Photoshop Elements 4: The Missing Manual

Backing up Your Files

With computers, you just never know what's going to happen, so "Be prepared" is a good motto. If your computer crashes, it won't be nearly so painful if all your photos are safely backed up someplace else.

Saving to CDs and DVDs

Elements makes it very easy to save your files to any add-on storage device like a Zip drive or an external hard-drive. Of course, you can just do a Save As and choose your storage device as the destination, but it's also easy to back up to CDs (and DVDs, if you have a DVD burner).

Windows XP also has a CD-burning utility built right into the system. The box on Section 3.8.2 explains how to use it. But when it comes to easy backups, you're in for a treat with the Elements Organizer. You can burn CDs or DVDs right from the Organizer, and it gives you many different options for backing up your photos and catalogs (Section 2.6). All these options are covered in the next section.

Organizer Backups

The Organizer offers you a simply swell way to back up your photos. It's one of the best parts of the Organizer, and it's certainly very thorough, even going so far as to remind you to label the CD you create (Figure 3-24).

Figure 3-24. The Organizer walks you through every step of backing up your photos. It doesn't forget a thing, even reminding you to write the disc's name on it when you're done. Your basic procedure is the same, no matter how many ...