Joe
Member
Curious if anyone uses Amazon Prime photo storage and how they like it? I need to find a back-up storage option and cloud storage has the advantage of being able to access it at any time, any where. Thanks for any help.
Cloud Storage
- Thread starter Joe
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I've played with Amazon Prime, but it felt a little clunky last time I used it.
Try Backblaze, no size limits on backups and its very simple to use and share from if need be
Try Backblaze, no size limits on backups and its very simple to use and share from if need be
I'll not be using any "cloud" storage. I periodically make 2 back ups of my originals. Store them in 2 different places.
I have control....and they are not dependent on 3rd parties. Are not exposed to security risks. And cost me nothing other than the price of external HDs.
I have control....and they are not dependent on 3rd parties. Are not exposed to security risks. And cost me nothing other than the price of external HDs.
IainD
Well-known member
I have considered cloud storage from time to time, but most of what I read has put me off. The main issue is that uploads are very slow, and if the company collapses, you are high and dry. I agree external hard drives are the way to go.
I backup to several Hd locally but since Amazon photos is free to prime users I back up to it as well. I think it works pretty well and I backup all my photos from my mobile devices to it. Prime users have no limit and no extra charge. It comes in handy when looking for a photo taken years ago and you wish to show a friend. Access is pretty fast. And since it is free there is absolutely no down side to using it. If your not a prime user than that’s another story. Amazon isn’t going anywhere.
Holy Moly, you mean I can store my phone synched photos to prime instead of to the lowly 20 megs they "give" us on Adobe? I have two photography accounts and since I used one at work and one for play and both of them are bumping up against the 20 meg limit.
Would you be kind enough to tell us how to organize that? If not, I can call Adobe Support. I just want to be sure I am understanding you correctly...
I believe in having a cloud based storage or backup. I hope to never have to restore from it but I have accessed a few files remotely when needed. The Marshall fire in Boulder County reminded me that it may not matter how many backups I have in my home or in my neighbors home.
Please double check this but I think Backblaze and Amazon Photos are really two different things. Backblaze is a cloud backup service that monitors my storage and uploads files to a remote storage location. It maintains a backup of files stored on your computer and maintains old versions and deleted files for 30 days, 1 year, or forever if you want to pay for it. It runs in the background and I can control how much bandwidth it uses and how often it runs. Backblaze is not really an archival service unless I am willing to pay extra for maintaining images forever that are deleted from my computer. I also have to have an account for each computer that I want to backup.
I haven't looked into Amazon Photos but I think it is more of a cloud storage option. It will sync photos from a folder on my PC to the cloud and I believe I can sync from multiple devices to the same cloud location but I am not certain about this. What I don't know for sure is what happens if I delete a photo from my pc, does the sync process delete it from the cloud or do I have to manually delete it from the cloud. I hope that makes sense and you will have to decide what type of service you need.
Please double check this but I think Backblaze and Amazon Photos are really two different things. Backblaze is a cloud backup service that monitors my storage and uploads files to a remote storage location. It maintains a backup of files stored on your computer and maintains old versions and deleted files for 30 days, 1 year, or forever if you want to pay for it. It runs in the background and I can control how much bandwidth it uses and how often it runs. Backblaze is not really an archival service unless I am willing to pay extra for maintaining images forever that are deleted from my computer. I also have to have an account for each computer that I want to backup.
I haven't looked into Amazon Photos but I think it is more of a cloud storage option. It will sync photos from a folder on my PC to the cloud and I believe I can sync from multiple devices to the same cloud location but I am not certain about this. What I don't know for sure is what happens if I delete a photo from my pc, does the sync process delete it from the cloud or do I have to manually delete it from the cloud. I hope that makes sense and you will have to decide what type of service you need.
I use backblaze for cloud backup as well (time machine for local backup). I have about 8 terabytes backed up to backblaze without any issues.
you can sync as many devices as you want to Amazon photos for free. In terms of organizing them, it separates them by device but I haven’t attempted to create folders or subcategories. You would have to check that one out. I think it probably works similar to how Apple photos works. I think if you delete from your device,you would need to delete from Amazon photos as well. But I personally wouldn’t want to do that.
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Ditto on backblaze. Both my wife and I use it. Took a while to upload everything (runs in the background), but after that very little time. I have had to recover a few files, very smooth (though a bit slow).
I tried Amazon prime but never seemed to work well for me. Plus I would be very nervous if this was my only cloud storage. Amazon could pull the plug at any time.
hrv
Well-known member
Amazon is a bit of a PITA if you want to organise stuff, so I gave up on that and purely use it as a last resort backup.
I may be a bit overcautious, but here is my backup plan.
Well, I set and forget, so I do not have to manage it, so it isn't a big deal. I have the storage space on Google for this specific purpose. I have an old USB drive I no longer used and an old harddisk that was obsolete when I migrated from my previous NAS, so why wouldn't I use it.....
I do hope that I never ever need to use it though.
I may be a bit overcautious, but here is my backup plan.
- My MacBook backups using time machine to a Synology NAS. This includes my lightroom catalog backups
- Amazon Prime is installed on my Mac and syncs my raw files or exports once I move them from my imports to a folder (I don't want the hundreds of files I remove after a shoot to be backed up)
- Periodically I copy my RAW files and my exports to my Synology NAS.
- My Synology NAS has a separate disk I use for local backup
- My Synology NAS has a separate USB disk I use for local backup. This ges with me when I go on holiday or I store it at a friends house while I am away.
- My Synology backups to Google Drive, this includes my RAW files and Exports
Well, I set and forget, so I do not have to manage it, so it isn't a big deal. I have the storage space on Google for this specific purpose. I have an old USB drive I no longer used and an old harddisk that was obsolete when I migrated from my previous NAS, so why wouldn't I use it.....
I do hope that I never ever need to use it though.
Better too many, than not enough. The goal of a backup two fold. First to be able to recover a file if needed. Secondly to be able to sleep well at night - and not worry if I have sufficient backups. After all, all disk will fail, question is not IF but WHEN.
My system is fairly straightforward
Primary copy is an OWC 6 bay drive combined into a single volume via a Softraid software, run as a Raid 5 system.
This replicated twice, one set of disks are stored in the house and are unplugged except when I am actively copying to them and the second set is stored offsite (bank vault)
Finally I used backblaze.
This protects me from accidentally deleting a file (I can quickly recover), theft or fire I have offsite copy and cloud copy and if the software/OWC system fails, I can recover from the cloud.
In theory, cloud storage makes a lot of sense, and I would use it in a heartbeat as a third layer of protection (after my two physically separate drives), but in practice it's just not viable for me. I may be in the minority, but my Internet speed (adequate for web surfing and streaming movies) just doesn't support timely, cloud-based backups of my RAW image files. In fact, it's totally impractical, except for occasionally saving JPEGS to Google drive, to share with others. Maybe the gradual migration to 5G technology currently underway will make cloud storage more viable for geezers like me?
I e said elsewhere in a very similar thread….I too use a Synology disc station on my NAS. My Mac backs up to it automatically, but also Synology DSM grabs photos or docs when they appear in specific files. An older disc station in my garage, a separate building, is set to switch itself on regularly and is the “off-site” back up of my main disc station.
A real benefit is that I can access the disc station from wherever I am in the world where I have reliable internet access. My own cloud. Wonderful.
A real benefit is that I can access the disc station from wherever I am in the world where I have reliable internet access. My own cloud. Wonderful.
John Navitsky
Well-known member
i had the same issue with amazon and other "save your pictures" type services. they don't integrate into the desktop well and thus provide a workflow problem. often you can get them to suck up your photos ok, but managing/restoring bulk photos just isn't doable.
i'm currently using dropbox, and it's expensive, but it actually works for large piles of stuff not only in terms of syncing it, but you can actually manage it.
Woody Meristem
Well-known member
I've occasionally used the cloud to transfer photos to friends, but I would NEVER store all my photographs on any cloud service for the reasons Butlerkid cites. External hard drives are mine -- one at home, one in a safe deposit box at the bank.
I have the entire Microsoft 360 Office suite annual subscription ($79CAN) which includes 1tb of cloud space. After trying several different products for photo storage I ended up using OneDrive. The big advantage is that my entire photo collection organized on my PC looks the same everywhere be it another PC, mobile phone or tablet. Be aware though, the organization is a filename structure layout. If you wanted to see all pictures you took a year ago while on vacation in europe you would have had to organize them in folders by date and/or name. This works fine for me but some may find this awkward
wassa1957
Active member
I'm a Prime member but Aussies don't get that deal? I use Drive and it works well for me. Even with NAS and external HD backups, I would not like to come back home from a trip and find them stolen.
@RichF I neglected to thank you for posting about the OWC system a while back. Bought it and love it.
abc123brian
Well-known member
I use Amazon Prime for cloud storage. when I import photos on the computer, I put them into folders with the date and location or subject or vacation. Example, 20220418 - Everglades NP. Since I don’t always have access to the internet, I don’t have them set to upload automatically, but copy the folders manually when I can. I color code the folder to let me know I’ve already backed it up (an option on Max, not sure with windows). This works well for me. So I have my SSD I travel with, a copy on a backup drive at home, and a backup on Amazon I could get a file from on the road if needed.
Just an update for those of you who use cloud storage:
www.dpreview.com
Cloud companies may lease your images for AI learning; what can you do about it?
Popular photo sharing service Photobucket recently revealed that the 13 billion images it hosts online could be used to train AI models. We explain what changes made this possible and suggest some cloud storage alternatives to keep your data private.
www.dpreview.com