Looking for a good, long-term online storage solution. Does such a thing exist?

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone knew of a reliable/reputable permanent storage solution for photos. The wife and I just had our first child, and I want to make sure the pictures remain very well protected. The online service would be an additional measure of protection, in addition to keeping a copy on external HDD in our fireproof safe.

One that I've seen that I really like is Files Forever by Dreamhost (I have a Dreamhost account so I would be able to use this service). One thing I do like is the one time fee for storage ($.01/4MB if anyone is wondering). With any system, I have a strong preference for paying a one time fee, instead of a yearly or monthly (strongly opposed to monthly, really).

The only other caveat is that I would like to be able to store the images in as high a resolution as possible. Not necessarily 16MB RAW files, but something that I can still do prints from if I ever have to recover those files in a worst-case scenario.

If anyone knows of anything, please share here, as I have done a bit of searching, but haven't found much. Thanks!!

flickr, google+

I havent figured out flickr privacy yet, but basic flickr has pretty damn good file sizes nowadays.

flickr keeps all your originals I think, so if you go pro for 1 year, you can basically recover everything if needed. Free flickr has pretty good resolution, enough for 4x6's or maybe 5x7's.

I kinda lost a lot of my first child's pictures, so I take my backups a little more seriously. 1 copy of raws on a NAS with 2TB, 1 copy raws on another NAS with 2TB, 1 copy of processed jpg photos on another multimedia NAS for sharing/viewing, and 1 copy of processed jpg photos on a 2TB external. Took a bit of time setting it all up, but backups are a breeze with the right software.

While you've said you don't like the ongoing cost, I still think Smugmug is worth considering. It costs $40 per year, but storage space is unlimited.

You can store full size JPG, and they also have built in galleries, sharing and printing functionality.

We are seeing more and more companies that were offering on-line storage are exiting the business! I do not think there is such thing as 'long term, reliable, reputable"...if it is today, it likely won't be a year from now!

Wilt is right. There are even rumors that flickr doesnt have much more to offer and might be ducking out of the game. Best long term options would be like DropBox and paying monthly, but if youre only willing to do a one time cost, then put it into a couple hard drives and setup your own NAS server to store/backup your photos. And if you want them off site, take the NAS elsewhere once backed up.

Best long term solution would be two (or more) colo servers in separate datacenters and sync data to both. Not cheap, but definitely a solution.

I have my photos on SmugMug (which will be JPEG only) and I use CrashPlan to back up everything on my HDD, in addition to an external drive. CrashPlan has unlimited data and is easy to use, just set it up and it will do everything automatically in the background. I have not yet seen a report on how each of the online services is setup as far as redundancy and whatnot so can't really say which one would be the "best" in the long run.

ben_r_ wrote in post #14762472
Wilt is right. There are even rumors that flickr doesnt have much more to offer and might be ducking out of the game. Best long term options would be like DropBox and paying monthly, but if youre only willing to do a one time cost, then put it into a couple hard drives and setup your own NAS server to store/backup your photos. And if you want them off site, take the NAS elsewhere once backed up.

dropbox is expensive for a lot of data, and raw files can really balloon. There might not be a viable solution for ts, and the most cost effective one might be to do a NAS and co-location with family. You co-locate for them and them for you. everyone wins.... and how to setup that FTP system... not sure, but can probably make it work with youtube tutorials.

As others have said, the only reliable long-term storage is your own multiple personal external hard-drives. Online should only be for temporary, sharing purposes.

My personal solution is MSN's Skydrive for low-res copies. The have both public(shared) and private designations, and I got in early for free 25GB... that has since been lowered.

For high-res sharing, I use hand-delivered usb keys and sd cards... mostly to relatives.

Option #1 - Flickr. Get a pro account for $25 a year and have as many photos as you like. That's nice!
Option #2 - Carbonite? I don't use them - but have heard some awesome reviews.

Option #2 - OFFLINE
Get a good durable hard drive.

yourdoinitwrong wrote in post #14762529
I have my photos on SmugMug (which will be JPEG only) and I use CrashPlan to back up everything on my HDD, in addition to an external drive. CrashPlan has unlimited data and is easy to use, just set it up and it will do everything automatically in the background. I have not yet seen a report on how each of the online services is setup as far as redundancy and whatnot so can't really say which one would be the "best" in the long run.

This is what I do. Smugmug is for sharing selected pictures. Everything, including tons of stuff that aren't on Smugmug, gets stored on my NAS and backed up to Crashplan. I would never give my only copy of anything to a 3rd party.

You're not going to get unlimited storage for free. If you are interested in safekeeping the files and don't really care about displaying them, then Google Drive, Dropbox, Box.net, Microsoft Skydrive, Mozy, and many others offer plenty of free backup space for your files. As these types of services become more commonplace and continue to evolve, I would think that something better will eventually come along and you may want to move your files there. Until then, you should be able to get at least 5GB for free with each of those services I mentioned. Sometimes, if you catch a promotion like I did, you may be able to increase that free space to 25 or 50 GB.

Another option to look at is Crashplan. You can use their software to do free peer to peer backups as long as you have a friend or family who is willing to install the software and let you use some of their hard drive space.

I use smugmug for sharing, which also acts as a backup for my favorite pictures. Long term back up is done via redundant external HDDs.

I like smugmug well enough, but I don't view any 3rd party cloud service as permanent. It may turn out to be permanent enough (a decade plus?) but I wouldn't count on it.

mplezia wrote in post #14763915
I use smugmug for sharing, which also acts as a backup for my favorite pictures. Long term back up is done via redundant external HDDs.

I like smugmug well enough, but I don't view any 3rd party cloud service as permanent. It may turn out to be permanent enough (a decade plus?) but I wouldn't count on it.

i do the same thing all my photos are backed up on my server here at home across multiple HDDs so there are like 4 copies of each picture if a HDD fails then i still have a copy and i have full control over what happens with the server

SmugMug also offers a SmugVault service to archive RAW files. I'm pretty confident SmugMug will be around for a while, but I also keep everything on backed up hard drives.

Redundancy is the safest archival strategy. I like knowing that my archives are on solid state drives - fewer moving parts mean a lesser chance of failure. I keep tax documents on spare cf cards.