Online storage (photo backup)

[DJdeRidder]

I have been thinking for a while how best to store and backup my photos. I currently have my photos on three separate hard drives (1 internal and 2 external), but all on the same physical location. If fire breaks out (or lightning strikes?) I may loose all my original photos and backups.

Today I found out that Google Storage has some pretty good offers for online storage (80GB for just 20 dollar; 200GB for 50 dollar a year), which brought me to the idea of storing my photos online. Unfortunately they don't offer FTP access, which I think would be necessary (or at least very useful). I did find some companies that do offer FTP support, but they are much more expensive..

Does anyone here use online storage to back up your photos? Or is there another way to backup your photos to a safe location? Any recommendations or tips are welcome..

[DG AIR]

The way iI do it. One external harddisk at home and one external harddisk in a safe at a bank.
Some pictures on dvd as well.

I have been thinking on online storage as well but I am a bit scary about the safety. They can hack almost anything nowadays.

gr.

Ger

[SquAdmin]

Does anyone here use online storage to back up your photos? Or is there another way to backup your photos to a safe location? Any recommendations or tips are welcome..

Well, I don't use online storage since it would take a lot of time to transfer them. If that problem would be tackled I might consider. Up till now I just made DVD copies and stored them at my parents' place.

[KIER]

Wel erg duur maar misschien wel de oplossing ;

http://www.kpn.com/zakelijk/Meer-dienst ... online.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Kier

[boonens]

A few weeks back I did some research as well and I found these guys: http://www.onlinestoragesolution.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. $19 a year and unlimited online storage. However, I decided not to go for online storage because I feel the cost of buying a few new HD's is not worth the monstrous upload times.

[Iwan Bogels]

Hi DJ,

I do it the same way as Patrick does: Store one back-up HD with my parents.

With current prices, a 1TB external harddisk can be bought for less than Euro 100,-. Shooting with a 21 Mp camera, 1Tb can hold about 30.000 photos before it's full, so the cost of an extra back-up HD is virtually nil.

The only problem is the back-up between shooting and storing the new data at the back-up disc at the external location. If you want to cover this risk, you may want to consider online intermediate storage, which is a lot less costly, as you probably only need 100 Gb maximum. (Euro 7,95 per month with KPN).

But what about work ? Don't you have a locker or a drawer there ? You can bring an HD there as intermediate storage ?

For on-trip storage I use a LaCie mobile disk (http://www.lacie.com/nl/products/product.htm?pid=11256" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) which only needs a USB connection for its power. After a day out I download all files to my laptop (first back-up) and then copy it to the extremely compact LaCie disk (second back-up). I leave the photos on the CF-card for as long as possible, but if I have to empty the card for renewed use during the same trip, I pump all data to my Epson mobile storage, which is kept separate from my laptop / LaCie backups. That way I always have THREE copies of my photos with me during a trip.

The LaCie disc could be your intermediate backup, if you store it at work. That disc is just 8 x 13 x 1,5 cm in size, and if you're afaid that it could be stolen, you can even hide it in a regular book. Just cut out space in the middle pages. Fortunately I don't have to do that myself, but it's just a thought. A LaCie mini disc could help you out on two ends at the same time: Trip back-up on trip, and intermediate back-up at home.

Just sharing my own safety and workflow.

Cheers,
Iwan

[Rene Klok]

and if you're afaid that it could be stolen, you can even hide it in a regular book. Just cut out space in the middle pages. Fortunately I don't have to do that myself, but it's just a thought.
Iwan

Lol, surely you have seen too many spie movies lately Iwan. It's an original thought though. You might consider using the Railway time table booklet for that.

[Polecat]

Hi DJ,

For on-trip storage I use a LaCie mobile disk (http://www.lacie.com/nl/products/product.htm?pid=11256" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) which only needs a USB connection for its power. After a day out I download all files to my laptop (first back-up) and then copy it to the extremely compact LaCie disk (second back-up).
Cheers,
Iwan

I use a Freecom Toughdisk for this, copy them from the Laptop right upon coming "home", and I never leave the hotel without it....let the hotel burn, I'll always have the piccies with me that way! These toughdisks are "hufterproof" and small...

[Iwan Bogels]

You might consider using the Railway time table booklet for that.

GROTE GRIJNS !

What do you use ? I'll bet the BP-spaarzegel-boekje is a bit too thin....?!

Cheers,
Iwan

[Rene Klok]

You might consider using the Railway time table booklet for that.

GROTE GRIJNS !
What do you use ? I'll bet the BP-spaarzegel-boekje is a bit too thin....?!
Cheers,
Iwan

I could have guessed you travel with those yellow tube shaped things a lot Iwan.
A seasoned car traveller would have known that we've gone electronic quite a while ago. But indeed our Freebees cards offer even less space to hide a harddisc in than your railway bible.

But in order to keep on-topic: I use an Epson storage device while travelling and a 1Tb Lacie external drive at home. Next time the Epson will be dusted off is in two weeks for a trip to southwest China.

[Hans]

Hi,

Well, I don't use online storage since it would take a lot of time to transfer them.

Depends; do you want to do a full backup of all files (photos) each time, or incremental (just the new & changed ones), what speed is your internet access, and that of the storage provider, and do you only want to upload it from home, or also on the road (from an internet cafe and such).
And the advantage of such a solution, compared to an external HD which you store somewhere else, you can completely schedule and automate it!

I have been thinking on online storage as well but I am a bit scary about the safety. They can hack almost anything nowadays.

yep, but you can first 'rar' or '7-zip' it, using a password. Encryption of both is pretty strong (with 7z having the better).

Regards,

Hans

[Polecat]

Even in the old Kodachrome days I used to keep a 'shadow collection. 'Like Iwan, nowadays I simply have a back-up HD at my mom's place.... you wouldn't dare try hacking her!!

[SquAdmin]

Depends; do you want to do a full backup of all files (photos) each time, or incremental (just the new & changed ones), what speed is your internet access, and that of the storage provider, and do you only want to upload it from home, or also on the road (from an internet cafe and such).

Probably just incremental, but after one airshow you could easily end up with xxGb of files. It takes pretty long to upload that to an online service, even if there is a high speed connection between both ends. Downloading in case of dataloss takes even longer because then you have to download the hundreds of Gb's at once... I think I'll just stick to physical archiving until this whole cloud storage thing has matured

Even in the old Kodachrome days I used to keep a 'shadow collection.

How did you do that?

[ehusmann]

and do you only want to upload it from home, or also on the road (from an internet cafe and such).

Which is an important question. I bet you can access the Google account from everywhere, but some providers do not allow that. KPN does not for example (unless they changed recently), in fact, when I tested it, you couldn´t even restore your files to another computer if your original one crashed. It used a key that was stored on your PC and if that key was gone.....

Erwin

[Aircolours]

and do you only want to upload it from home, or also on the road (from an internet cafe and such).

Which is an important question. I bet you can access the Google account from everywhere, but some providers do not allow that. KPN does not for example (unless they changed recently), in fact, when I tested it, you couldn´t even restore your files to another computer if your original one crashed. It used a key that was stored on your PC and if that key was gone.....

Erwin

There is a simple solution: I have a network drive (NAS) at home connected to the internet via my router which I can access from anywhere in the world. On the road with my own notebook I can upload my photos using FTP to this network drive which can be fast depending on the local internet connection.

And for my standard backup I have an external Harddisk at my brothers place.

Brgds, Peter