Cloud storage

I don't see that anyone has mentioned it yet, but if you have slow internet upload speeds such as most cable systems (Spectrum, Charter, etc.) then the cloud may not be for you. An asymmetrical internet connection means downloads will be relatively quick but uploading to the cloud can be painfully slow. Fiber optic connections such as ATT fiber and Google fiber don't have this problem. As usual YMMV depending on your tolerance for delays.

I know some do not like the way Amazon prime stores photos but since I organize my local storage by date, Amazon's storage by date works great for me. Plus the cost (included in my Prime membership is great).

My photos are organized by year starting in 1997 (Year I bought my first digital camera). I have folders (four per year) 1997/Jan, Feb, March/Event, RAW or JPEG, Date, Camera/Event, Date, Image number, extension

For scans for negatives and slides before '97 are grouped by Location where I lived, after '97 I have them in my digital backup. I stopped shooting film after the 2002 Olympics.

Amazon Photos backup is by Year and month and keeps my photo naming. Plus I can search by face or something like beach. Also, I use the Amazon Windows app so it automatically backups my photos from my primary storage location when I upload my photos (I us downloader Pro to copy my files from my card reader to my computer).

I also backup to a secondary 16 TB drive in my computer and to two external drives. I also, every 12-18 months create an updated off location copy I store out of state. The size of my photography backup is right around 7 TB and growing.

In the past I tried several cloud backup storage systems. I never found one that had a great interface. Probably much better options now. My biggest gripe with the other systems was speed of recovery. I work in the Data Security field and one of the jokes in the industry has always been about backups. You ask someone about their backup solution and they would say, I have full confidence in my backups, I have little confidence in my recovery from backup.

Part of my problem in the past testing cloud backups was my internet speed when I lived back east. Was good for the area, but still pretty slow on upload. Today I am fortunate to live in an area with Google Fiber 2 gig. I now have great download and upload speeds.

My advice in looking at cloud backups is first check the companies history. At least 2 of the companies I tried years ago are no longer in business. Second, find and provider that will work for the way you want to upload and download your images. I have 25+ years of photos on Amazon and several times this has saved me when I had issues with my local backups. Very easy for me to recover from Amazon. I know Amazon will not work for everyone, that is why I recommend trying a few to find one that works with the way you store your photos.

BTW, one feature I love about Amazon Photos is the Android app. Every day I get a notification of my photos of the day. I can look back and see what photos I took on say September 5th, and I will see 2021, 2018, 2005, 2000 etc... Always fun to catch up on memories. Plus, I have Amazon backing up full size images from my phone.

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https://theshire.zenfolio.com/

Gary Coombs said:

Carey Brown said:

Gary Coombs said:

BlueRay2 said:

Gary Coombs said:

I subscribe to Microsoft 365 for $69/yr. This gives me all of Microsoft Office always up-to-date and very importantly 1 Terabyte of OneDrive cloud. I consider this an incredible bargain.

I have a 1 Terabyte local drive on my computer.

I currently have about 250 GB of data and photos.

I keep all my data and photos in my local OneDrive folder. This gives me a real-time mirror backup on OneDrive cloud. It's all automatic since OneDrive is part of the operating system.

Additionally, I do a quick backup every night before shutting down using Microsoft File History. I alternate between two 2 TB portable SSD drives. I only attach them long enough to back up, usually less than 10 seconds. I like Microsoft File History as it keeps all previous versions of files. It's reliable and easy to use.

I always restore with a fresh new OS install. The beauty of OneDrive is that as soon as you log in to Windows with a fresh new installation or a new computer, your data is instantly there! I love it.

I've done this for years through several disasters and any number of new computers. It just works beautifully.

Click to expand...

i find this very interesting, so you have no problem using your private data with M$ because it seems convenient to you? you can do that by investing in a couple SSD drives and keep everything private, again, unless your personal data is not important to you.

i have an 8 TB HDD drive that i use as my data bank that i use when i need it and then turned off when not in use. i don't like to share my personal data with anyone, period. but that is me, others may have different feeling and understanding about personal and private data.

Click to expand...

My financial information is not kept in OneDrive. All else is of interest only to me and I seriously doubt if Microsoft has any interest in stealing it.

I fully understand your feelings on your data. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. That's what I do.

Click to expand...

My solution to private data is Boxcryptor. You designate folder(s) to be encrypted. They can be local folders, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.. To get to the unencrypted files you have to enter a password and Boxcryptor creates a temporary pseudo drive with unencrypted access to your files. I doesn't actually create an unencrypted file on disk that can be discovered later. If you are using cloud storage to backup your folder privacy is not a concern as the only thing copied are the encrypted files.

$60/yr

Click to expand...

OneDrive now offers Personal Vault, a specially designated folder that is encrypted and password protected. Being part of OneDrive, it is convenient and easy to use. There is no additional charge.

Click to expand...

I was interested until I read this:

If you don't have a subscription to Microsoft 365 Family or Personal, you can only add up to three files in your Personal Vault. If you do have a subscription, you can add as many files as you want (up to your storage limit).

I don't have 365 and a "personal subscription" is $70/yr, which is more than Boxcryptor.

Carey Brown said:

Gary Coombs said:

Carey Brown said:

Gary Coombs said:

BlueRay2 said:

Gary Coombs said:

I subscribe to Microsoft 365 for $69/yr. This gives me all of Microsoft Office always up-to-date and very importantly 1 Terabyte of OneDrive cloud. I consider this an incredible bargain.

I have a 1 Terabyte local drive on my computer.

I currently have about 250 GB of data and photos.

I keep all my data and photos in my local OneDrive folder. This gives me a real-time mirror backup on OneDrive cloud. It's all automatic since OneDrive is part of the operating system.

Additionally, I do a quick backup every night before shutting down using Microsoft File History. I alternate between two 2 TB portable SSD drives. I only attach them long enough to back up, usually less than 10 seconds. I like Microsoft File History as it keeps all previous versions of files. It's reliable and easy to use.

I always restore with a fresh new OS install. The beauty of OneDrive is that as soon as you log in to Windows with a fresh new installation or a new computer, your data is instantly there! I love it.

I've done this for years through several disasters and any number of new computers. It just works beautifully.

Click to expand...

i find this very interesting, so you have no problem using your private data with M$ because it seems convenient to you? you can do that by investing in a couple SSD drives and keep everything private, again, unless your personal data is not important to you.

i have an 8 TB HDD drive that i use as my data bank that i use when i need it and then turned off when not in use. i don't like to share my personal data with anyone, period. but that is me, others may have different feeling and understanding about personal and private data.

Click to expand...

My financial information is not kept in OneDrive. All else is of interest only to me and I seriously doubt if Microsoft has any interest in stealing it.

I fully understand your feelings on your data. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. That's what I do.

Click to expand...

My solution to private data is Boxcryptor. You designate folder(s) to be encrypted. They can be local folders, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.. To get to the unencrypted files you have to enter a password and Boxcryptor creates a temporary pseudo drive with unencrypted access to your files. I doesn't actually create an unencrypted file on disk that can be discovered later. If you are using cloud storage to backup your folder privacy is not a concern as the only thing copied are the encrypted files.

$60/yr

Click to expand...

OneDrive now offers Personal Vault, a specially designated folder that is encrypted and password protected. Being part of OneDrive, it is convenient and easy to use. There is no additional charge.

Click to expand...

I was interested until I read this:

If you don't have a subscription to Microsoft 365 Family or Personal, you can only add up to three files in your Personal Vault. If you do have a subscription, you can add as many files as you want (up to your storage limit).

I don't have 365 and a "personal subscription" is $70/yr, which is more than Boxcryptor.

Click to expand...

Don't forget, with your Microsoft 365 subscription of $70/yr, you also get 1TB of cloud storage. How much cloud storage does Boxcryptor come with?

texasfz8 - thank you. My upload speed is about 10 mbps and download is about 70 mbps. Adequate for most purposes but maybe not for working with large quantities of data in the cloud.

Kokopelli_Rocks - lots of helpful information within your comments. Thank you

Carey Brown - thank you. All useful information if I eventually consider 365.

JeremyB2 said:

texasfz8 - thank you. My upload speed is about 10 mbps and download is about 70 mbps. Adequate for most purposes but maybe not for working with large quantities of data in the cloud.

Click to expand...

Really the only hard part is if you want to copy all your existing data. If you have 1TB, you are looking at the better part of 2 solid weeks to get it copied.

Ongoing backups won't take more than a few hours typically.

The comments I have received after posting my question have been very helpful in aiding me to make up my mind about what I really want. It turns out that cloud backup is probably not for me. I would rarely need to access data remotely (i.e. when away from home) and as my broadband speeds are not wonderful (10 up / 70 down), it might prove not to be the fastest method of accessing files.

I plan to do local backups to several external hard drives, keeping at least one in a secure place away from my home. I have two WD My Passport portable drives and three 3.5" 2TB hard drives which I will backup to using a docking station. I think this will give me the peace of mind that I'm seeking with regard to the approximately 800GB of data - mainly photos - that I want to keep safe.

Thanks again for all the useful comment.

Probably a good idea. When I had slower internet upload speeds I found cloud backup pretty frustrating. Your local backup plan sounds good.