When was the last time you backed up your precious memories? Those photos of your child’s first step, the new puppy, family holidays for example; are something GeeksOnTime never wants you to lose.
Since most people no longer print out all of their photographs, new methods of storage need to be used. Having your photos and videos stored on hard media is not reliable. Drives and stick devices go bad, and discs can get scratched or lost. With very little effort you can backup each photo and video using Google+ Auto Backup’s free storage!
The latest version of Picasa for Windows or Mac (which is free!) installs a separate utility called Google+ Auto Backup. It’s a simple tool that lets you select the folders that you want to backup, and will do it automatically. It will automatically sync photos and videos from your computer, including anytime that you connect a phone, camera or SD storage card.
Free storage limits when you create a Google+ profile:
- Picasa offers 1 GB of free storage for photos and videos. However, files under certain size limits don’t count towards this storage limit:
- All photos uploaded from other Google products including: Blogger, Google+ and Google Maps will continue to be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge) and don’t count towards your free storage!
- Photos up to 2048 x 2048 pixels, and videos up to 15 minutes don’t count towards your free storage!
- The free storage sizes mentioned above are plenty big enough for sharing a photo via digital media (like on the web, or on a screen.) If you prefer to upload a photo in a larger size for archival or print quality; and you somehow go over your free 1 GB limit, you can buy more storage at any time.
- All photos from the Picasa software or in Picasa Web Albums over the free size limit will count towards your 1 GB of free storage. When you reach your free storage limit, any new photos you upload larger than the free size limit will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge.)
Other points about Google Photos:
- Everything is private until you choose to share.
- You can create folders, online photo albums and slideshows.
- The application uses the new Google Photos icon and, even though it’s installed by Picasa, it doesn’t actually have anything to do with Picasa, which has its own syncing feature.
- You can install the Google+ Auto Backup app for your computer without first installing Picasa, but GeeksOnTime likes to use Picasa as it’s a free, user-friendly online photo editor.
If you want to install the Google+ Auto Backup app for desktop without first installing Picasa, here are the direct links to the setup files:
Windows: https://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/picasa/gpautobackup_setup.exe
Mac: https://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/picasa/gpautobackup_setup.dmg