Cloud Storage

olli

Super Moderator Emeritus
Location
Guangzhou
Name
olli
I've been spending a lot of time recently organising and re-organising images including all my RAW files and including online storage. At the moment I have managed to put together around 200GB of free online storage through some of the usual sources like MS and Google and also through some less well know service providers.

I've put together a couple of blog posts sharing my experience of trying to set up a relatively large cloud storage system for free and mentioning the various service I'm using. If you're interested in seeing what's available and getting some suggestions you will find the first post with some general comments on my blog. The second post with some more specific information about the different services I'm using will come tomorrow (or possibly Tuesday).
 
I'll be interested to see what you've come up with Olli... especially with regard to the possibility of having to move or shift everything elsewhere if something happens to the service (the pitfalls of free?).
This is something I've only just started to think about myself as I begin to amass files. Having an IT background, disaster planning and redundancy race through my mind every time I worry about my photos and videos.
Though technically it isn't labelled "cloud" storage, there is of course the now 1TB free Flickr accounts too.
Chao,
Irene
 
Though technically it isn't labelled "cloud" storage, there is of course the now 1TB free Flickr accounts too.
Chao,
Irene

The problem with Flickr being that it is a host for image and video files only, not for any other types of file (specifically raw files). There have been some ways suggested to circumvent this, but who knows whether Flickr will consider this abuse of the system and find ways to stop it as expressed in the comments to this article below.

How to Use Flickr's 1TB of Free Space to Store More Than Pictures
 
The problem with Flickr being that it is a host for image and video files only, not for any other types of file (specifically raw files). There have been some ways suggested to circumvent this, but who knows whether Flickr will consider this abuse of the system and find ways to stop it as expressed in the comments to this article below.

How to Use Flickr's 1TB of Free Space to Store More Than Pictures

Thanks for that. Still new to the whole RAW file thing so hadn't gotten to finding that out yet about Flickr. Not worth trying to circumvent it, I'd rather not lose files. Ah well, I'll have to see what Olli's come up with :)
 
I'll be interested to see what you've come up with Olli... especially with regard to the possibility of having to move or shift everything elsewhere if something happens to the service (the pitfalls of free?).

Good point Irene. I was going to cover this in the next post but it probably belongs in the first one. My approach is that it's not so much about 'free' as it is about 'new'. All these services offer paid options as well as free storage - the latter being their attempt to get you to sign up for the former.

The risk is that in a growing market not all of the entrants will survive. So newer - or smaller - providers may not gain enough traction to make it in the long term. Look at it this way and the risk is the same irrespective of whether you have a free or a paid account. My approach is to put the files that really matter on the services that I have most confidence in, like Microsoft Skydrive and Google Drive.

I tend to work on the assumption that if a particular service is struggling it will be bought over or there will at least be an opportunity to retrieve data. I realise that there is a small risk that a service could crash in a catastrophic manner and I could lose data from that service but I approach that as part of an overall risk calculation linked to the existence of my multiple hard drive back ups of the relevant data.

If I were a commercial photographer, even this slight degree of risk might be too much, but since I'm not I'm happy to work on the assumption that if one of these services fails it will either be taken over or I will probably have some opportunity to recover my files.
 
Sue, once I've posted my list maybe you could post a supplement of ones you are using that I have overlooked?
 
So I've just posted my second piece identifying the service providers I'm using with a few comments along the way. Most of these might already be familiar to you but you may also find one or two new options.

Thanks, Olli. You really should put your referral links in your blog post, for those who give extra for referrals... I always do, if I am posting about something. I notice you didn't mention Dropbox? Did you not get on board with that? Another new one (for me, anyway, its been around apparently for a few months at least) is Copy. It works pretty much like Dropbox, in that when you install the desktop app, it places a folder on your hard drive, and anything in that folder is synced. You get 15Gb straight away, and another 5Gb if you sign up from a referral link and install the app. You also get 5Gb for every referral, and the referral gets 5Gb too (as mentioned). I don't know what its longevity will be, its a lot, for free, but I like redundancy and will keep things there, and in the other locations I use.

Here's my link to Copy... and if you join, Olli, you should add it to your blog post... with referral link. I think for the rest, you have it pretty well covered. I was lucky enough to get 50Gb from Box during a promo they had for the iOS apps. I think they did another later for Blackberry and/or Android and more recently for Windows mobile.

Ohhh... I forgot PogoPlug. You can get 20Gb for free, and the paid options can give you unlimited. PC, and mobile devices. Its just storage, it seems, not syncing as such. http://www.pogoplug.com
 
Thanks Sue. I didn't mention Dropbox because I didn't want to end up with an endless list and I decided to make the cut off point providers that offer an initial 5GB minimum (though I know they have a generous referral policy). Thanks for the info on Copy. I hadn't come across it before and I'll certainly sign up and add it to the list.

When I checked on Pogoplug it only mentioned 5GB. Did you get in on a special deal perhaps?
 
Thanks Sue. I didn't mention Dropbox because I didn't want to end up with an endless list and I decided to make the cut off point providers that offer an initial 5GB minimum (though I know they have a generous referral policy). Thanks for the info on Copy. I hadn't come across it before and I'll certainly sign up and add it to the list.

When I checked on Pogoplug it only mentioned 5GB. Did you get in on a special deal perhaps?
OH! Perhaps because I use iOS. Not sure anymore. I guess the thing is, one can't use everything, or it gets too complicated. I've taken Copy on board, but I use Dropbox because many of my important iOS apps are Dropbox aware (and as that increases, I guess I will be looking to start pimping my link again... I think I only have 8Gb there at the moment...) For example... Wallet, the app I use to keep my passwords and other info... the database lives in my Dropbox and syncs between desktop and mobile apps, so I always have it available regardless of what I am using at the time. That is exceptionally handy.. Also Chronicle which keeps tabs on my bills due and paid etc... Desktop and mobile sync. Of course with these, you need to be a mac/iOS user :)
 
Good point Irene. I was going to cover this in the next post but it probably belongs in the first one. My approach is that it's not so much about 'free' as it is about 'new'. All these services offer paid options as well as free storage - the latter being their attempt to get you to sign up for the former.

The risk is that in a growing market not all of the entrants will survive. So newer - or smaller - providers may not gain enough traction to make it in the long term. Look at it this way and the risk is the same irrespective of whether you have a free or a paid account. My approach is to put the files that really matter on the services that I have most confidence in, like Microsoft Skydrive and Google Drive.

I tend to work on the assumption that if a particular service is struggling it will be bought over or there will at least be an opportunity to retrieve data. I realise that there is a small risk that a service could crash in a catastrophic manner and I could lose data from that service but I approach that as part of an overall risk calculation linked to the existence of my multiple hard drive back ups of the relevant data.

If I were a commercial photographer, even this slight degree of risk might be too much, but since I'm not I'm happy to work on the assumption that if one of these services fails it will either be taken over or I will probably have some opportunity to recover my files.

You make good points Olli thanks for the view point and taking my question into consideration. Will read your posts as soon as I can.
Chao
Irene


Irene,
Have camera will travel & shoot!
 
I've been a fan of Backupthat for a while now. I have backed up about 500GB of files for free with their webapp. All of my files are accessible on any device, and they never leave my control, which is more than what I can say for most cloud storage companies.
 
So I've got a third post now and a fourth still to come. It's taking a little longer than I thought. This one is about keeping everything secure.

Tauecho thanks for the information on Backup That. It looks like another useful addition though I don't think it's any different from a cloud storage company. My only concern with their approach is if one of the email providers decides to prevent their email storage allowance being used as general storage.
 
Hello Olli, Sue and others...

For what it's worth I came across this today on a website that posts freebies etc.

For a limited time AT&T are giving a free 50GB upgrade of their 5GB AT&T Locker. I followed the instructions given on the website and have free 50GB account :)

50GB FREE Upgrade of Online Cloud Storage @ AT&T Locker - OzBargain

Chao,
Irene

I also spotted it on Ozbargain and grabbed some. You beat me to the post here... though to be honest I am not sure I'll use it.
 
I also spotted it on Ozbargain and grabbed some. You beat me to the post here... though to be honest I am not sure I'll use it.

Same here. I tried uploading a few files to see how it works. Now it's possible that with the offer they have been overwhelmed with new customers and new uploads but using it last night and this morning again this is about the slowest site I've ever encountered.

So far it has failed to manage to successfully upload a single file (approx. 10MB DNG files). I'll maybe check it again in a week or two but so far it's the poor relation to everything else.
 
Same here. I tried uploading a few files to see how it works. Now it's possible that with the offer they have been overwhelmed with new customers and new uploads but using it last night and this morning again this is about the slowest site I've ever encountered.

So far it has failed to manage to successfully upload a single file (approx. 10MB DNG files). I'll maybe check it again in a week or two but so far it's the poor relation to everything else.

Oh that's a shame, thanks for looking into it Olli. I had it on my "to do list"... my thought being, get it then try it out. Suits me to wait a while to check it out as am pretty busy with other things... like preparing for a trip to France :D
 
Might be worth signing up anyway while it's available. At least that way if it does improve you'll have your 50GB
 
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