Copying DCIM to a computer is not a backup system

Finder and Explorer see DCIM, not the photo database. A lot of iOS assets do not appear under the filenames you expect. Live Photos, edited versions, and Hidden get dropped or turn into odd pairs.

A directory with no manifest cannot be claimed by a second phone. You copy again or you write a hash script. The USB backend exists to put that index in .album/manifest.jsonl and to escape exFAT-illegal names.

The computer is still useful: plug the disk into a Mac or a Windows box and open the physical files. Do not rename them there. The logical keys will miss, and the next phone run will treat them as new objects.

In the 11 May 2026 privacy case, the T7 disk previewed on a Mac. Claiming still went through Azalea. That split is deliberate: preview with Finder, increment with the app.

If the question was actually original-quality cloud vs files, start at Azalea vs Google Photos. If it was Apple’s optimize switch, Azalea vs iCloud Photos. If you almost stood up Immich to get files on a disk, Azalea vs Immich.