Since the evolution of smartphones, we take thousands of pictures and videos. All it takes is one click. Creating and saving memories has never been easier, but this transition came with a cost. All our memories, be they images or videos, are stored digitally, which does have its advantages but also some alarming disadvantages.
Printed images last decades, and we often have our grandparent’s portraits hung somewhere in our home or secured in a photo album. While digital copies allow superior portability and ease of sharing and access, once the storage drive is destroyed or corrupted, all our memories fade away.
Technology has now brought a solution to this scenario. There has been a subsequent number of USB stick devices designed to store media files only. Unlike the USB storage units, which required your time and intervention with copying and pasting files, these USB stick devices are bundled with powerful software to automate the process of copying image and video files.
Today we are talking about one such device, which also happens to be called The Photo Stick. We present a comprehensive Photo stick review that will help you get the right facts straight up.
What is a Photo stick?
Photo stick is the technological solution to safely back up your memories without breaking a sweat and keeping them off the internet and cloud-based backup solutions.
What exactly is The Photo Stick?
As evident from the images, it has a similar structure to a USB drive. But don’t get confused now, this little device is not just any ordinary USB drive. It offers smart storage solutions that can resolve all your storage woes without needing any assistance from your end.
It comes with pre-installed software that automates synchronizing your images and videos and copying the files. Photo stick saves both your time and money, as cloud-based backup services charge hundreds of dollars with limited storage space every month.
The Photo stick can automatically copy all the image files minus the duplicates. The in-built software enables this device to keep just one copy of each file and save space. The device was designed to overcome conventional USB flash drives shortcomings and simplify the creation of backups.
Photo Stick Review
We will be discussing various aspects of this USB photo stick including its user-friendliness, compatibility, storage, cost of photo stick, photo stick sale, money-back guarantee, and much more. This article will help you ascertain facts before purchasing the device.
User-Friendly
Perhaps the best aspect of the photo stick is its user-friendly design and simple operations. You don’t necessarily need extensive computing knowledge to use it.
For those who did not grow up having a personal PC around their space, using one can still be a challenging affair, let alone with a USB-like stick that’s supposed to back up all images without copying duplicates.
The user-friendly design and internet-free operation of the photo stick is an immediate win. Simply plug it into the USB port and it will get the job done automatically, notifying you along the way and up till it has done its part. Better still, you do not need to add any passwords to this device.
Compatibility
Compared to ordinary flash drives, this is a programmed flash drive that enables it to scan the system automatically. Moreover, it runs perfectly with most Mac and Windows OS. It will not work on Linux though, unlike Infinitikloud.
Storage
Unlike conventional external hard drives, which are larger and have portability issues, the Photo stick comes in a small design with enough storage space. It is enough to carry all your essential images, which makes searching your pictures much more effortless than backing up the entire data on external hard drives. These devices are available in 8 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB.
Photo Stick Pros and Cons
Pros
- Automated data sorting and storage.
- Automatically deletes duplicate files.
- Simple to use requiring minimal user assistance.
- 60-day money-back guarantee on manufacturing defects.
- Saves huge money on cloud storage as there are no membership charges.
- Highly portable compared to external hard drives.
Cons
- Fails to connect to devices infected with malware.
- The Photo Stick is incompatible with smartphones.
- No file organization. All images and videos are shuffled.
Photo Stick Review: When Do You Need It?
The lifespan of a mechanical hard drive comes down to an average of around 3 to 4 years. Well-maintained devices may offer a slightly higher usage life, but the bottom line is that these devices get corrupted over time. But that is not the only case. Since these devices have a lot of moving components, they can be damaged by voltage surges, accidental damage, or virus corruption.
Creating backup in terms of TB is both problematic and expensive. Although an accident crash can happen at any time, the device maintenance can quickly ascertain facts and inform you way ahead of the possibility of the hard drive corrupting its data.
Apart from system notifications, you should be able to notice any unusual feedback from your device. These can range from a ticking sound, high disk rotation noise, or higher load times.
The data is the most important thing you stand to lose. Data on your system is not just vulnerable to system changes and device issues but ranges to software glitches and malware or virus problems.
Just here, when you think about losing out on your memories not so safely tucked away on your hard drive, will you need a back up solution? Almost all photo stick reviews from users have happily rated it as the thing they wanted.
Is the Photo Stick Worth Buying?
It doesn’t matter if you have personally faced a corrupted hard drive issue or not. mechanical parts can fail because of many reasons. Being insured against such incidences will not hurt your interests. Purchasing this device will enable you to keep a backup copy with just a few critical impressions.
Another benefit of using the Photo stick is its Reminder feature. You can just leave your photo stick plugged into the USB port for automated backup.
Even after purchasing cloud backup services, users do forget to back up at regular intervals. The Photo stick can come in handy for such people. You can just leave this device plugged in and set reminders for routine backups.
We recommend this device for anyone who would like to secure their images and save up on storage resources. One can reduce the risk of data corruption by storing images on the Photo stick.
While purchasing a USB stick can resolve all such issues, it will not get the job done based on automation. As such, sifting through a whole lot of images to selectively create backups and avoid duplicates will surely be a time-consuming and tiresome task.
As for cloud backup services, they are comparatively much more expensive if only used for data backup. The Photo stick comes with lifetime usage and no additional membership cost, i.e. – it is a one-time usage fee that you end up paying, only to buy it.
How Much Does the Photo stick cost?
Photo stick is a wonderful piece of equipment available in 3 colors and storage capacities. Each device is competitively priced. The most common concern of users is the number of images and videos that can be stored on this USB stick.
Just so, the website mentions 3500 photos and videos storage in 8 GB of data, considering 2 MB per image.
The storage size of a DSLR image ranges from 15-25 MB. Even though the number of images and videos that can be stored on this device depends on the resolution and quality of the images. You should go with the highest storage variant, as it is available for a lesser price per GB.
You have 3 purchase options –
- 8 GB – Available for around $36 (yellow)
- 64 GB – Available for around $50 (white)
- 128 GB device – available for about $82 (black)
The price per storage of these devices comes down to $4.5 per GB in the 8 GB variant, $0.8 per GB in the 64 gigs variant, and $0.65 per GB for the 128 GB stick.
Photo Stick Review: Is it Compatible with Windows?
The Photo stick is designed to work with different computer systems, and the current model is compatible with both Windows and Mac versions. The only thing you need to worry about is whether your PC/laptop has a USB port, or at least, one that works. One of the most common issues faced with older devices is lower storage space and a high number of programs.
The only viable solution of formatting will erase all your images and memories, without hesitation. You can plug in the Photo stick and copy all your images minus duplicates before formatting.
This device is currently compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and Windows 10. But on the Mac side, it is compatible with devices with MacOS 10.6 or above.
What Files can the Photo Stick Copy?
Our computer automatically saves files according to the extension they are downloaded or created as, like JPEG, PNG, and JPG for images and MP4, MPEG4, and MKV. Photo stick reviews from verified users often laud this device for its effectiveness with different file formats.
It comes with a few standard settings that cover the most used image and video formats. These settings can also be modified to scan and copy different file formats.
But apart from that, the photo stick is also capable of scanning and backing up raw digital image formats, whether it is CRW, NRW, or TIF, including PSD adobe image format.
All you need to do is make changes to the type of images and video formats you wish to back up, and you are good to go.
How to Use the Photo stick?
Operating the Photo stick is way easier than any other USB-connected device. Initial use may take a few minutes. Let’s get straight to the steps that you need to follow.
- Plug the Photo stick into one of your USB port
- Wait for your system to recognize the new connection
- Click run on the pop-up permissions dialogue box or double-click on the Photo stick desktop icon
- The software of the Photo stick will pop up. Just click on the Go Button
You will also be displayed a circular graph of the used and available space on your device. You can check all the backed-up images and videos by clicking on the My Photos/Videos icon. You can even check for previous logs or make changes to settings, all with the press of a button.
Where to buy the Photo stick?
Photo sticks can be purchased by two different methods. The first is via the official website, and the second is through Amazon.
If you buy from the official website, you will get a photo stick discount of 40% on the mentioned prices for every additional purchase. Select the storage model and click on Order Now. You can complete the transaction either using PayPal or Credit Card.
This price is applicable only in the United Kingdom. Buyers from other countries may have to pay additional VAT or customs charges if applicable. We have attached the example of a 128 GB variant, which costs £59.64 for the first device, and an additional device is offered at a 40% discount for just £35.78.
Note: £35.78 converts to around $50!
The price of the first purchase variant is almost 35% cheaper on Amazon and comes with no additional charges or customs duties. You can get the 128 GB model of the Photo stick at just $53.25 with no bundle offers.
The price benefit is because of the dollar-to-pound conversion rates. Amazon even offers protection plans that start from 2 years way up to 4 years.
Money-Back Guarantee
Photo stick does come with a money-back guarantee but that varies from the source of purchase. For devices sold on their official website, the company offers a 60-day money-back guarantee only for manufacturing defects. There is no trial usage period, on top of that the cost of postage and handling is to be covered by the buyer.
Amazon however offers a 30-day money-back guarantee without explaining any issues. If you purchase this device from Amazon, you get a cheaper price which is 35% lower than the prices on the official website of the Photo stick. Moreover, you don’t have to bear any customs duties or additional delivery charges.
Photo Stick Mobile
The original photo stick was not compatible with Android or iPhones or iOS devices, which prompted the creators to work out a new variant. After a few years, they launched the Photo Stick Mobile which comes in two variants 32 GB iPhone variant with a lightning port and a 32 GB Android device.
The Android variant comes with a micro-USB port that is also compatible with the Type-C port. These 32 GB variants can further be upgraded to 64 and 128 GB variants buying paying extra. Similarly, on the purchase of a second Photo Stick Mobile device, you get a discount of 40% on the second device.
Customer Reviews
On a scale of 5 to 1, 5 being the highest, we have mentioned some customer ratings and reviews about this product. The Photo stick has a 3.9-star rating out of 5. While some enjoyed the device, others faced issues from connectivity to storage and organizing. On Amazon, the ratings of this device are as follows.
- 55% 5-star rating
- 17% 4-star rating
- 10% 3-star rating
- 4% 2-star rating
- 15% 1-star rating
This thing is amazing (5 stars)
This device is amazing! Plugged into my iMac and it found all my pictures and saved them. 85,000 pics saved! Saved storage space on my computer and now I have all my memories over the last decade in a safe place”. – Tenny S
I now have 24000 originals preserved forever (4.5 stars)
I had a grand total of about 60,000 images, with many duplicates. This little “stick” managed to eliminate the duplicates so that I now have about 24,000 originals preserved forever in a fire-proof vault, a cost-free and independent method of safekeeping. – Cyril R
Only about half of the six I bought worked correctly. (3 stars)
When they work it is great, they sift through the computer and copy every photo. However, one was completely dead the first time I plugged it in. Two others developed problems shortly after they were plugged in even though it looked like they were copying photos. The computer stopped the recording and said the item had developed a problem. It had to be reformatted before it could be used. Since reformatting would have destroyed the Photo stick’s program, it would have become nothing more than a 128GB memory stick. – Joe Irish
No support from help desk (1 star)
Tried e-mail with their support service and no help. My photo stick seemed to download photos, left while it was sorting for duplicates. When I came back had stopped and now says driver is not working reinstall. – Nora B.
Conclusion
In a time of technological marvels where we are surrounded by data and services, securing your memories is a daunting task. Cloud storage is a wonderful option, but not everyone intends to pay monthly subscription fees. Moreover, such services can be hacked and offer minimal data protection to the user.
On the other hand, the Photo stick can scan your computer for specific file types and create a backup without manual intervention. All it needs is your go command. Under the lens are reading customer reviews of photo stick, there is no doubt that this device is worth purchasing for the features it offers.
On portability and accessibility, the device secures a perfect score, but the lack of password protection mandates users to secure this device in a good place. Otherwise, anyone can access your files with just one connection.
FAQs
Is the Photo stick scam?
Photo stick is a decently popular and effective device, the product itself is not a scam. Although people can always be scammed, mostly by unauthorized sellers and duplicate products. Make sure that you purchase this device only via the official website or via the Amazon links we have provided. Unsolicited websites and sellers can potentially cost you a lot more than this device.
How is it different from ordinary flash drives?
Consider the Photo stick to be an ordinary flash drive with software that can scan and create a backup of your files with just the click of a button. Once connected, the pre-install software will allow you to watch logs, view images and videos, and change settings to scan different file formats. None of these features are offered by an ordinary flash drive.
What is the Photo stick Mobile?
Since Photo stick was not compatible with a mobile smartphone device, the inventors developed devices compatible with both iPhone and Android devices. These devices are a bit expensive compared to their PC counterparts. It works just like ordinary OTG drives but with automation. Once your files are backed-up, you can use this photo stick on the mobile device to connect to a computer and transfer or view files on a larger screen.
Does Photo stick delete duplicates?
Photo stick doesn’t delete duplicates. It just avoids copying duplicate files while creating multiple backups. If your computer has duplicate files, they will exist within the PC. You can rely on the actual backup created on the Photo stick and simply delete all files on your computer to free up storage space.
