Any advice out there on photo storage? I use a Mac and I have an external hard drive where I store most of my photos, but I would like to back up the hard drive. I was thinking Flikr, but does anyone use any other online storage? Also, if I choose online, should I still back my photos up to something else, like DVDs or USBs? Or should I just do DVDs/USBs?
Hi Amanda. I have been thinking about this subject recently too. I have a Photobucket account where you can store your pictures, and is free. However, I am concerned that some other sites (such as Facebook) have access to images and can use them for their own purpose. I am in the process of finding a better way of storing and protecting them. I think even if they are stored online it's best to have another copy, especially if they are of sentimental value. I wonder if CDs and DVDs in future will go out of fashion and would be tempted to get them onto USBs.
That is as far as my thinking went, then I needed a lie down LOL
@redkite CDs and DVDs, while the original reference specifications might have them down as lasting 10,000 years or something equally as absurd, cheapening production values in the real world can bring these longevity values plummeting down.
I'd look to getting more external hard drives, and run regular backups between them. Some external HDDs have specific backup software with them, and some will even automate backups to others of the same brand/productrange, if you have multiple.
This project has swelled my "digital camera photos" folder to 75GB, so I'll be looking into some external storage solution for them soon. If I find anything particularly splendid I'll be sure to post about it.
@eyebrows OK, I'm going to sound really uninformed here, but could you explain regular backup? If my hard drive came with the software, I don't have it... :-}
I did consider an external hard drive, but I already have three drives with loads of my pictures on but no one knows the passwords, so they are all locked up. I had to get rid of the towers because they were taking up so much room in the house LOL Now I just have a pile of hard drives waiting for the safe cracker to turn up. ;P
Well, as in, either manually copying over any new photos you added to each of your external drives manually, or (if it came with any) having the software do this itself. I wouldn't even know where to start with Macs, I'm strictly PC unfortunately, but I'm sure there are some that come with software which can synchronise files between two locations automatically.
So, in my (basic) ideal scenario, I'd have two external drives. I'd upload my photos to my PC and store them directly on the first external one, manipulate them, whatever. Then at 3am or some other quiet time, a scheduled backup process with some software program would begin, and copy over any new/changed files from one external drive to the other. That way I've nearly always got two copies of everything.
I use SmugMug, along with an External drive. Flickr is nice, but I think SmugMug is better. I always felt there were too many creepers on Flickr (just an opinion, I've seen some freaky comments). My favorite part is that no one can copy your image. It locks them out.
Ross...HINT, HINT!
You can keep it public, or private, and is unlimited storage. Also makes a great personal website that I use for promotion and for family viewing on some things, which are locked out to others.
I heard about a website called carbonite that backs up all your data with no upper limit. It takes a while at first and can only upload (2gb ish) a day but when it's done it will only update changes you make to folders, such as adding folders. It does it all in the background and doesn't slow the machine.
So in the event of a flood, fire or act of god and your PC goes pop and so does your external backup, it will all be there online and no memories will be lost.
However, it does come with a monthly subscription that take to about £35 a year.
So I've never really done it. I like the idea though and suspect if anything awful were to happen I will regret it deeply!!
@mrjuggles Ah yes, I have heard the carbonite commercials on the Howard Stern show (yup, I'm a listener) and they always intrigue me. I'm thinking I might invest some money in an online backup, so if I do I'll post about it. Thank you!!
@moncooga Thanks Chris, I will check out SmugMug. I really need to do something soon as I have taken 1600 photos in two months. Ridiculous. First thing I need to do is weed out the bad shots... Ugh!
Write a Reply
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
That is as far as my thinking went, then I needed a lie down LOL
http://picasa.google.com/features.html#utm_medium=embed&utm_source=pwalogin
I'd look to getting more external hard drives, and run regular backups between them. Some external HDDs have specific backup software with them, and some will even automate backups to others of the same brand/productrange, if you have multiple.
This project has swelled my "digital camera photos" folder to 75GB, so I'll be looking into some external storage solution for them soon. If I find anything particularly splendid I'll be sure to post about it.
So, in my (basic) ideal scenario, I'd have two external drives. I'd upload my photos to my PC and store them directly on the first external one, manipulate them, whatever. Then at 3am or some other quiet time, a scheduled backup process with some software program would begin, and copy over any new/changed files from one external drive to the other. That way I've nearly always got two copies of everything.
Ross...HINT, HINT!
You can keep it public, or private, and is unlimited storage. Also makes a great personal website that I use for promotion and for family viewing on some things, which are locked out to others.
www.justchrisphotog.com
So in the event of a flood, fire or act of god and your PC goes pop and so does your external backup, it will all be there online and no memories will be lost.
However, it does come with a monthly subscription that take to about £35 a year.
So I've never really done it. I like the idea though and suspect if anything awful were to happen I will regret it deeply!!