anybody here use mobile me galleries?

My mac laptop is really slow now that I have it full of RAW files. I have many photos that I have put into mobile me galleries. I'm under the impression that if I delete these photos from my laptop hard drive, they will also be deleted from the mobile me gallery, facebook gallery, etc. Am I correct in this assumption?

If I AM correct, how do I free up my poor tortured computer and still keep my photos SOMEWHERE OUT THERE. I will not transfer them to dvds, external hard drives etc, I want to transfer them to online storage and then delete them from my hard drive forever. I looked into dropbox, but it isn't clear to me what happens if I delete them from my laptop AFTER I have put them into dropbox. If dropbox keeps syncing with my computer, won't my newly dropboxxed photos disappear??? I'm so computer stupid, it's pathetic really, and I have nobody to help me figure this crap out. I'm an old dog, trying to learn new tricks, and while I've loved the move from medium format film photography to digital, this part of it is killin' me.

Help.

I'm not sure what the answer to your question is, but why not put them on dvd's or external hd also. You can still put them online, but if anything ever happens or they accidentally get deleted, at least you still have a copy for restoration. Online servers can die too. Even though they usually have massive backups still better safe than sorry. Just my opinion.

If you transfer them anywhere and then delete them it no longer is a back up. All data needs to exist in at least 2 places if you really care about it. There are, however, a great number of places that do cloud storage.

I believe Dropbox and the MobileMe Galleries use a sync function so that when you delete a photo on your hard drive, the photo is also deleted from your cloud storage too. You don't want to do that.

If you want to use online storage without the sync, I think you'll want to use Apple's iDisk instead. This is more of an online storage place, which you should already have access to through your MobileMe account. I think the basic version give you 20 GB of storage.

Even though you say you don't want to do it, you should also consider getting your own external hard drive for extra storage. Drives are really inexpensive these days. For example, you could get a 2 TB (that's 2000 GB) G-Technology G-Drive for about $225 at B&H. Considering a year of MobileMe costs $100 and gives you only 20GB of online storage, the external drive is a much better deal.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ails&Q=&sku=645​055&is=REG

The G-Drives are great because they are robust and Mac-friendly. Just plug it in and it works with your Mac laptop...... easy for an old dog!

Thank you tgara, you seem to understand the issue. I don't want to delete from cloud storage when I delete from the hard drive. I do have an external hard drive, I just don't trust them as I had one die on me once. Perhaps I should just buy extra space from iDisk and call it a day. I assume I can buy more than what they have already given me "free" with Mobile me. I'll have a look at the G drives as well. If they are robust and mac friendly, perhaps I should revisit using externals...thanks again.

suecassidy wrote in post #12242452
Thank you tgara, you seem to understand the issue. I don't want to delete from cloud storage when I delete from the hard drive. I do have an external hard drive, I just don't trust them as I had one die on me once. Perhaps I should just buy extra space from iDisk and call it a day. I assume I can buy more than what they have already given me "free" with Mobile me. I'll have a look at the G drives as well. If they are robust and mac friendly, perhaps I should revisit using externals...thanks again.

Keep in mind, none of these storage approaches are 100% reliable. Although small, they all have a failure rate, whether it is the cloud storage or an attached hard drive. The best way to cope with that is to have redundant backups. If you are a pro, you'll want to have at least two copies of your images in different places. External hard drives make this easy.

I think you can add an extra 40GB of storage to your MobileMe account.

That said, the reliability of the modern hard disk drives is much improved from the past units. The G-Drives have a very good track record. I've been using a 500GB G-Drive for a couple years, and it's had zero problems.

rklepper wrote in post #12242374
If you transfer them anywhere and then delete them it no longer is a back up. All data needs to exist in at least 2 places if you really care about it. ....

Three places. The original file, a local copy, and then a backup.

The easiest way to do this is with a second hard disk (external or internal) combined with a service like Mozy or Carbonite (or even Flikr, Smugmug, or Zenfolio). If you want to go a step further, periodically rotate the local copy offsite (for example, use two external hard drives and keep periodically switch the one at work with the one stored at home). But, it's a big mistake to consider a local copy as your backup when there are so many events (electrical problems, theft, floods) that could wreck both disks at the same time.

Why not replace your laptop's hard drive with a larger capacity?

Also, I think you should still consider the external drive even though one of yours failed. I suggest a Mercury series from macsales.com.

Unless it has changed, if you delete photos out of the iPhoto library then it will be deleted from the Mobile Me Gallery as well. I'm starting wonder if that is still true though because there is a plug-in for LR to upload directly to Mobile Me which would be skipping the iPhoto library altogether. If you can upgrade your HD that would be the easiest thing to do as accessing photos online to view and edit is a very slow process.

I use mobileme galleries to display for family, but not to use as a back up.