Online storage help

Gary.D

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Gary Derbridge
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Hi guys

Who do you use for your online storage?

I do not want a system that does a live back up of my computer, and once the files are deleted from my system they are also deleted from the back up 30 days later.

Instead, I would like a back up where I can keep old galleries safe so that I can remove them from my hard drive to free up space on my computer. They are then on that storage platform until I decide to remove them?

Many thanks
Gary
 
Would a better solution not be to buy a portable hard drive or two and back everything up onto those? I use Flickr as a third rate online backup but everything is also backed up onto multiple hard drives as well. I wouldn't upload anything to the cloud and then totally delete it from my local storage, you could easily lose years of images doing that.
 
Would a better solution not be to buy a portable hard drive or two and back everything up onto those? I use Flickr as a third rate online backup but everything is also backed up onto multiple hard drives as well. I wouldn't upload anything to the cloud and then totally delete it from my local storage, you could easily lose years of images doing that.
Hi Richard

Thanks for your comment.

My thoughts were that hard drives can fail, especially after long periods of use.

Cloud storage is backed up across 100's of servers, which was making me wonder if it's the safer option?

My original idea was just to back up to a couple of external hard drives and leave them in my office drawer.

Gary
 
....and if the office goes up in flames you've lost everything anyway! Cloud backup is def the way to go (as well as external drive).... I use Google drive but, as you already know, there plenty options out there.
 
....and if the office goes up in flames you've lost everything anyway! Cloud backup is def the way to go (as well as external drive).... I use Google drive but, as you already know, there plenty options out there.
Derek, is this an option which is NOT a mirror image (eg delete off of the computer, it deletes off of the cloud?)

Many thanks
 
I just manually drag in what I want, but if you use Google Backup & Sync function it will replicate/sync both ways..... am sure you could do a one way backup using some other software though, but I've never really looked.
 
I use amazon prime which gives me unlimited amazon drive storage for images. I simply backup my lightroom import folders (which are essentially my keepers) and my LR catalog. It automatically backs up any newly imported RAWs and I can delete them locally if I wish to do so.

I also backup all my RAW to local hard drives. If I lose both for whatever reason, I still have my most important images in the cloud.
 
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Hi Richard

Thanks for your comment.

My thoughts were that hard drives can fail, especially after long periods of use.

Cloud storage is backed up across 100's of servers, which was making me wonder if it's the safer option?

My original idea was just to back up to a couple of external hard drives and leave them in my office drawer.

Gary
....and if the office goes up in flames you've lost everything anyway! Cloud backup is def the way to go (as well as external drive).... I use Google drive but, as you already know, there plenty options out there.

One master copy on your main computer, copies on two external hard drives, one of which is kept offsite and some sort of cloud backup is the way to go for absolute security. That way even if your office burns down you're still protected. I'd go for Google Drive as well. although for pure photo storage Flickr Pro is probably cheaper. You can make images private if you don't want anyone else to see them.
 
I suppose it depends on how much you want/need and how much you are prepared to pay.
I back up to an external HDD and then upload keepers to Zenfolio,periodically I upload the back up to Zen , but only .jpg as I am too mean to pay for the RAW storage.
This costs me £30 ish, billed in US$ for unlimited storage, but I have had it a long time so I don't know what the current UK price is.
 
I use amazon prime which gives me unlimited amazon drive storage for images. I simply backup my lightroom import folders (which are essentially my keepers) and my LR catalog. It automatically backs up any newly imported RAWs and I can delete them locally if I wish to do so.

I also backup all my RAW to local hard drives. If I lose both for whatever reason, I still have my most important images in the cloud.
I use prime too so far so good.

Didn't even know this was an option, been a prime member for years,:eggface:
thanks for the heads up, every day's a school day
 
I use an external hard drive combined with a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. The theory goes that I can then have a drive that is used to rotate to an offsite backup, such as a safety deposit box, office drawer or friends house...although I need to get better at actually practising what I preach!

If you are going to use a well known online backup service (which is a good alternative if you have a good broadband upload speed), then make sure you use a different password for that service to everything else, and you make sure that's written done in case you forget it (Password Managers such as 1Password or LastPass are increasingly important, as they make this process very easy). If you don't, and someone steals your password, then they could easily delete all of your images for ever!
 
What the OP wants is a 'contribute' style backup where nothing gets deleted from the backups, tools link SyncToy provide this, and I'm sure that there are automated one available.

Personally I use a Synology NAS drive (with a Raid style duplication), that automatically syncs with folders on my PC, and then I have a Fireproof/Waterproof USB drive that I periodically back everything up to. ( https://iosafe.com/products-soloG3-overview ) Its not cheap for a USB drive (and its very heavy!), but this means that my images are in four places (PC, Duplicated on NAS, and on USB drive). If I had faster internet I'm sure I would add a cloud account to that list.
 
@Gary.D

Cloud storage means you put your data on another company's hard drive. You have full control to your own data, you access it when you want, you upload, download, move, delete, whatever you want in your own way, you can create folders to make your filing options suit your needs. It is your data, yours alone. But you have no control over their hard drives, their machines, their business and their staff.

A business could fail and goes bust (unlikely with big cheese companies like Google, Microsoft, Adobe, etc., but can happen with small companies). There is the possibility of a hostile takeover, where one company would take over the other company. They do have to maintenance their hard drives and computers, thus would move your data over to another hard drive while they upgrade their outdated hard drives, then move your data to the new drives. Therefore they are making an effort to keep their machines in good working order, which imply that their machines can fail if they don't keep a good maintenance. They have no control over outside matters like freak weather or terrorists blowing up their buildings. They will have fire fighting systems in place (ie: Smoke alarms, sparklers. staff who are quick to phone the fire services, etc.,) but nevertheless, like with every other companies, they too could find the building go up in smoke. They like us, are trying their best to keep out hackers and viruses, and they like us, could find their computers hacked into. There is always this rare case that one member of the staff do something stupid. (Wasn't there a story where this Twitter staff got fired or laid off, so in revenge he decided to shut down Trump's Twitter account?)

The better option is to accept that both of them, your own portable external HDD and the cloud storage, each have their own pros and cons, so there is nothing to stop you opt for both options at same time. You can always back up to your own HDD and also back up to cloud storage. That way, if one goes wrong, you still have the other back up.

Plus: In a few years time, you can always upgrading your external HDD to a new one, transfer (or make a fresh back up) to the new one. Beside, that is what they would do at cloud storage anyway, like I said, transfer your data over to another hard drive, while they upgrade any aging hard drives.

Also cloud storage companies sometimes update their software, which means that they may sometimes change the options. For example, you want to back up data to the cloud, and leave it there. Delete from computer, but it stays on cloud. Then few years later, they updated their software to a new system, where the files will be deleted if inactive for some time. Or they change the storage space allowance, for example you upload to a free 5GB storage space, but few years alter, they decided to change it to a free 2GB storage space, and for the 5GB option, you pay for it. It is their business to run and therefore they do that they think is best for their business.

On your own external HDD, you are the master of your own options. You just create a folder and call it (say for example) Archives, then you transfer your data to it and leave it alone for years to come.
 
One master copy on your main computer, copies on two external hard drives, one of which is kept offsite and some sort of cloud backup is the way to go for absolute security.
This. 2 (or more) complete separate copies of your data in 2 (or more) places at all times.

I do:

NAS via QNAP Backup App-> USB3 drive (pool of rotated drives between home and work)
NAS via QNAP Cloud Sync App -> Google Drive for Business (technically you should register 5 users for the unlimited data to kick in but it's not enforced, you also need a domain with access to edit the TXT DNS record)

Cloud backup isn't for everyone. Especially if you have poor internet. I've got 250mb VM which still has a low upload rate, took me about a week of constant upload for about 1.7tb.
 
You can get 50GB of FREE cloud storage with Mega:

https://mega.nz

I use them for backing up my photos and have had no problems.

But you have to access them at least once every year or you lose the facility.

There are also paid options for more storage but if Amazon's Prime really is unlimited storage then that would seem to offer better value.

You also get a few GB of cloud storage if you have a hotmail account.
 
I use HUBIC but I think they are scaling down there offerings to new users.
I get 10TB for 50 Euros a year and use it in a folder back mode.

I have a master folder called HUBIC on my NAS which hubic replicates every thing within that folder (all subfolders) up to their cloud.
they also keep up to 8 versions (I think) of the file, if you change it, if you delete a file you can just recovery it from these shadow backups.

You have full online access app, web etc.
its very good for my usage
 
I use AWS S3 Glacier for my archival storage. It is cheap to store, but you do pay a bit more if you need to get the databack. In my case it is a copy of data on 2 harddrives, so hoping not to need to download it.
 
i get 1TB of cloud storage with BT free with BT fibre which i use for disposable files ( CCTV backup ) which is fine as long as i stay with BT

cloud storage is fine as long as you are willing to pay for the privilege, any free offerings of cloud storage is at the mercy of the provider and can be changed / withdrawn at any time
for archival purposes makes it a bit of a risk
i used to use a website called webshots some years ago for photographs and had over a 1,000 photos stored on the site until it decided to stop providing the service and gave a time period to recover your photos
it put me off online storage especially anything free. with a paid service you stand more of a chance but i'd rather use local storage and duplicate copies
there's always the risk your house might burn to the ground taking the photos with it but to be honest my photos would be way down the list of concerns if that ever happened but my photography is strictly for pleasure and not as important as somebody where photography is their livelihood
 
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