I have always backed up and backed up again. I have two 1 TB external drives. I have also used Carbonite for several years. I used to back up images to CDs and then DVDs but after learning that image files don't last on those media, I stopped that practice. I've never used online photo specific solutions. I have a few photos in Picasa (so I could share them with family and friends). I post photos on Facebook but don't consider that a storage solution. I've recently started adding photos to my old Flickr account. And I have done a search on this site to find what others have said. I've found answers from a year ago. I've seen SmugMug recommended. I guess one question is: what's the benefit of a photo-specific storage solution such as SmugMug or Shutterfly? And another question is: which (if any) do you use?
I use SmugMug, but more for print selling than for storage. They have a very nice layout and customizations...a lot of people use it as their main website.
All my images are on external hard drives. I always use two for redundancy. When they reach about 90% capacity, I get two more. They don't cost more than $100 each these days. I have considered looking into Drobo type solutions but haven't justified the higher expense for a mere hobby.
I also have SmugMug, Flickr and Facebook, but I don't put many images on those for whatever reason. Time-consuming I guess.
@hamptanner@bb thanks! I'm thinking that I'm just fine with my current plan! cool. @hamptanner yes, I agree that uploading to other sites is time consuming
I use a carefully configured combination of external hard drives.
Online storage isn't an option for me - last year I had a total of 365GB of data with all my photos & edits from the year.
The prospect of uploading 1GB of data every single day just isn't practical.
External hard drive, but very glad to have my flickr account, as my external hard drive crashed! New, bigger and better external drive. Uploading to flickr hasn't been a problem, I just do it when I'm on the computer doing other stuff.
Use a Drobo FS Network Attached Storage device with dual disk redundancy. http://www.drobo.com/products/professionals/drobo-fs/ The Drobo has 2 terabytes of storage, four 1 terabyte drives. Two drives can fail without losing any data. Backup 3 computers daily to the Drobo. Store all my photos and videos on the Drobo. Currently have filled just over 1 terabyte on the Drobo. Every two weeks I backup the Drobo to a 2 terabyte external hard drive and take this backup off site.
@sburbidge I can totally see that. I definitely don't have that much on a daily basis. But I do like my external drives. @nanalisarocks I"m playing with Flickr. Had the account for a long time and didn't load anything until this past week lol. @jennverr I'll look into livedrive. I'm happy with Carbonite. I used to use Mozy but have had better luck (and no issues whatsoever) with Carbonite. @rhubbard I think someone else had mentioned Drobo in another thread. I've been using external hard drives for many years, and for a few years I also backed up to a local server. Never considered a dedicated storage device such as this. Thank you all for the input!
@tamalita two externals, one in the fire safe downstairs, one kept in the library for convenience. Externals are then backed up again onto hubbys computer. I have a zenfolio account as well, but I don't really consider that storage.
-Drobo S (5x 3TB HDD) with dual-drive redundancy on
-External HDD (2x 2TB) using one at a time, rotated offsite monthly
-USB3.0 HDD dock (RAiD capable - 2 HDD of any size/type) using drives no longer needed for other purposes
I no longer back up to DVD, but when I did I used gold archival grade (guaranteed for 10 years).
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I also have SmugMug, Flickr and Facebook, but I don't put many images on those for whatever reason. Time-consuming I guess.
Online storage isn't an option for me - last year I had a total of 365GB of data with all my photos & edits from the year.
The prospect of uploading 1GB of data every single day just isn't practical.
-External HDD (2x 2TB) using one at a time, rotated offsite monthly
-USB3.0 HDD dock (RAiD capable - 2 HDD of any size/type) using drives no longer needed for other purposes
I no longer back up to DVD, but when I did I used gold archival grade (guaranteed for 10 years).