AUGUST 2019 PCWorld 115com/bcup) for Macs and PCs that lets you
easily sync photos and videos from your
desktop to your Google Drive or Google
Photos. It’s not a two-way street like the
current Google Photos–Google Drive
integration (meaning you’ll need to upload
photos and videos to both places), but you
can pick individual folders to automatically
sync as soon as you fire up your PC. Any new
images and videos on your PC will be
available through Google Drive.
DOWNLOAD A PHOTO
ARCHIVE
If you want to make sure you have a
backup of your photos in addition to the
one on Google Photos, you can still
download a
complete copy of
your Google
Photos archive.
It’s not quite as
quick or seamless
as the Google
Drive sync, but
it’ll do the trick.
To get
started, head
over to the Data
& Personalization
tab in your
Google Account,
scroll down
and select
Download Your Data. There are quite a few
categories to choose from, but you’ll want
to deselect them all and look for Google
Photos. Click the checkbox and then scroll
down to Next Step. On the next screen,
you’ll be able to choose the delivery
method, file type, and archive size, as well as
how often you want to receive a copy of your
archive. Then select Create Archive to
generate your library.
It might take a while to deliver
depending on the size of your library, and
then even longer to download once it’s
ready. But your photos will be neatly
arranged in folders by date, so they can then
be uploaded to Google Drive or stored on
an external drive, whichever you prefer.To back up your full Google Photos library, you’re going to need to download an
archive first.