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ATLANTA We love taking photos and videos on our phones, but are we as good about saving them?

Channel 2s Linda Stouffer has some things to share about protecting those media files!

Technology journalist Chris Rowlands says that he has thousands of photos in his 256GB phone. He tells us that trusting the cloud is not always a guarantee that your memories are being protected.

I think I have like 40,000 but my phones only 256GB. Some of them are backed up to the cloud. Some of them arent, but thats pretty much all I do is trust the cloud, said Rowlands. But there are times when it doesnt happen, whether you have a connectivity issue, photos arent backed up, then you lose your phone, theyre gone.

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Rowlands said phone companies want you to use their cloud storage but storage space can become an issue.

And obviously once you hit that limit, if you have, for example, 30,000 photos on your phone, youre probably going to need to shell out a few dollars a month, basically to expand the storage capacity, said Rowlands.

Rowlands said that if your family has different types of devices, paying for Google Photos storage might be worth it to have everything in one place.

Google Photos has some of the most powerful AI-driven suggestion software and editing tools, said Rowlands. It will scan your library to protect the subjects of photos.

Other options include backing it up on a hard drive, while Amazon also offers unlimited storage for Prime customers.

It sort of seems like an old-school suggestion, but its never a bad idea to have a second kind of physical copy of your photos on a hard drive, said Rowlands.

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He said jump drives are great but it comes with a small risk.

Jump drives, great idea. The only risk, obviously, is theyre also quite small. So you can lose those almost as easily as the phone, said Rowlands.

Apps are another option. Apps such as Backblaze and Flickr can help you with the backup process or back up a physical copy on a drive.

But if that sounds too complicated and youd rather just stick to the cloud, Rowlands suggests using two-factor authentication to protect yourself from potential hacks.

Its just that peace of mind thing, right? Because the whole thing of backing up is so that you know that your photos are safe, said Rowlands.

For other tips, check your backup settings to make sure that your photos are saved.

If you delete a photo from your phone by accident, it should still be in the cloud for 30 days.

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Your photos could be gone in a flash if you're not careful, we have tips on how to protect your pics - WSB Atlanta