Photo storage options
Thread Starter
Photo storage options
So....the perennial problem of storing the creative outputs of our minds ;-)
I have several small bodied, but large capacity external HD's, variously filled up with folders full of photos and films taken over the last decade. I was mulling using several CD-R/DVD-R's to have a back-up of the back-ups so to say. Not that I'm expecting disasters various, it would be more comforting to know that IF the worst were to happen, at least there would be records of the photos somewhere. Has anyone had experience with large capacity CD/DVD backups ? Any tips appreciated, most of the articles on the web seem to be from yesteryear.
I have several small bodied, but large capacity external HD's, variously filled up with folders full of photos and films taken over the last decade. I was mulling using several CD-R/DVD-R's to have a back-up of the back-ups so to say. Not that I'm expecting disasters various, it would be more comforting to know that IF the worst were to happen, at least there would be records of the photos somewhere. Has anyone had experience with large capacity CD/DVD backups ? Any tips appreciated, most of the articles on the web seem to be from yesteryear.
DVD is as I recall 4GB. CD is 0.7GB
Kingston 128GB USB £16.
For archival storage it would be best to check out the longevity of the medium - I think I recall reading that there are problems with recordable disks such as dvd and CD. No idea about Flash (USB drive) or magnetic disks. I suspect for example that Audio tapes are very problematic too and VHS video may be pretty good.
Use good sources for critical decisions.
google - archival digital storage
A couple of randomish articles that may help, I have read them and they don't seem like total nonsense.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2984...your-data.html
https://www.howtogeek.com/356473/how...ually-forever/
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So....the perennial problem of storing the creative outputs of our minds ;-)
I have several small bodied, but large capacity external HD's, variously filled up with folders full of photos and films taken over the last decade. I was mulling using several CD-R/DVD-R's to have a back-up of the back-ups so to say. Not that I'm expecting disasters various, it would be more comforting to know that IF the worst were to happen, at least there would be records of the photos somewhere. Has anyone had experience with large capacity CD/DVD backups ? Any tips appreciated, most of the articles on the web seem to be from yesteryear.
I have several small bodied, but large capacity external HD's, variously filled up with folders full of photos and films taken over the last decade. I was mulling using several CD-R/DVD-R's to have a back-up of the back-ups so to say. Not that I'm expecting disasters various, it would be more comforting to know that IF the worst were to happen, at least there would be records of the photos somewhere. Has anyone had experience with large capacity CD/DVD backups ? Any tips appreciated, most of the articles on the web seem to be from yesteryear.
I have toyed with the idea of cloud storage but concluded that the cost of such storage is prohibitive and the time spent uploading would be too operous.
Hope this helps....
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We have a Synology NAS at our house mapped on the PC. This then syncs with Google Drive so any photos are uploaded and we therefore have an onsite and offsite backup, and Google Drive allows you to view them on their app.
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Thanks for the suggestions so far. For me 'cloud' storage is a non-starter, mostly due to the bad experiences of others, but I realise that for many that it is the perfect solution. I was considering using larger capacity DVD-R disks (50GB) to store less than 2TB of photos, because they are easy to store/space economical etc, but am aware that the disks degrade after 10 years.
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Embrace Cloud but use it in conjunction with offline storage. Everyone will have issues but it could be they didn't do something right and thus had issues.
With our solution we're covered if the house burns down or hard drive fails or if Google go bust (very very unlikely)
With our solution we're covered if the house burns down or hard drive fails or if Google go bust (very very unlikely)
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SHJ,
I strongly suggest you take a look at Backblaze. It might change your opinion of cloud storage.
Five dollars a month for unlimited storage. Runs in the background and quietly updates the archive to match your local files.
If disaster strikes, they will ship an external drive to you. For accessing a few files, you can do that online, which is very useful if you are away from your computer. The only potential drawback is that old versions of files are not retained. This is not an issue for me since I use Time Machine on my Mac.
I complement Backblaze by running SuperDuper once a week or so, which updates an external drive containing a bootable clone, which has proved very valuable after a disk failure. There is similar software a available for Windows.
Concerning disk failures, I’ve had three in my career - two spinning disks and one SSD. In the case of the spinning disk failures, there was prior warning in the form of write errors. So the lesson here is that if errors start occurring, replace the disk! If a spinning disk fails, there is usually a chance you can recover some data but with an SSD, there is no chance.
Having a backup online gives me peace of mind when contemplating hardware failures.
I strongly suggest you take a look at Backblaze. It might change your opinion of cloud storage.
Five dollars a month for unlimited storage. Runs in the background and quietly updates the archive to match your local files.
If disaster strikes, they will ship an external drive to you. For accessing a few files, you can do that online, which is very useful if you are away from your computer. The only potential drawback is that old versions of files are not retained. This is not an issue for me since I use Time Machine on my Mac.
I complement Backblaze by running SuperDuper once a week or so, which updates an external drive containing a bootable clone, which has proved very valuable after a disk failure. There is similar software a available for Windows.
Concerning disk failures, I’ve had three in my career - two spinning disks and one SSD. In the case of the spinning disk failures, there was prior warning in the form of write errors. So the lesson here is that if errors start occurring, replace the disk! If a spinning disk fails, there is usually a chance you can recover some data but with an SSD, there is no chance.
Having a backup online gives me peace of mind when contemplating hardware failures.
