Where should photographers store client photos?

Store client photos in at least two places: a working backup you control (for originals and edits) and a delivery platform built for photos (for what the client receives). And pay attention to which country the data physically sits in, because that decides whose laws apply. Consumer cloud drives are neither a real backup strategy nor a delivery platform.

The three jobs storage has to do

Protect the originals. Your RAWs and edits are your business asset. Follow a 3-2-1 approach: three copies, on two types of media, one off-site. Local drive plus an off-site/cloud backup is the minimum.
Deliver to the client. The delivered set needs its own home — a gallery platform that’s fast, branded, downloadable, and that keeps the gallery available for years without expiring.
Stay compliant. Because photos are personal data, where they’re stored matters. EU data residency keeps the files under EU law, which is what many clients require.

What not to rely on as your only copy

A single external drive. Drives fail; that’s when, not if.
A consumer cloud folder (Drive/Dropbox) as delivery. Unbranded, quota-limited, no client experience, and jurisdiction you don’t control. Fine as one backup copy, wrong as the client-facing delivery. Why a gallery beats a Drive folder →
The delivery platform as your only backup. Keep your own copy of originals too; delivery is for the client-facing set.

A setup that works for most photographers

Originals/edits: local fast storage + an automated off-site backup (a 3-2-1 setup).
Client delivery: a purpose-built gallery platform with verified uploads, unlimited client downloads, and a gallery that’s never auto-deleted.
Jurisdiction: prefer EU data residency if any of your clients are EU-based, agencies, schools, or public sector.

The question to ask any platform

“Where, physically, is my data stored, and under whose law?” If a platform can’t answer clearly, you can’t answer it for your clients either.

CuratePics stores delivered galleries in the EU, verified and backed up, never auto-purged. See how →