2. upload them to a website that allows for high resolution files and the ability to print the images if needed.

I like Redbubble for this purpose. You have the choice of making it public or private and I am so grateful that I got into the practice of uploading my absolute favourite photos from each session because then I know I can print art quality prints, canvas and posters if need be. It doesn't cost anything to have an account and if the photos are for a client they will thank you for uploading the best photos that they can print via redbubble and you will be sent the commission amount selected by you for that print. I usually keep the rate at 20% which keeps the prices competitive with other sites like Rabbit Photo and Kodak Express. It is best policy to upload client photos as private until it has been approved to display their photo on the internet.

3. Save a copy of your high resolution files to more than one place.

I have mistakenly imported photos from a memory card onto an external disk alone and cried into my coffee when a relative didn't close the lid of the coffee maker properly which caused water to spill on the bench which then reached the portable phone base which sent a surge through the entire house and caused the external hard drive to fail and portable phones to not work until it dried out. Unfortunately for me the data recovery company said that they were not able to recovery anything of the 1TB of data on the drive as the 'heads had hit the platters' which in analogue record player speak means that the needle that usually hovers over the CD like disk was instead gouging it and causing irreversible damage to the DVD disk or 'platter' which meant that data recovery was not a possibility.  The 'zzt zzzt zzzt' sound I could hear before it stopped completely filled me with dread and I don't think I have yet recovered even though in a few months it will have been a year since it happened. All those files I was hurriedly backing up so that my laptop could work. All the photos which I hadn't uploaded to Flickr or backed up elsewhere. Over ten months on (since September 09) and it still haunts me and I hope you can learn from my mistake. Back up, backup, back up!

4.  Batch uploading to a photo management site

My favourite is Yahoo! Flickr which is free to use and for a small fee each year ($25US) you can have unlimited storage and extra features.

Other options include Google's Picasa off-line application or online galleries, Kodak Gallery , Smugmug and Snapfish (previously Rabbit Photo) Others can be found here.

5. External Hard drives

Most professional and hobbyist photographers rely on external hard drives to store their photos. If you can I suggest you have at least two external hard drives. One which you use on a regular basis which may be plugged in. Another which is backed up once a month and then replaced once a year.

You may think that this isn't necessary but think how sad you'd be to have all your photo archive in the one place. If possible I would recommend a fire safe that is fire and waterproof in case of natural disaster or just bad fortune. Better safe than sorry!

The external hard drive that I lost due to a surge in September 2009 was a Western Digital Elements 1TB hard drive. Recently I purchased a newer version with SmartWare software to back up your computer's hard drive and to store data (documents, photos, movies etc) with easy to use backup software. If you have ever tried to use a computer with a full hard drive and little RAM you'd know how slooooow Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom and other large applications used for image editing can make your computer's performance and the more free space and memory the better.

I would recommend the Western Digital MyBook Essential

The important thing is to back up as often and in as many ways as you can!