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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: atmartinas on Saturday 09 September 17 12:31 BST (UK)
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I have a lot of digital photos I want to organise and store safely. They are all over the place on old laptop, new laptop 3 hard-drives and numerous memory sticks. Some are on all the devices! I would like to store securely in 'the cloud' preferably with some ability to eliminate duplicates. Any suggestions. I don't mind paying but don't want to pay too much.
All suggestions welcome
Thanks
M
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Some Internet Service Providers provide Cloud storage as part of their broadband service - have you checked ?
Also some software companies "give" some free storage with their software.
In our case, because we have a number of Apple devices, I have upgraded my iCloud storage (50Gb = 0.79p per month) and we now share photographs etc. across the whole family.
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http://uk.businessinsider.com/best-cloud-storage-price-google-drive-dropbox-icloud-one-drive-2014-12?r=US&IR=T
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Thanks HarryW and Hallmark... great link.
M
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Some are on all the devices!
Nothing wrong with that, it's safer to have multiple backups.
If you rely solely on cloud backup, then you might encounter problems retrieving photos if they go offline for maintenance, are hacked, go out of business, etc.
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Thanks Angus McCoatup,
There are some I will always keep on multiple devices but I really need to do a little organising takes me forever to find what I want sometimes!
M
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My advice: first organize (remove duplicates, rename files, etc.) on your PC/Laptop then replicate to both an external drive and the cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.).
On the 'cloud backup' I think there are two ways to go.
The first is to keep selected folders and their files 'in synch' with the cloud. Most cloud 'synching' solutions require you to set up a special folder to be synched. https://www.sugarsync.com/ (https://www.sugarsync.com/) is more flexible and works with your current folder structure.
The second approach is just to back up the whole hard drive. Services like Backblaze and Carbonite don't care what the folder stucture is. They just copy the whole hard drive to the cloud.
Mike
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Thank you very much for your advice Mike, you are right there is no getting away from need to sort out on PC. So I am in process of trying to organise.. it will take me a while, wish I had never let it get so out of hand. Its a slow job as I am trying to put names on all aswell which I should have done as I went along and I am really enjoyingg looking at the photos, need to print out lots. :)
Regards
M
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If you have a lot of duplicate files you might find this useful. It searches out and lists all the duplicates and gives you various options of how to deal with them:
https://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/
Other programs are available :)
As others have said, it is risky to rely solely on the 'Cloud' or indeed any other medium for your valuable files.
Mike.
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Thanks Mike175. That's a really useful link. I have every intention of keeping files on one laptop and one hard drive as well as in cloud. But the old laptop is not reliable so need to clear and backup that one. Some I have already moved a while ago but I renamed the files so not able to pick up as duplicates. Really not sure what I have where, this time I am going to do properly and keep at it till I get job done.
Thanks
M
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You ask for "secure" backup in the Cloud. I don't think any of the mainstream Cloud storage providers will make any meaningful commitment about security, or any real guarantee against loss. It's all "Best Efforts" stuff which is fine for everyday use, but not enough for important materials.
So, like you, I do backup photos in the Cloud (I use Google), but I have local backups, and offline copies also. The offline backup is especially important with this encrypting ransomware doing the rounds, which, if you are hit by it, may also encrypt your backups, and could conceivably be propagated into your Cloud copies.