Can I Backup Photos to a Flash Drive?

[bobinfaith]

Hello brothers and sisters;

Back in April all my (5k +) photos were transferred from my iPhone to Google photos without me knowing any better. It used up all my storage and now Google offers an upgrade to store but it will cost me. Many of the same photos remain on my iPhone.

I really don't have time to look at a bunch of photos.

So, instead of deleting them all, I wanted to know if I can just back what's on my computer to a flash drive, or my apple iCloud Is there a way I can do it all at once?

If someone can help me can you reply with a 1, 2, 3 step process?

God bless you and thank you.
Bob

 

[rtm3039]

Hm. I can 't tell if this is a trick question, of if I don't understand it

1. Put Flash Drive in your computer and open it up,
2. Go to where your pictures,
3. Highlight all the images,
4. Drag and drop them into your Flah Drive.

 

[Siloam]

I believe the point is not so much getting a local copy of Bob's photos, but then deleting it form Google's cloud.

Actually, this changes over time as google wrestles with the issue, since selling it is their business.

I copied the following from Google's account help.

How Google helps you delete data from your account​

Our privacy and security tools are designed to put you in control of your data and protect it. Based on your Activity controls, your activity on Google products and services like Search, Chrome, and YouTube may be saved in your Google Account. You can use My Activity to view and delete this data.

How deletion of activity works​

How Google deletes activity in your account​

When you choose to delete activity manually or activity is deleted automatically based on your auto-delete setting, we immediately start the process of removing it from the product and our systems.
First, we aim to immediately remove it from view and the data may no longer be used to personalize your Google experience.
We then begin a process designed to safely and completely delete the data from our storage systems.

Along with helping you delete data manually or automatically, Google may delete some types of activity sooner when it’s no longer useful to improve your experience.
Learn more about how Google retains data we collect.

Data that may be retained for limited purposes​

When you delete some types of data from My Activity, Google may need to retain certain information associated with your Google Account for specific purposes, including for:

• Security, fraud and abuse prevention. For example, info about abusive accounts may be retained to help block abusive behavior in the future.
• Financial record-keeping. For example, if you buy an app from Google Play, Google may need to retain info about that transaction for required accounting purposes.
• Complying with legal or regulatory requirements. For example, if Google receives a lawful subpoena, information may be retained as required by law.
• Ensuring our services continue to work. For example, if you share information with others (like using Google Assistant to send a message to someone), deleting the activity from your Google Account will not delete the message you sent.
• Direct communications with Google. For example, if you suggest an edit to a place in Google Maps.

Anonymized data​

To help power certain services, an anonymized version of your data might be retained after you delete it. Anonymized data can no longer be associated with you or your account.

For example, if you delete a search from My Activity, an anonymized version of what you searched for may be retained to create functionality like global search trends.

Use of Google services​

When data is deleted, some information about your use of Google services is kept until your Google Account is deleted, like which Google services you use and how frequently you use them.

For example, if you delete an address you've searched for in Google Maps, your account may still store that you've used the directions feature. That way, Google Maps can avoid showing you how to use the directions feature in the future.

How Google protects your privacy​

• You can view a summary of the data saved in your Google Account and download your data at any time.
• You can choose to automatically delete activity after it’s been in your Google Account for a certain period of time, and manually delete your activity at any time.
• The anonymization techniques that Google uses create data that cannot be associated with any one individual.

How to manage & delete your activity​

To find and delete your activity, go to activity.google.com. You can download your data at any time.

• You can automatically delete activity after it’s been in your account for a certain period of time.
• You can manually delete all activity from My Activity or filter by date and product to delete activity items or groups of activity. You can always delete activity manually, even if automatic deletion is turned on.
• You can delete your Google Account or delete a Google service.

Delete data saved in other places​

• Files or content like documents, emails, or photos are stored in their respective products, like Drive, Gmail, and Photos. You can manage and delete content or files directly from the Google products you use.
• Location History is saved in your Google Maps timeline. Learn how to delete your Location History.
• Search history may be saved to your device. Learn more about how to manage Search history saved on your device.
• Data from Google Fit.

Choose what activity is saved in your account​

To help you choose what activity is saved in your Google Account going forward, you can use your Activity controls. Data saved in My Activity is not deleted when you turn off Activity controls.

​

 

[bobinfaith]

Hm. I can 't tell if this is a trick question, of if I don't understand it

1. Put Flash Drive in your computer and open it up,
2. Go to where your pictures,
3. Highlight all the images,
4. Drag and drop them into your Flah Drive.

View attachment 9831
View attachment 9832

I believe the point is not so much getting a local copy of Bob's photos, but then deleting it form Google's cloud.

Actually, this changes over time as google wrestles with the issue, since selling it is their business.

I copied the following from Google's account help.

How Google helps you delete data from your account​

Our privacy and security tools are designed to put you in control of your data and protect it. Based on your Activity controls, your activity on Google products and services like Search, Chrome, and YouTube may be saved in your Google Account. You can use My Activity to view and delete this data.

How deletion of activity works​

How Google deletes activity in your account​

When you choose to delete activity manually or activity is deleted automatically based on your auto-delete setting, we immediately start the process of removing it from the product and our systems.
First, we aim to immediately remove it from view and the data may no longer be used to personalize your Google experience.
We then begin a process designed to safely and completely delete the data from our storage systems.

Along with helping you delete data manually or automatically, Google may delete some types of activity sooner when it’s no longer useful to improve your experience.
Learn more about how Google retains data we collect.

Data that may be retained for limited purposes​

When you delete some types of data from My Activity, Google may need to retain certain information associated with your Google Account for specific purposes, including for:

• Security, fraud and abuse prevention. For example, info about abusive accounts may be retained to help block abusive behavior in the future.
• Financial record-keeping. For example, if you buy an app from Google Play, Google may need to retain info about that transaction for required accounting purposes.
• Complying with legal or regulatory requirements. For example, if Google receives a lawful subpoena, information may be retained as required by law.
• Ensuring our services continue to work. For example, if you share information with others (like using Google Assistant to send a message to someone), deleting the activity from your Google Account will not delete the message you sent.
• Direct communications with Google. For example, if you suggest an edit to a place in Google Maps.

Anonymized data​

To help power certain services, an anonymized version of your data might be retained after you delete it. Anonymized data can no longer be associated with you or your account.

For example, if you delete a search from My Activity, an anonymized version of what you searched for may be retained to create functionality like global search trends.

Use of Google services​

When data is deleted, some information about your use of Google services is kept until your Google Account is deleted, like which Google services you use and how frequently you use them.

For example, if you delete an address you've searched for in Google Maps, your account may still store that you've used the directions feature. That way, Google Maps can avoid showing you how to use the directions feature in the future.

How Google protects your privacy​

• You can view a summary of the data saved in your Google Account and download your data at any time.
• You can choose to automatically delete activity after it’s been in your Google Account for a certain period of time, and manually delete your activity at any time.
• The anonymization techniques that Google uses create data that cannot be associated with any one individual.

How to manage & delete your activity​

To find and delete your activity, go to activity.google.com. You can download your data at any time.

• You can automatically delete activity after it’s been in your account for a certain period of time.
• You can manually delete all activity from My Activity or filter by date and product to delete activity items or groups of activity. You can always delete activity manually, even if automatic deletion is turned on.
• You can delete your Google Account or delete a Google service.

Delete data saved in other places​

• Files or content like documents, emails, or photos are stored in their respective products, like Drive, Gmail, and Photos. You can manage and delete content or files directly from the Google products you use.
• Location History is saved in your Google Maps timeline. Learn how to delete your Location History.
• Search history may be saved to your device. Learn more about how to manage Search history saved on your device.
• Data from Google Fit.

Choose what activity is saved in your account​

To help you choose what activity is saved in your Google Account going forward, you can use your Activity controls. Data saved in My Activity is not deleted when you turn off Activity controls.

​

Good morning, rtm3039 and Siloam;

Everything you posted helps and I'm grateful. I'll be back later this afternoon and attempt to clean up my photo file.

God bless you, brothers.

 

[LearningToLetGo]

Once you've copied your files to a local drive and deleted them off of Google's cloud servers, make sure to disable the automatic backup from device otherwise it'll happen all over again. I had a similar issue a while back with Apple's iCloud. It was quite frustrating.

 

[forgiven61]

i keep mine on my computer never used cloud server

 

[forgiven61]

Good morning, rtm3039 and Siloam;

Everything you posted helps and I'm grateful. I'll be back later this afternoon and attempt to clean up my photo file.

God bless you, brothers.

you can buy external hard drives

 

[bobinfaith]

Hello brothers and sisters;

I started the deletion process while backing up what I decided to save on my flash drive.

I also changed my default and will try DuckDuckGo on my Apple workstation and see how that goes. For some reason I’m feeling a comfortable change.

I read some of your suggestions and thank you for helping.

God bless you all.
Bob