VJG

I just got a new iMac. I have an external hard drive backing up everything on my computer, but am wondering if it is worthwhile to use iCloud also as a backup for my photos. Are there any known problems with iCloud, or disadvantages using iCloud as opposed to other cloud services? Thanks.

jcboy3

It's a good idea. There are always risks; I've known some that lost data in the "cloud". But it's always a good idea to have a remote backup, especially of critical data. Imagine if your house was destroyed by fire, storm, flood.

Kuzano

Any Cloud (online backup) is only as good as the dependability of the site, the financial stability of the site, and the lengthy upload (not so much) and download (very often much) time in the event of an emergency.

I see you have an external backup. Suggest do not let that go. No failure or closure of an online site will protect you solely. It is your responsibility to maintain your own backup. On line storage for backup purposes is not a replacement, but rather an off site storage for catastrophic events. I have lost storage in two situations by using weak or unknown web sites for storage.

Fortunately, I rotate local external drives on my computer. Redundancy is your ONLY friend for backup storage.

I heartily recommend googling, reading and understanding "The Tao of Backup" found many times on the internet.

Having said all that, I suspect iCloud is as good as any cloud web site, as long as you know how long it's going to take to get your backups downloaded in event of a total local loss. But, I suspect if a Tornado takes out your home, getting your files back is going to be down the list quite a bit, for time to be operational again. Getting a roof over your head and finding your family members, the dog and the parakeet, will likely come the highest priorities.

Keep your local, manual or automatic local backups current at all times.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Managing your own backups locally is always a good idea. I use three local systems for backups. Going with a web service back up has its risks. However, if you were to choose a web based backup, I'd suggest Backblaze.
--Bob

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Should be fine since Apple is a deep-pocketed company. That said, it's a good idea to have an off site hard copy as well.

VJG

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I also make DVDs that are in my safe deposit box.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

The more backups the merrier.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

iCloud is mainly for file sharing, although it does provide backup. I would trust Apple over other cloud storage companies. That being said, I do not trust cloud storage as a general principle.

Computer security experts say you should always maintain a minimum of three (3) forms of backup for your photographs. At least one should be off site to protect against loss in the event of fire or natural disaster. The Cloud is not the best choice because your photos will be under the control of a second party that may have technical problems, financial failure or bankruptcy, sale to an unreliable party or may hold your data hostage to rising costs. My system provides both on and off site redundant backup that is completely under my own control.
My system consists of the following:

1) All storage of photographs is external to the computer’s (iMac) internal drive.

2) Downloads from the camera, editing, final product and primary storage is on a 5Tb Western Digital My Book drive.

a) Each shoot is stored in a folder identified by job name and date.

b) Within each folder are three sub-folders labeled “RAW”, “Edit” and “Final”. All uploads are made to the RAW folder and only copies of the raw files are copied to the Edit folder for editing. The final output that may include JEPG, TIFF, etc. files are transferred to the Final folder.

3) The complete primary storage drive is backed up to a Drobo 5-drive RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). This allows multiple backup copies of the data along with offsite backup. In addition, the Drobo’s firmware automatically corrects any data transfer errors and insures that all backup drives have matched data. The RAID consists of five Western Digital Red Drives, which are designed for this type of service and have an excellent reputation for reliability. Furthermore they are “hot swappable” which means they can be safely inserted and removed from the Drobo without removing power from the system.

a) The Drobo is only powered on when backups are being made. Otherwise, it is powered off. This limits the exposure to possible hacking.

c) Although the Drobo can hold up to five drives, only four are in the unit at any given time. Three of the drives are never removed and provide the basic redundancy.

d) The fourth drive position is used for the offsite backup. Two drives are used for that purpose. Once a week or as necessary, drive 4 is removed from the Drobo and taken to the bank. Drive 5 is removed from my safe deposit box and drive 4 takes it place in the box.

4) Drive 5 is inserted into the Drobo where the data from Drives 1, 2 and 3 are automatically copied to it.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Keeping a local backup and keeping a DR (disaster recovery) copy in the cloud is good practice. As long as you choose a major cloud provider (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc), and you have decent speed internet access, you cannot possibly create a safer archive in any other way, and the cost is very reasonable.

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

Just don't rely on a single external backup drive. They have a propensity for failing at the most inopportune time. I've had clients lose large quantities of photos & documents by relying on the single drive scenario. Sometimes those files can be covered by mounting the drive on a computer booted with Unix but not always. iCloud, Dropbox, Microsoft cloud, maybe even Carbonite, would be good choices for online storage.

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

There are many remote backup sites, including iCloud. Pick one and use it. Also, keep a local backup of your work. In my experience, it's easier and quicker to back up from a local source I control than from an online source. I use a QNAP server (4 drives in a RAID 10 configuration), and it saved my bacon when my computer crashed. It was easier and quicker to resource my data from this server than from the web.

donrosshill Loc: Delaware & Florida

It is difficult to answer your question. It is in most cases a matter of what your personally feel about protecting your data.
Example: Banks: we all use a Bank to manage our money, We write checks and use a debit card what is stored n that Bank. We have done that for years. We know where that Bank is, we can walk or drive to that Bank to use it's other services and withdraw funds, store funds, etc. We have built a confidence level and trust that Bank.
Some people are using the Cloud as a bank for their images. The questions that are still open are, where is that Cloud, what do we know about them, how safe is it, what happens to my Data if that cloud opens up and all my data rains out into the rest of the world. Lots of open questions that at this time have not shown me that it is for me.
I still back up weekly to an external hard drive. In the future when I can be shown that the Cloud can be fully trusted, perhaps I will give it a limited trial. In the mean time I will still backup to my own external hard drive.
Use your own judgement.
Don

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

iCloud is ok to use as a tertiary backup. Just don't rely on it.

jmizera Loc: Austin Texas

An important point on iCloud is that it transparently allows access to all your photos on an iPhone via the photo app, but does not use local storage space. You can of course access your stored images on other cloud apps like Dropbox, but you must do so via the dedicated app. iCloud is the only one that works transparently with photos, and automatically manages phone storage space.

That said, if you don't care about the iPhone specific features, I'd go with Dropbox.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Guess where you bank information is? In the cloud along with your medical info., credit cards, Social security, etc. (2/3of all major companies use the cloud and most of the remaining third have plans to move), so do you think it might be safe enough for your photos? That cloud (which is a pretty unfortunate name because it seems so nebulous) is in hardened data centers with redundant power, storage servers and networking administered by professionals, just like any other high quality data center. AND there are multiple copies of your data at seperate geographic locations in the event a data center is destroyed or inaccessible due to a disaster. By all means, keep a local backup (likely faster to restore), but no way you can create any archive as robust as the cloud.