Google Photos vs. Local Storage

Q: What’s the best way to get my thousands of photos and videos on Google Photos downloaded to my computer?

A: The spectacular evolution of smartphone photography and videography has led to a problem that we all must deal with: where to store our precious but growing library of memories.

Figuring out a long-term strategy is important as huge libraries of photos and videos are difficult and time-consuming to move around.

Deciding where to store yourtreasured memories can be a bit overwhelming, but not having a plan can lead to lost memories or confusion as to where they live.

Should you trust Google Photos as your primary storage or is it safer to keep them on your local computer?

The case for Google Photos

Think of Google Photos as a flexible and organized photo album on the Internet. Instead of filling up your hard drive with countless photo albums, Google Photos lets you stash them all in a
virtual vault that you can access from any of your connected devices.

Storage Saver: No matter how many photos or videos you create, your phone, tablet, and computer won’t feel the storage pinch. You also won’t have to remember which device is storing which files.

Powerful Search: Finding an old picture using Google’s powerful search options is like using a super-organized filing cabinet. You can type descriptions, locations or dates to find those ‘needle in a haystack’ images from your huge library.

Automatic Backup: Technology is unpredictable and unforeseen situations such as fires, floods, or hardware failure could erase a lifetime of memories. Google Photos acts as a digital insurance policy, routinely backing up your photos whenever you have an internet connection.

Privacy Concerns: There are two prominent questions that come with using Google Photos: will my private memories be safe from hackers and what is Google doing with my data?

While nothing is 100% secure online, Google’s ability to keep your data safe is much better than your ability to manage and secure your own data locally on a long-term basis.

They aren’t selling your images, but in the age of AI, their algorithms are certainly ‘learning’ from them. If that bothers you more than the benefits, it may be a deal killer.

Ongoing Fees: While you get 15GB of free storage from Google, it’s shared across all your Google services including Gmail, so it can fill up quickly.It’s just a matter of time before you run up against the free limits, so it will lead to monthly or annual fees, forever.

The case for local storage

The obvious benefits to having everything stored on a local hard drive are you are in total control and you avoid ongoing fees, but local storage has its own serious pitfalls.

Vulnerable to Disaster: Since you’re in total control, you also have to devise and execute an ongoing backup system or risk losing everything in a disaster or drive failure.

Limited Access: Unlike Google Photos, you can’t pull up your photo album on a whim from your phone or another device without a lot of extra work.

Storage Management: It’s just a matter of time before you run out of space on your local hard drive and finding a specific photo from a library of thousands is difficult.

Getting pictures from Google Photos to local storage

If your library is small, you can download them to a single compressed file by selecting them and using the ‘download’ option via the three dots in the top-right corner.

Google also provides a tool called Takeout  that allows you to export any or all of your account data for backup or transfer purposes.