SmugVault: Reviews? worth the cost?

[yoby]

I am already a Smug subscriber and I use it to backup my Jpegs and galleries into it, now comes the question if the SmugVault (http://www.smugmug.com/help/smugvault)is worth the additional cost. Currently I do backups on DVDs as well as external drives.

The only benefit I see is for non supported SMUG regular files like TIFF , RAW, PSD files... But those I can always email them using Google, or using Skydrive from Microsoft o create multiple copies.

Am guessing 10 GB of PSD , TIFF, RAW (PORTFOLIO STYLE PHOTOS) will be decent amount of data for 1 year so am estimating around 25$ a year for backup +1$ a month recurring fee (so 37$? or so maybe rounding it up to an even 40$ / year); If you know of a better alternative am all ears! or should I say eyes!

Any info will be great...

Thanks and regards,

[SYS]

I also considered the vault, but I decided it was more cost effective to just get more ex hard drives....

[yoby]

I also considered the vault, but I decided it was more cost effective to just get more ex hard drives....

I see, The only positive is anything physical can Fail and in theory they should backup their data to several other drives to guarantee your data, but like anything nothing is 100% what it seems to be...

[SYS]

Nothing is guaranteed, not even SmugVault. Because the prices are coming down on ex hd's, it's now attractive to save all of my photos and videos to 3 separate hd's. Then, duplicate on DVD those that are most precious to me. I'd keep one or two of these in another location outside of my house...

I'm NOT saying the SmugVault isn't an attractive option especially if additional fee isn't an issue at all. In fact, if you end up subscribing to it, I'd like to hear about how it works out.

[yoby]

Nothing is guaranteed, not even SmugVault. Because the prices are coming down on ex hd's, it's now attractive to save all of my photos and videos to 3 separate hd's. Then, duplicate on DVD those that are most precious to me. I'd keep one or two of these in another location outside of my house...

I'm NOT saying the SmugVault isn't an attractive option especially if additional fee isn't an issue at all. In fact, if you end up subscribing to it, I'd like to hear about how it works out.

Currently am doing the same thing you are doing with the additional step of putting the JPEGS on SMUG account...

I was going to ship my dvds of photos to my mom's so I can have multiple copies in different parts of the WORLD! HECK I'll be screwed in case of an Apocalypse but hey I might not live that long...

PS: I was thinking using those free webpage sites and store images there for safe keeping plus the DVD / exHD combo

[zeva]

imo not that good of a deal considering a 1tb external drop as low as 100...

[yoby]

Am with you on that, now more than ever is not that awesome... the only thing is theft... or fire or flood.

[yoby]

Well looking around I found Free alternatives...

Has anybody used IN.SOLIT.US (http://in.solit.us)? is free webspace and unlimited bandwidth..

Or ADRIVE (http://www.adrive.com)which gives 25GB free Space (am thinking have one of these free accounts to place RAW or PSD Files) of course on a Password protected ZiP or something along that line)

Let me know if you have used them before...

[blonde]

Am with you on that, now more than ever is not that awesome... the only thing is theft... or fire or flood.

that is easily solvable. highly recommend just buying an external drive and backing up all your files to it. then, take the drive and either give it to a friend or put it where you work. i have a 750gb drive here with me in my office with all my images so if something happens to my house, i am safe.

[yoby]

yeah I am doing that this weekend... plus mailing my parents some DVDs of my KEEPERS

[SYS]

Yea, mailing one of your backups to a relative of yours is what I do, too. It serves dual purposes: one, a backup in a different location; two, they get to enjoy my creation.

[nphsbuckeye]

imo not that good of a deal considering a 1tb external drop as low as 100...
1,000,000,000,000 bytes is a wonderful thing!

[zeva]

1,000,202,240,000 bytes! its stillkinda of a rip off with the rounding though... :( i lost like 96GB over TRUE 1tb