Pics storage

[Pandatoday]

Hello.

One question: how do you store your pictures usually ?

I made several tests and not very happy with the resolution on the online storage services. Other question is whether they store EXIF info ?

Just wondering how can I backup and see on portable device.

Thanks.

 

[DanBichener]

The storage method shouldn’t have any impact on resolution or exif data - that is within the file itself.

Do you mean that when viewed online the images don’t look high res?

I store all my images on my computer and use cloud based systems for transfer to other devices.

 

[NikonNature]

Photos are just files, like a Word document, or a spreadsheet. Backing them up does not remove anything - EXIF or resolution. Viewing them on the cloud may have limitations, but if you restore the file locally it should be identical to the original.

As far as backup strategies, there are several approaches that vary quite a bit. It all depends on how much protection you want against data loss. At the very least, your hard drive should contain/retain all your images and you should back that up on a regular basis.

A simple solution is to use external hard drives for backing up. They are fairly cheap these days (4TB for $100) and you can have a couple of them for extra insurance. There are even utilities you can buy that will simplify the process. Some of them are smart enough to do incremental backups - meaning they only back up new or changed files.

Another, more robust, approach is to use a RAID array. You can buy a RAID system, which uses multiple hard drives with redundancy, so your data can be recovered even if one fails. This is a subject to research thoroughly before you proceed.

 

[Mark LW]

I have Primary and Secondary drives in my m/c, all image flies are stored on the secondary with weekly backups to an external 4TB drive.

 

[graybalanced]

The storage method shouldn’t have any impact on resolution or exif data - that is within the file itself.

It can, depending on the service. Some may recompress your images or have a resolution limit, depending on the plan. For example if you pick the"Unlimited Free Storage" plan on Google Photos, it says "Photos are compressed to save space. If a photo is larger than 16MP, it will be resized to 16MP."

That would certainly result in a quality loss.

What Pandatoday should know is that on a good paid photo site, like Zenfolio or Smugmug, photos are not recompressed and original resolution is respected. You get what you pay for. And they will preserve all EXIF info. And any good service will be completely integrated across desktop and mobile, with mobile-optimized website and mobile apps. You just upload to the site, and view on all devices.

 

[DanBichener]

Good to know. I’ve not used google images, just things like Dropbox and google drive

 

[bobkoure]

For cloud storage, I've recently gone back to photo backup using Amazon Prime. There used to be a limit on photo size and RAW files weren't recognized. Got into a discussion here at DPR and found out those limitations had been removed.
I have Prime for other reasons, so it's effectively free for me.
Comes with a windows (and maybe Mac/Lin?) app to setup periodic backups which can also just copy an entire folder of photo-files (useful if that folder has become static).

My process is as follows. Files go onto my personal PC. Nightly backups to a file server in the basement. Off-site backups to Amazon.
I'm an amateur; I don't shoot enough to fill 32 GB between visits to my PC. I have three pairs of 32G SD cards, and camera set to write to second SD card as backup of first. When I copy all files of the top SD card to my PC, even if I don't have an issue, I swap the bottom SD card into the top slot so I'm not walking around with a false sense of security (bottom card failed, but I'm relying on it for backup).

On longer trips I drag along a laptop and external HD. Laptop is also set to backup to amazon. Everything goes to personal PC, etc. when I get home

 

[LordKOTL]

Hello.

One question: how do you store your pictures usually ?

I made several tests and not very happy with the resolution on the online storage services. Other question is whether they store EXIF info ?

Just wondering how can I backup and see on portable device.

Thanks.

1st off, keep in mind I'm an amateur and as such, I don't have much incentive for offsite backups. Those who are professionals or those with different needs might very well need offsite backups of their work, and they can give you better answers for that.

That being said: I store my work redundantly on a RAID-5 array on my main workstatio computer, and mirrored to a much larger NAS device. That NAS can be accessed externally on portable devices, so I could pull op a photo on my phone, let's say, but it's not for public exhibition. Since it works as a file server, it doesn't strip out EXIF.

For exhibiting stuff online, yeah, FB will strip out EXIF and they cook images somewhat. I have used Flickr in the past and now use 500px. 500px doesn't appear to cook images and on the app they appear full rez.

I hope this helps!

 

[hotdog321]

If you do a search you will find many options for image storage. Personally, I prefer to use external hard drives. They offer vast storage at a very modest cost. I suggest that you keep the drive(s) turned off except when you need them and power them though a UPS power supply. Also, don't move the drive(s) unless necessary. That way you avoid heat, voltage spikes and drops, and impact damage/errors.

I do this stuff for a living and have over a dozen drives. I only had one drive fail (an old Maxtor drive) and I resurrected it by placing the hard drive in a new housing.