How to Secure and Share Your Precious Photos

This topic needs a permanent place here. Understanding the difference between back-up vs sync will ultimately save your photos (and files). 

As a rule: You should have 3 backups of your photos, 2 different sources, and at least 1 off site.

Backup: a Safety Net for Your Photos

Imagine you're keeping a safety net for your favorite digital photographs. This is your backup. It's like making an extra copy of your pictures and storing it somewhere safe. This copy doesn't change when you edit your original photos – it just sits there, ready to jump in if something happens to your original pictures. So, if you accidentally delete a photo, or your computer decides to take a nap forever, your backup copy is there to rescue your precious memories.

Backup is a one-way street.

You take a photo, it backs up and stays there no matter what happens to the original. Your picture is safe in case of data loss on the original device.

Sync: Photos Doing the Wave

Now, think about keeping all your photos in tune, no matter where you look at them. This is what sync does. It's like magic that makes sure whatever change you make to a photo in one place, it happens in all the other places you keep your photos. If you add a new photo to your phone, it appears on your computer, too. If you edit a picture on your tablet, the changes also show up on your laptop. Sync keeps all your devices singing the same photo tune.

Sync is a two-way street

Take a photo, it backs up, BUT if you delete that photo, it is removed from the cloud as well. IF you are using SYNC consider this as only one copy of your photo

Backup Options

Amazon Photos: When enabled, Amazon Photos back up your entire camera roll. If you purge items from the phone after backup, they remain in Amazon. If you delete items in Amazon, they will remain on your phone.

Dropbox: You can choose what  Dropbox backs up - all items or only new items after Dropbox is enabled. You can also specify only certain albums that are backed up to Dropbox.

Sync Options

iCloud: Even if you see the same photos on your Mac + iPhone + iPad because they are SYNCED, it is all ONE copy. If you delete on one device, it deletes from all devices

iCloud IS your camera roll

With iCloud Photos enabled, your Camera Roll reflects 100% of your iCloud content. Always. There is no separate 'old iCloud content" hidden somewhere else.

How does iCloud's "optimize storage" feature impact a backup?  Dropbox and Amazon Photos work with iCloud to back up FULL-SIZE items, even if iCloud optimizes your photos. YAY!!

Google Photos: Deleting items from the Google Photos App on your phone also deletes them from the device.

In Short: 

Backup: Your photos are secure. Sync: Although in the cloud, photos can be quickly modified (read: deleted through phone photo apps).