World Backup Day Photo Archive
A backup copies whatever you hand it, including every near-identical burst. Review the duplicates first and you archive a photo library, not five copies of the same afternoon.
Clear 1,000 duplicates before you back up
- Target
- 1,000 duplicates
- Runs
- March 24 to April 4
- Status
- Returns March 24
Get through 1,000 duplicates, or review the whole seasonal queue. Either one completes the challenge, so you never have to delete a photo you wanted in order to finish.
Get Cleanor and be readyWhy this moment feels timely
World Backup Day on March 31 is the one day a year most people stop and think about their photo library. The usual response is to back it up, which is the right instinct and only half the job.
A backup copies whatever you hand it. Reviewing duplicates and near-identical shots first means the archive holds your photographs rather than your repetition, and the monthly bill reflects a library instead of a pile.
Where Cleanor helps first
The clutter worth going after this season, and a sensible order to do it in.
What Cleanor looks at
- Duplicate photos, caught before they sync
- Near-identical bursts, grouped together
- Large videos nobody has opened in a year
- A smaller library to archive
How to approach it
- Start with duplicates and bursts, because that is where the same image is being stored the most times over.
- Do the review before the backup runs, not after. Cleaning up later means the archive already holds the mess.
- Keep the large videos you actually rewatch, and let the rest go before they are copied indefinitely.
Why this is worth doing now
The argument here is arithmetic rather than sentiment. Backup software has no opinion about what you give it, so a camera roll full of bursts and duplicates gets copied exactly as it stands. The same shot ends up preserved five times over, faithfully and indefinitely, on a plan that renews every month whether or not you ever look at it again.
Cleanor belongs in front of the backup, not instead of it. Reviewing your duplicate photos, the near-identical shots, and the large videos you have not opened since last summer takes a single session. What remains is a library worth the storage it occupies. The order is what does the work, and it is easy to get backwards: review first, then archive.
None of this is an argument against backing up. If you came here looking for a reminder to protect your photos, that instinct is a good one. The only thing worth adding is that protecting the same photograph five times over is not five times safer. It is just five times more expensive, every month, for as long as you keep paying.
Useful pages around this challenge
What comes up next
The seasonal moments arriving soonest after this one.
Vacation Video Review
One trip can outweigh a year of photographs. A few minutes of 4K footage runs to gigabytes, so the fastest way back to free space is to review the videos first.
Open the challengeRunning now, to September 20Back-to-School Screenshot Reset
Screenshots are information with an expiry date, stored like photographs that never have one. A term’s worth of schedules, reading lists and receipts is the easiest thing to clear.
Open the challengeStarts in 16 daysClean Before the Transfer
A transfer moves whatever you point it at, including years of duplicates and videos you have never rewatched. Clean the old iPhone first: less to move, and a camera roll you chose.
Open the challenge