Back Up Your Google Photos to a USB Drive: The Safe Way – Part 2 of 3
Part 2 of 3
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably decided: I want to save my photos on a physical USB drive. That’s smart thinking. A USB stick in your hand is something you can keep forever. It’s not dependent on paying Google every month. It’s not sitting on the internet.
But here’s the thing: backing up photos the wrong way can be worse than not backing them up at all.
I’ve learned this the hard way. I know people who’ve stored photos on a USB stick, stuck it in a drawer, and ten years later, the files wouldn’t open anymore. The stick had died. The memories were gone.
I’m going to show you the right way to do this. The way that actually protects your photos. And I’m going to be honest about what works and what doesn’t.
First: The Uncomfortable Truth About USB Sticks
I need to tell you something that might surprise you.
USB thumb drives are NOT safe for long-term storage. I know, that seems backwards. But it’s true. These little sticks are great for moving files around. They’re portable. They’re convenient. But they’re not reliable for keeping your precious photos safe for years and years.
Why:
Flash memory fades. USB sticks store data as tiny electrical charges in memory cells. If that stick sits unplugged in a drawer for a year or two, those charges can leak away—kind of like a battery slowly losing its power, even when you’re not using it. Once the charge is gone, the files become unreadable. This is called “bit rot.” It’s silent. It happens without warning.
The connector is fragile. That little metal USB connector on the stick? It’s the weakest part. One accidental bump while it’s plugged in, and the internal connections can snap. Stick dies. Files are gone.
Quality varies wildly. Many cheap USB sticks use lower-quality components than more robust storage devices. They just aren’t built to last.
So here’s the honest answer: a USB stick alone is not a good final destination for your irreplaceable memories.
But don’t worry. I’m going to show you a system that works.
The Right Way: The “3-2-1” Backup Rule
There’s an industry standard that professional photographers, archivists, and IT people use. It’s called the 3-2-1 Backup Rule. And it actually works.
Here’s what it means:
3 copies of your photos. One original (on Google Photos, for now) plus two backup copies.
2 different types of storage. Not two USB sticks. Not two copies of the same device. Two different kinds of storage. For example, one USB external hard drive and one cloud service. Or one external hard drive and keeping a copy at a trusted family member’s house.
1 copy stored somewhere else. Off-site. In a different location. In case something happens to your house (fire, theft, water damage), your backups still exist somewhere safe.
Why does this work? Because it protects against almost everything. One device fails? You have two others. Your house burns down? You have a backup across town. A single cloud service goes out of business? You have a copy on a physical drive.
I know that sounds like overkill. But honestly? It’s not. Not for photos. Not for irreplaceable memories.
The Practical Approach (For This Article)
I’m going to show you how to safely download your photos from Google and put them on a USB external hard drive. (Not a cheap thumb stick—an actual external hard drive. Yes, there’s a difference, and yes, it matters.)
Then I’m going to suggest you follow the 3-2-1 rule: make a second copy of those files somewhere else—maybe on another drive, or maybe uploaded to a cloud service as a backup.
It sounds like a lot. But once you do it, you’re done. Your photos are safe.
Before You Start: Make a Safety Copy of Everything (Optional, But Smart)
If you’re nervous about this process—and I understand if you are—Google has a built-in tool that lets you download your entire Google account as a backup.
It’s called Google Takeout. It creates one giant file with everything: all your photos, all your emails, everything.
If you want that extra peace of mind, go to takeout.google.com right now and start a download. It can take a while (hours, or even a day), but it sits there in your Google Drive ready to download whenever you want.
You don’t have to do this to follow the rest of this guide. But if you’re nervous, it’s a good safety net.
Step 1: Organize Your Photos Into Albums (Before You Download)
Here’s the key: don’t try to download thousands of loose photos. It’s confusing and error-prone.
Instead, organize the photos you want to back up into Google Photos Albums first. Think of an album like a playlist of photos.
How to create an album:
- Open Google Photos on your computer
- Find a photo you want to include
- Click the heart icon (to mark it as a favorite) OR click the three dots and select Add to album
- Create a new album with a clear name, like “2023 Family Photos” or “Grandkids – Summer 2024”
- Keep adding photos to that album
Spend some time organizing. Create albums by year, or by event (like “Sarah’s Graduation” or “Beach Trip 2022”). Whatever makes sense to you.
Important: When you create an album, you’re not making a copy of the photo. It’s like a bookmark. One photo can be in five different albums at the same time, and it doesn’t use any extra space. So don’t worry about duplicating anything.
Once your albums are organized, you’re ready to download them.
Step 2: Download an Album to Your Computer
Now you’re going to download one album at a time to your computer.
- Open the album in Google Photos
- Look in the top right corner for three vertical dots (⋮). Click them.
- Select Download all
- Google will create a compressed file (a .zip file) and put it in your computer’s Downloads folder
- Wait for the download to finish (depending on the size, this could take a few minutes to an hour)
On Windows: Right-click the .zip file and select Extract All. This opens the folder with all your photos.
On Mac: Just double-click the .zip file. It automatically extracts.
Now you have a folder full of photos on your computer. Verify that you can open a few of them—just click on one and make sure it displays correctly. This is your safety check.
Step 3: The HEIC Format Thing (iPhone Users, Read This)
If you use an iPhone, here’s something you need to know.
iPhones take photos in a format called HEIC. It’s a newer format that Apple uses. HEIC photos are smaller and sharper than regular JPG photos.
The problem: Not everything can read HEIC files.
If you have an older Windows computer, a photo printer, or a TV, plugging in a USB stick full of HEIC files might not work. These devices expect JPG, which is the old standard that everything has used for 30 years.
Should you convert your HEIC files to JPG?
If you’re only viewing your photos on Apple devices (your iPhone, iPad, or Mac), you don’t have to convert. They’ll work fine.
But if you want your USB drive to work on any computer—Windows, older devices, if you want to share it with friends—it’s safer to convert to JPG first. JPG works everywhere.
How to convert (the easy way):
You don’t need to install any software. Just use a free website:
- Go to CloudConvert.com (look for the HEIC to JPG converter)
- Click Select Files and choose your HEIC photos from the folder you just downloaded
- Click Convert
- Download your new JPG files
It takes a couple of minutes. After that, you’ll have JPG versions of all your photos. Those JPGs will work on any device, anywhere in the world.
Bottom line: If this is a backup you plan to keep for a long time, or if you might share it with others, converting to JPG is worth the few minutes it takes. JPG is the universal format.
Step 4: Get the Right USB Drive
Here’s where I’m going to ask you to spend a little money—but not much.
Don’t use a cheap USB thumb stick. Those $5 sticks you got as a promotion or from the weekend market? Not reliable for long-term storage.
Instead, buy an external hard drive. Look for:
- 1TB or 2TB capacity (that’s plenty for photos)
- Any brand you recognize (Western Digital, Seagate, LaCie, Toshiba —these are all fine)
- Cost: Usually between $110 and $150 AUD for a 1TB
You can find them at OfficeWorks, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys or any electronics store. Ask the salesperson for an “external hard drive for backup.” They’ll know what you need.
Why is this better than a USB stick?
- External hard drives don’t suffer from the “charge leakage” problem that kills USB sticks but should still be accessed at least annually
- They use better-quality components
- They’re designed for exactly this purpose: long-term storage
- They last longer—sometimes 10+ years if treated well
One more thing: Get a second external drive of the same size. Same brand. You’re going to make two copies—one for you, one for backup. (This is part of the 3-2-1 rule I mentioned earlier.)
Step 5: Copy Your Photos to the External Drive
This is the easy part.
- Plug your external hard drive into your computer
- Open the folder of photos you downloaded from Google
- Select all the photos (press Ctrl+A on Windows, or Command+A on Mac)
- Copy them (press Ctrl+C or Command+C)
- Open the external hard drive (it shows up like a folder on your computer)
- Paste the photos there (press Ctrl+V or Command+V)
- Wait for the copy to finish. This can take a while if you have a lot of photos.
Once it’s done, spot-check: click on a random photo on the external drive and make sure it opens and looks correct.
Step 6: Make a Second Copy (The Backup)
Now plug in your second external hard drive.
Repeat Step 5: Copy all the photos to the second drive as well.
Now you have two identical copies of your photos on two identical external drives.
Keep one at home. Keep the second one somewhere else—at a trusted friend’s house, your adult child’s place. Somewhere that’s not in the same building as your primary copy.
Why? So that if something happens to your house, your photos still exist somewhere safe.
Step 7: Clean Up and Take a Breath
You did it. Your photos are now backed up safely.
Now delete the temporary files from your computer to free up space:
- Go to your Downloads folder
- Delete the .zip file you downloaded from Google
- Delete the extracted photo folder
You don’t need them anymore. Your backups exist on those external drives.
One last thing: Write a simple label on each external drive. Use a marker and write something like:
“Family Photos 2000-2024 — Backup Copy #1”
Keep a note somewhere (or take a photo on your phone) that reminds you what’s on each drive and where the backup copy is stored. This is important so that five years from now, when you find that drive in a drawer, you remember what it contains.
Once a Year: Power Them On
Here’s a maintenance tip: Once a year, plug both external drives in and let them run for 15 minutes. Just power them on. You don’t have to do anything with them.
Why? It refreshes the internal components and keeps them healthy. It’s like taking your car for a drive once a month even if you’re not going anywhere—it keeps everything working.
That’s It
You’ve done the right thing. Your photos are now backed up safely in two places. You’ve followed the industry-standard 3-2-1 backup rule. Your memories are protected.
If you ever want to add more photos to those drives, just repeat Step 5: copy them over from Google Photos, and then copy them to the backup drive as well.
What’s Next?
This guide covers the essentials. But if you’re interested in even more protection—like encrypting your external drives so no one can access them without a password, or organizing your photos in a specific way, or handling very large photo libraries—then read Part 3.
Part 3 covers the advanced stuff. You don’t need it. But if you’re someone who likes to do things thoroughly, it’s there.
Questions? This process is straightforward, but if something doesn’t make sense or you get stuck, reach out. I’m here to help.
— The Tech
