goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

They were (and are) proliferating so fast that I would have soon run out of space on my main hard drive. Transferred copies of most of them to an external hard drive and would like to delete the "originals" that are still on the main hard drive. But if I do that, I'll have only one place where they're stored - on the external hard drive.

I know nothing about "cloud" storage. Can any of you recommend and/or proved links to any good sites that provide such service? Also, how secure do you feel this option is, and what is a reasonable amount to pay for it? Thank you in advance for your helpful replies.

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

Good luck, and when the server goes down or is hacked remember hard drives are cheap

goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

So, JR, are you saying just get another external hard drive?

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

I have three I use these

http://www.impact-computers.co.uk/sata-to-esata-usb-hdd-docking-station-with-one-touch-back-up-button/?gclid=CIWdxqvl0bYCFfLKtAodXQsAJg

Check ebay £19

goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

Thanks!, JR1. Will check it out.

Brenda IS Scottish Loc: GOLDEN Colorado

I have 5 external hard drives. I figured it was cheaper than 2 years of online storage. Two are in the safe deposit box at the bank at all times. It may seem like overkill, but I lost all my shots once and had to pay for recovery of the hard drive by the way was 400, and I got about 80% of my shots back (Yes I knew I could have tried myself but there was physical damage to the hard drive) so I don't take chances anymore. I do know Adobe give free online storage if you are a member, but it is limited to the file type they will accept (no raw - jpeg and similar formats only)

goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

Yikes! What a searing event. No wonder you have so much redundancy in your backup system now. I may follow suit. Thanks!

EstherP

I really don't know much about cloud storage, but after what I have read about them, including some very reputable ones like Carbonite or Adobe, I still will not use them.
A couple of reasons:
External hard drives a not that expensive now, I have several. I keep my "working files" on the internal hard drive, and have at least two externals, one is a Western Digital, the other one a Seagate. A number of important pictures are on a third external. Each of the three is in a different location!
Cloud storage may not be very expensive (I don't really know how much, as it has been quite a while since I researched that), but you keep on paying.... in the long run it may well be much more than an extra external hard drive.
The companies owning the cloud space may be very solid, reputable companies, but look what happened to Kodak...
If a company goes belly-up, will they give you enough time to get your image back to your home computer? Or will you discover one day that they're gone?
Almost every day it seems, there is something in the news about bank accounts being hacked, or government computers being broken into. Sure, my home computer could be hacked as well, but the photos on the external drives are connected a relatively short time, so the chances are minimized of them being stolen or destroyed right on my own computer.
OK, that's my story - and I'm sticking with it ;-)
EstherP

goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

Thanks, Esther. Good points.

robert-photos Loc: Chicago

I use bare HD's and a device similar to:

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-eSATA-Drive-Docking-Station/dp/B001IOPIRM/ref=sr_sp-btf_title_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1366210717&sr=1-5&keywords=startech

The bare internal HDs are better quality than stand alones and cheaper. You can have multiples and the drives store in cases similar to old VCR cases. It is also a great redundant back-up solution....just like the floppy disks of old except with capacities up to 4TB.

Google "hard drive docking station" and you'll find various flavors: ports, connections, etc. available. Search on Amazon for the best price. Internal HD's are always on sale.

For the cases I use something similar to:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Anti-Shock-Protection-Storage-Case-Box-Enclosure-fr-3-5-HDD-Hard-Disk-Drive-/170891330996?pt=US_Drive_Enclosures_Docks&hash=item27c9eac5b4

goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

Thank you very much, Robert, for taking the time to respond with this level of helpful detail.

robert-photos Loc: Chicago

I also use JimmyDrive for my offsite backup which is a cloud backup service similar to Carbonite but less expensive:
http://jimmydrive.com/

I have nearly 4TB of photos and with that amount of data these sevices, although highly reliable and cheap, are like trying to push an elephant through a straw because of their upload speed limitation of ~200 to 300 KB/s max. Based on that up load speed it takes ~ 1.5 months per TB subject to upload errors, etc. if you run 24/7.

Just saying, with cloud services you have to be aware of their limitations and if you use them your ISP may also have its own limits on your data upload/download use.

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

Target has the WD My passport 1TB on sale for $74.99 and it comes with a $10 giftcard at check out. Regular price is $89.99.

I picked up a couple yesterday.

goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

Thanks, Robert. Appreciate the info.

goldengirl Loc: Tucson, AZ

Great tip, Annie. My one external hard drive happens to be a Passport. Thanks!