Cloud Storage Question (Page 2): Good advice. :sm24:...

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Gene51 wrote:

Those drives are junk, and they will fail - just a... (show quote)

Good advice.

Dale40203 Loc: Louisville, KY

How does BackBlaze handle external and networked drives?
All of my work files are on external drives which makes this a mandatory feature.
I know that Carbonite does not allow this.
Are there any other users of Cloud backup services that provide unlimited storage and support external drives?

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

Using the cloud presumes you will have Internet connectivity, which you will not have everywhere. It also presumes the cloud server (just a computer with storage - a bank of hard drives that are subject to failure) will always be there. I keep my inventory of pictures, videos, files on two external hard drives that stay 'off' between timed of need. When storage media without moving parts arrive at low cost I expect to make a major switch over.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

John_F wrote:

Using the cloud presumes you will have Internet connectivity, which you will not have everywhere. It also presumes the cloud server (just a computer with storage - a bank of hard drives that are subject to failure) will always be there. I keep my inventory of pictures, videos, files on two external hard drives that stay 'off' between timed of need. When storage media without moving parts arrive at low cost I expect to make a major switch over.

Just a couple of points: first, that "bank of hard drives that are subject to failure" (in the cloud) resides on enterprise class storage in a RAID configuration managed by professionals with multiple other copies for backup/DR at different physical locations - something I'm betting you aren't doing at home. Secondly, that "storage media without moving parts" has been around for many years now - they're called SSDs. They do cost more at present than rotating disc, which is why most cloud providers are using them as cache, but the price is coming down - you can now buy a 1TB SSD for $300. As for the lack of access without internet connectivity, you're exactly right, which is why I'd recommend the cloud for DR or a backup copy, not for working storage. On the other hand, that's one of the advantages - you can restore or download from anywhere you have Internet access - a very handy thing if you happen to be away from home and need access to your files.

PhotoBiker Loc: Charleston, SC

chapjohn wrote:

Amazon Cloud for Photos is unlimited storage. If you have the premium membership it is free, otherwise it is $12 a year. I don't think anyone is able to beat price for unlimited storage.

Thanks for this information John. I am a Prime member and didn't realize the unlimited storage was free. Just did my download. :-)

Newsbob Loc: SF Bay Area

chapjohn wrote:

Amazon Cloud for Photos is unlimited storage. If you have the premium membership it is free, otherwise it is $12 a year. I don't think anyone is able to beat price for unlimited storage.

I'm not sure about Amazon's photo cloud, but Google's free photo cloud, while unlimited, compresses your (my) photos. It's useful, but not a perfect backup.

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

PhotoBiker wrote:

Thanks for this information John. I am a Prime member and didn't realize the unlimited storage was free. Just did my download. :-)

There are some things to know. Amazon Photo Cloud will show RAW images but will store the image information that can be downloaded later. You can create folders and sub-folders to organize you images.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

John, check out backblaze. They are very reasonable, not limits.
--Bob

jaymatt wrote:

Question: My iCloud storage is full; half the space is taken up by iPhone and iPad backup. The rest is photos. Can I safely delete the iPhone and iPad backups to make photo space, or should I buy more space?

Any thoughts?

Genessi Loc: SoCal

What did you go with, I am in same position.

jaymatt wrote:

Thanks to all who responded. I have it under control now.

PhotoBiker Loc: Charleston, SC

chapjohn wrote:

There are some things to know. Amazon Photo Cloud will show RAW images but will store the image information that can be downloaded later. You can create folders and sub-folders to organize you images.

Thank you.