connected with family and friends from any location.

2.  Everything Neatly in One Place

Experts refer to storage on the cloud as a "data lake" because everything is easily found, or "fished", out of one secure digital location.  No more opening cluttered drawers, accessing dusty bookshelves, or carrying cumbersome boxes to find multiple video cassettes, photo albums, or stacks of discs.  No more rewinding tapes, turning pages, or playing through DVDs in a laborious attempt to find that favorite memory.  With the cloud, just tag a digital file with a special name and find it in seconds from any desktop, tablet, or mobile device.  With a click and drag, organize similar memories into digital folders to best declutter your files.  Putting your memories on the cloud, you can recall your favorite photos and videos at the speed of light.

3.  The Cloud is Unlimited

The cloud is always on.  Its redundancy across multiple global servers ensures you're 411 times more likely to get hit by a meteor than ever lose a single file!  For greater security, leading cloud applications allow you to keep a synchronized copy of your files to any device, so your access is maintained even when your internet goes down.  Good clouds allow for an unlimited number of users, each with different permissions.  As the "Owner" of your memories, make your spouse an "Editor" so they can add even more users.  Perhaps make your children "Commenters" so they can tag files, but not accidentally delete them.  Lastly, provide "Viewer" access to some files so an unlimited number of friends can also enjoy your memories.  Putting your memories on the cloud offers unending preservation and unlimited possibilities for sharing.

4.  Easy to Use

Dealing with old technology is a major headache.  A malfunctioning DVD player is only slightly worse than a VCR that chews up tapes.  Sometimes the equipment is so outdated that you cannot get replacement parts, like a lightbulb for a projector to display photo slides or reeled video.  Vulnerable media like aged tapes, outdated memory cards, scratched discs, or hard drive failures certainly don't help.  However, any connected device can display memories from the cloud.  Putting your memories on the cloud is the easiest way to interact with your photos, videos, and other cherished heirlooms.

5.  Save Money

Nothing is free, and neither is good cloud storage.  However, it costs less than replacing hard drives, burning multiple DVDs, or the time to manage that cumbersome process.  Plans with unlimited cloud access cost only a few dollars per month.  Sharing that storage with multiple family members doesn't just improve social connectedness, but it also reduces the cost per person.  Consolidation of multiple clouds will also save you money.  Pick a cloud that does more than just drop your files in a box.  Choose a cloud provider that can stream your videos, allows for portable curation, and scales as your needs grow.  There's no need to buy a more powerful computer with a larger hard drive.  Putting your memories on the cloud will save you hundreds of dollars and countless hours of frustration.

Get started today by digitizing your memories the right way... to the cloud!  Heirloom transfers 8mm video reels, VHS tapes, photo albums, slides, audiocassettes, and even DVDs into a portable format that is accessed from any device.  Chat with an Account Specialist today to learn more.  

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