Flickr as a viable online backup?

[RichHobson]

Is anyone using Flickr as a viable solution for online backup?

The pro account allows unlimited upload and you can upload full res files.

Anyone any experience of it? How easy is it to re-download your files - if it's one at a time it would be a pain!

 

[neil_g]

no. for the reason you state there is no mass retrieval tool.

 

[aligibbs]

Hrmm- check out http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-photos-from-flickr-with-flickrdown/
Seems to do what you want...

 

[RichHobson]

Hrmm- check out http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-photos-from-flickr-with-flickrdown/
Seems to do what you want...

Now that looks interesting.......... Many thanks..

 

[aligibbs]

I still wouldn't suggest relying on it though- flickr could change their API or whatever and break that program very easily

 

[PsiFox]

Online is never a viable tool for a proper backup.

It is slow to upload and download. Your ISP may not like you much.

Web servers do fail and backups there are not always relaible.

Buy some hard drives and a external usb to sata and you are set really.

 

[RichHobson]

I still wouldn't suggest relying on it though- flickr could change their API or whatever and break that program very easily

Good point....

 

[neil_g]

Hrmm- check out http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-photos-from-flickr-with-flickrdown/
Seems to do what you want...

interesting.. (goes off to strengthen flickr password)

however i seem to remember that flickr does compress and sharpen images, so they wont be true originals.

 

[angstmann]

I happily use Flickr, via my Pro account, to upload all my family snaps.. you know, the ones your missus will kill you for losing/corrupting! I use iPhoto on the Mac which now has built in uploads to Flickr. So I upload them all full size and mark them as private - it gives me some peace of mind at least.

It takes a while to do if you already have a large library to upload, but once you get into the habit of doing it straight after import into whatever photo management app you use, then its manageable and I'd recommend it.

Hmm, bulk retrieval - that's not something I'd thought about! Cross that bridge when I come to it!

 

[DekHog]

Apparently Flickr have banned Flickrdown already....

 

[angstmann]

Oh thats a shame... having said that, as long as I know that I have an off-site copy of my photos if I ever need them, then I'm happy, and I'll just have to deal with the retrieval process as and when.

 

[PsiFox]

If you have terrabytes of data, then offsite storage even with a hard drive stored in a house in Australia would be quicker than downloading from the web.

 

[angstmann]

Agreed. I guess Flickr is good for storage of family snapshots, medium resolution, few thousand jpegs, etc. If we're talking terabytes then any online backup/storage is unlikely to be effective! Having said that, there are services to cater for higher volumes, they will send you DVD's or multiple DVD's of your files if you need to retreive them.