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While I've been off sick, Crashplan has died! Wondering what everyone else is doing for backup these days? Any recommendations? I'm looking at backblaze but it seems quite expensive, and it's hard to work out which of the review sites are reliable. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.  

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I think I prefer a mix of hard storage and online, just in case of a fire. In fact, you guys have made me realise that my Imagefile online gallery account is unlimited, so technically I could use that for my online storage. Hmmm. 

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I back up files and Lightroom catalogue to an external HD with another identical HD, which I keep in a different location, and sync them regularly with Microsoft SyncToy. Hard drives can often die randomly, so the back up needs its own back up, and this also solves the problem of fire or theft.

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I use a combination of an external hard drive that is locked in a fire proof cabinet, and backblaze. Backblaze is only $5 a month, which is worth it to me for the peace of mind. I also like that it works automatically, without me having to remember to do anything.

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I have one external drive that I catalogue all my raw files and edits, and then I have a portable drive that I keep all my working copies on and final uploads. A few clouds too.

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2 hours ago, Futterwithtrees said:

I use BT Cloud. UK based but serves me well. I do intend to use an external HD as well when I get around to it.

 

Ditto for the reminder to use BT Cloud, uploading as we speak!

 

I've got several HDs with copies of files on them.

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My current plan is no good:

- ligthroom catalogue + current projects on a 500gb SSD for speed

- 3TB for archives

- backup on HD’s at home for both drives

 

My future plan:

- lightroom catalogue + current projects on 2 SSD’s in RAID 1 - will lose some speed but if 1 drive fails I will still be able to continue working

- 3TB for archives - maybe also doubled in RAID 1

- sync everything with Adobe cloud - with added value that I can edit my pictures on different computers...

- add a 6-8 TB RAID 5 backup system at home, to have incremental backups

 

I understand that good practice dictates having at least 2 backups on 2 different locations, preferably on 2 different mediums... But with over 3Gb’s of files it is a serious investement :-(

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My Crashplan subscription is paid up until September. Once that's up, I believe I get something like a 50% off the following year.

I'll probably take a look at Backblaze after that unless Crashplan comes up with something more affordable in the meantime.. Backblaze seems to be pretty much the same deal as Crashplan was a couple of years ago.

 

I need to replace my local back-up drive. For whatever reason I've found back-up drives seem to fail more often than my main drive.

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5 hours ago, Futterwithtrees said:

I use BT Cloud. UK based but serves me well. I do intend to use an external HD as well when I get around to it.

Wow, thanks, I have BT Broadband but didn't know they had a cloud service.

I need to keep up to date, I didn't know that Adobe Cloud had closed either, and that's where I had older RAWs of Alamy files stored, but I had maxed out my allowance there.

 

I must also remember to get one of my external HDs out to elsewhere!

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2 hours ago, geogphotos said:

I'm finding BT Cloud a bit basic in terms of its functions.

 

The upload goes okay apart from some images that are upside down and others reversed ( mirror writing).

 

But how to organise the uploads into albums?  How can I elect a large number of pics at a time and move them into an album so that they are not clogging up the main screen?

 

I don't understand your problem. My cloud storage folder structure

is an exact copy of my HD BT sync folder storage. i.e Folders, subfolders and then files etc. Can u explain further what you are looking for in case I'm missing something

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I use several external hd's and each picture is stored on at least two external drives bought over several years.

Probably below is over engineered, but I am an IT guy. 

 

backups look currently  like this

two sets  only used as backup and I would never touch them, unless I need to restore the data:   

-  First set has three (rather old) drives (capacity around 500GB, 1TB, 1TB) that contain all pictures prior to 2017.   

- Second set has two drives (capacity 1TB and 2TB) copy of the above with pictures prior to 2017 and stored in other home.

 

Two additional external drives used for current pictures. These get used frequently to back up all new pictures. 

one 3TB drive:with  only pictures from 2017-today

one 4TB drive: All pictures - as long as they still  fit  - when  it comes to storage bottlenecks, I would delete the oldest pictures from that drive. 

 

Last but not least all pictures are on my PC's:

Desktop PC: Has all pictures on it and will get upgrades of hard disk when necessary  

Laptop: Only used when travelling, for which I also have two small 2.5" 500GB external hard drives for backup during travel.  

 

Sometime  2017 will become archived as well.

At that time I need to get rid of the old 500G/1T/1T set (because 2017 would not fit onto them any more)

I probably replace that set with the current 4T drive and start using a new bigger drive to store all images. 

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12 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

This is one of the problems I mentioned - a fairly fundamental one!

 

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I have done a quick check through my uploaded files and I dont have this problem. BT Cloud was useless up until quite recently and I just didn't use it a even though I had free storage. I revisited it a couple of months ago and found it had vastly improved. All of my files have been uploaded within the last few months. Is yours an old historic problem. Perhaps it has been resolved with other older issues and may not occur with fresh uploads. Or do you have this problem with new uploads as well.

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19 hours ago, Gina Kelly said:

I use a combination of an external hard drive that is locked in a fire proof cabinet, and backblaze. Backblaze is only $5 a month, which is worth it to me for the peace of mind. I also like that it works automatically, without me having to remember to do anything.

 

As above but using 2 x 2Tb external drives.  Backblaze is excellent and so easy to use.  It backs up automatically with practically no setting up.

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20 hours ago, Fiona said:

While I've been off sick, Crashplan has died! Wondering what everyone else is doing for backup these days? Any recommendations? I'm looking at backblaze but it seems quite expensive, and it's hard to work out which of the review sites are reliable. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.  

 

Remember the requirement as 3 - 2 - 1 = A minimum of 3 copies of everything on 2 different media and 1 in a different location - that should just about cover everything!

 

For me, that is a mix of two internal drives on the PC plus 2 external drives, with a backup and sync system as files are written; then Backblaze - which is great value - for the different location 

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Interesting to hear how many people are using back blaze. My maths may be hopeless but I worked out that for my 3TB of data it would cost $16 per month? I"m hoping I got that wrong by a decimal point! 

The other thing that has surprised me is the number of people using BT Cloud. I have always shied away from BT on account of their dire customer service and atrocious treatment of my in laws when they moved house. After 6 months without phone contact they were offered £50 compensation. 

I'm going to try keeping my data with imagefile using time machine for now, since I'm already paying them for gallery storage and it's going to be a while before I"m generating significant income to be paying 16 dollars a month! 

 

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7 hours ago, Fiona said:

Interesting to hear how many people are using back blaze. My maths may be hopeless but I worked out that for my 3TB of data it would cost $16 per month? I"m hoping I got that wrong by a decimal point! 

The other thing that has surprised me is the number of people using BT Cloud. I have always shied away from BT on account of their dire customer service and atrocious treatment of my in laws when they moved house. After 6 months without phone contact they were offered £50 compensation. 

I'm going to try keeping my data with imagefile using time machine for now, since I'm already paying them for gallery storage and it's going to be a while before I"m generating significant income to be paying 16 dollars a month! 

 

 

My Backblaze at $5 a month gives me unlimited storage.  Maybe there are different options?  It's not a system back-up - it's a back-up of all my image/document/video files.  I can retrieve them in bulk or individually as required.

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41 minutes ago, John Walker said:

My Backblaze at $5 a month gives me unlimited storage.  Maybe there are different options?  It's not a system back-up - it's a back-up of all my image/document/video files.  I can retrieve them in bulk or individually as required.

 

' ... I've started a 14 day trial with LiveDrive Briefcase for just under £100 a year for 2 Tb ...'  very expensive when compared to Backblaze

 

A John says - $5 per month unlimited ... and it is easy to set up!

 

Remember, It is a backup system, important you know the difference between a backup system and cloud storage - they both have very different functions

 

 

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6 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

I want a storage system not a system back-up. As I posted above after 30 days BackBlaze will delete any file that you delete from your computer. That is not what I am looking for. 

 

Have a look at Google Drive the first 15 Gb is free of charge after which you pay but the cost still look good value, this is my cloud storage option 

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53 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

I want a storage system not a system back-up. As I posted above after 30 days BackBlaze will delete any file that you delete from your computer. That is not what I am looking for. 

 

 

When I was looking around foe storage I tried a 90 day free trial with Amazon. I think it was unlimited storage for $12 a year, specifically for photos.. The downside was that you had to upload the photos manually, while I prefer something that works in the background. I don't know if the $12 deal still exists but they still offer free photo storage with Amazon Prime.

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