DIY: Amazon Prime Photos Backup System – Part 2 – Initial Setup

01 Jul DIY: Amazon Prime Photos Backup System – Part 2 – Initial Setup

This blog is a follow-on to last month’s blog:  https://preciousmemsphoto.com/2020/06/diy-amazon-prime-photos-backup-system-part-1-setting-up-devices/

Last month, I discussed how to set up the basic Amazon Photos/Amazon Drive system to backup the photos from your phones and other devices.  This is depicted in the top part of the drawing, below.

In this blog, I’ll discuss how to download your photos from Amazon Prime Drive Pictures (Auto-Save) folder and set up the Photo Hub.  When the process is complete, you will end up with an organized set of pictures in Amazon Photos and Amazon Drive.  You’ll be able to quickly and easily access your photos and share them with your family and friends.

This drawing depicts the complete process:

There are five steps to completing the backup cycle:

1. Create the top folder for Mirror folders on your computer so that the photos from the Picture (Auto-Save) folders could sync. I named mine Amazon Photo Sync.
2. Turn ON Syncing at the Settings Gear in the lower left corner, so the Picture (Auto-Save) folders get created. You’ll notice that all the devices shown in the Pictures (Auto-Save) folder on Amazon Drive (June Blog), are accurately reflected on my desktop sync folder. 
   Note:  Unfortunately, at this time, Amazon Photos is unable to auto-sync to an Externa Hard Drive (EHD).
3. The pictures in the Pictures folder on the desktop need to be curated. You can think of this as your To Do List:
   1. Delete the blurry pictures, pictures of stuff you considered buying, the ones that have a bazillion copies, and just keep the very best ones.
   2. Since Sync is ON, pictures deleted in the mirrored folder will get deleted from the Pictures folders on the web.
   3. Any additional photos from SD cards, or digitized prints from friends or family, or any other source, need to be folded in.
   4. Ask yourself, what am I going to want to see in ten years?
4. The curated pictures need to be moved (not copied) from the Mirrored folder on the desktop to your Photo Hub.
   1. The Photo Hub can be on an External Hard Drive.
   2. There is no right or wrong way to organize the pictures in the Photo Hub.  Many people choose to have their pictures by year and month, but others choose to organize by person or event, or by some combination of these. This is how I organize my pictures:
5. The photos from the Photo Hub need to be uploaded to the Photo Hub on Amazon Drive.
   1. The first time this is done, the upload will take a very long time – several days.
   2. Be sure to use the Amazon Photos app on your computer to backup the photos.
      1. Using the Amazon Photos app works like a dashboard, allowing you to view progress.
      2. The dashboard allows you to view any files which may have failed, and gives you the ability to retry the upload of the failed photos.
      3. You can upload large videos using the Amazon Photos dashboard.
      4. The dashboard also allows for the creation of nested folders.
      5. Using the web-based Amazon Photos compresses the files, is error-prone, and is NOT consistent.

This is the Amazon Photo Dashboard that is on your computer.  Backups should take place from here:

This is the web-based Amazon Drive.  Backups should NOT take place here:

[OPTIONAL]. Once complete, you can turn OFF Syncing or simply exit the Amazon Photos dashboard, so your hard drive does not get filled up with pictures from the Pictures (Auto-Save) folder.

Next month, I will discuss how to maintain this wonderful “machine”.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me at amira@PreciousMemsPhoto.com.