# Cloud Backup/Storage Services - What do You Use?



## Bill Ballard (Jul 26, 2020)

I'm curious which services people are using for their cloud backup and storage...and what are the services used for? I've been using Amazon (as a Prime member, it's free and unlimited) but Amazon is known for sudden and inexplicable policy changes, so...what else is there?

And, what do you guys put there...entire photo shoots? Only your edited files, masters and jpegs? Or...?

Thanks!


----------



## Linwood Ferguson (Jul 26, 2020)

Backblaze B2; relatively cheap, good reputation, good API (unlike Amazon Cloud Drive). 

Also have an account and a little bit of stuff on Amazon S3 (and Glacier) but it costs more.  It's much more usable than Amazon Cloud Drive; I'm surprised you can do anything practical with ACD other than back up cell phone stuff.


----------



## Jimmsp (Jul 26, 2020)

The reason for the cloud that most people use is for a backup "off site", or in my case, out side of my home. 
I take a simpler  and less expensive approach - I have a 6TB drive that I back up to monthly and place in a safety deposit box in my bank which is 10 min from home. I get a mirror copy of what is on my pc, and I can "download" it almost instantaneously. Is it 100 % perfect - probably not. But it is more than sufficient for my personal stuff.
I back up to two other similar hard drives at home (almost) daily.


----------



## Duncanh (Jul 26, 2020)

For many years been using the standard Personal Backblaze (can't backup NAS) with one year version history option. This backups my Mac (this holds current year images and other current stuff). I also backup the Mac automatically to the NAS (which holds all my previous years images plus other stuff) then in turn NAS is backed up monthly to external hard drive that is kept off site at my sisters.
If you use cloud backup consider how much your holding there and the time it would take to download (which can be a very long time) or them to send a copy ( time/cost) hence why I also backup Mac to the NAS.


----------



## Linwood Ferguson (Jul 26, 2020)

Duncanh said:


> If you use cloud backup consider how much your holding there and the time it would take to download (which can be a very long time) or them to send a copy ( time/cost) hence why I also backup Mac to the NAS.



I agree with that entirely and probably should have mentioned my use of cloud for backup is the last-ditch, all-else-failed copy.  I have two EHD's and one NAS that I also back up to, the NAS nightly the EHD periodically.  If a hurricane is coming and I evacuate I update and take an EHD.  But if, say, the house burned down unexpectedly I'd be downloading from the cloud.

Bank safety deposit box -- you mean they still have brick and mortar banks?


----------



## clee01l (Jul 26, 2020)

I used to use CrashPlan until they abandoned the consumer market. I no longer have an off site system backup. What I have done though is multiple onsite backups and keeping the most crucial Lightroom files stored in the Adobe Cloud. 
Lightroom Classic is backed up in a system backup using Time Machine to alternately backup to the NAS (Time Capsule) and a local disk drive. In addition to Time Machine, I have a third system backup using the Acronis app and an additional EHD.

The reason that I abandoned cloud backup was twofold. First, it was hard to justify the monthly/annual expense. Having gotten abruptly abandoned by first Carbonite and then CrashPlan, I was not to thrilled to dance with another. Second, restoring from the cloud could take weeks


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Jimmsp (Jul 26, 2020)

Ferguson said:


> ....
> Bank safety deposit box -- you mean they still have brick and mortar banks?


LOL
I tell a lot of people that it is worth taking a serious look at their local bank. It has a lot of positives, few negatives.
We have always had one for important papers, so I just got one of sufficient size to include a drive and its cables.
The one negative right now is that I can't just walk in and get it. Covid has driven them to an appointment system for anything beyond a teller. But that is a minor inconvenience today considering everything else going on.


----------



## Linwood Ferguson (Jul 26, 2020)

clee01l said:


> Second, restoring from the cloud could take weeks



It could, and I'm sure you know this, but for the benefit of those reading this who might not realize -- the backup times (copying to the cloud) are generally hugely greater than the download times because of how home internet is delivered.  Let's say it took me 3 weeks to back up; my download speed is 15-20x my upload, so it might take me 1-2 days to download.  

Also, depending on your carrier, you could pay for a month or two upgrade to a faster speed in such an event.  You can also check if your cloud provider will offer an option to receive the backup on a EHD for a fee.

To me recovering from the cloud (entirely) is about a serious disaster, somehow I lost my main system and 3 on-site backups.  Money (like a few hundred dollars) is likely not the big consideration at that point. 

Cloud backups for one-off restores -- say I needed last night's catalog backup -- are a viable alternative for someone who normally uses EHD's for backup and maybe does not do them every day, but lacks an automated local backup like to a NAS.  If you need just a file (or a few), download times and costs are quite reasonable, and backup software can keep the cloud updated in almost real time (for reasonable rates of change).  Though I prefer once a day, I don't want it tying up bandwidth when I'm awake.


----------



## clee01l (Jul 26, 2020)

Ferguson said:


> It could, and I'm sure you know this, but for the benefit of those reading this who might not realize -- the backup times (copying to the cloud) are generally hugely greater than the download times because of how home internet is delivered. Let's say it took me 3 weeks to back up; my download speed is 15-20x my upload, so it might take me 1-2 days to download.


And hence, my reasoning not to rely upon the cloud for total recovery.  Except for my master image files, I store all of my critical user data in iCloud.  (50GB storage for ~$12/year).   I store my most important Lightroom Images in the Adobe Cloud.  My plan gets me 1TB of cloud storage and the Lightroom, PS apps for $249/yr.  I have Smart DNGs (proxy files) for many others.  

I've been through a hurricane with significant flooding damage to my house. Fire and tornado are my only unprotected catastrophes. I think I have a good chance to save one or more of my 3 backup disks should either of those events occur.


----------



## Bill Ballard (Jul 26, 2020)

Thanks everyone -

Reading through the responses, it became clear I should have explained my situation a bit more...my wife and I are cruising sailors, and our 34' sailboat is, (and has been, for the last 6 years), our home. We are normally on the move on a regular basis, though the COVID situation has us in the Florida Keys until sometime next spring, at least. When we were land based, I did the 'hard-drive shuttle' to and from a bank safety deposit box. Unfortunately, that's no longer a viable option.

Another reason I'm looking at cloud storage is the real-world survival of portable hard drives, computers, etc., in the marine (salt-water) environment. And, I was also planning to only keep my most important images and videos in the cloud, as well as on portable drives which I store aboard the boat. The Adobe Cloud was an option I hadn't considered until seeing it mentioned in some of the replies. The more I consider it, that's looking to be my best option.

I am very much aware of how long cloud uploads and download can take. Another fact of the sailing life is dealing with sketchy Wi-Fi almost all of the time. Fortunately, the marina we're in has amazingly good signal...unheard of in our experience...and so, we make the most of it while we're here. Otherwise, it's a taxi or bike ride to a local coffee shop/internet cafe to work and upload. And with regard to Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive/Google Photos, etc., I do use ACD for mobile phone work, but that's it. 

Thanks again -


----------



## Paul_DS256 (Jul 27, 2020)

Part of your decision will be how comfortable you are with technology. Years ago I looked at commercial backup sites but they were too expense relative to AWS S3. Unfortunately, back then, they did not have a good desktop interface so I went with Cloudberry Backup Desktop. So, some points:

AWS S3 is the only service I've subscribed to where I've had a price reduction 3 times.
Cloudberry is good but beware of their options that can mean that only Cloudberry products can read the backup in AWS. For the MAC version, there is no choice; you get the advanced version which makes it impossible to understand what you have with AWS Console. Cloudberry backups are not interoperable between MAC and PC.
Again, for those tech inclined, AWS now has a CLI which allows you to easily sync from your MAC/PC to AWS S3 using a script.
Based on your unreliable access to high performant (and inexpensive) Internet, you may want to consider the following which melds some of the ideas from others:

Create a local backup from which you can recover from a catastrophic physical failure. This will involve multiple disks and a water/fire resistant storage box.
Export your  favorites as completed DNG/TIFF's to a special directory. Use this one to sync to a cloud service. Yes, takes up more space but gives you a convenient point to work from.
The other point I need to investigate is restart capabilities of a backup in progress. If you have sufficient bandwidth, you can be backing up multiple files, on independent threads, at the same time. However, what happens if you lose your internet part way through 4 threads of 30GB files? What you want is for it pick up on the block where it left off instead of starting over.  For example, it it was at 28GB of the way through, it only needs to finish the last 2GB and not start over.


----------



## Bill Ballard (Jul 30, 2020)

Paul_DS256 said:


> Based on your unreliable access to high performant (and inexpensive) Internet, you may want to consider the following which melds some of the ideas from others:
> 
> Create a local backup from which you can recover from a catastrophic physical failure. This will involve multiple disks and a water/fire resistant storage box.
> Export your  favorites as completed DNG/TIFF's to a special directory. Use this one to sync to a cloud service. Yes, takes up more space but gives you a convenient point to work from.



This is pretty much what I've set up...with the exception of a fire/water proof box...storage space is at a premium, but finding something suitable is doable. Us sailors are 'creatively resourceful,' if little else. At the moment, the drives are stored in a heavy duty dry-bag in a cabin locker. For the exports, (master and output files - the critical 'keeper' images), I've decided to use the Adobe Cloud service included with my CC subscription for storage of the keepers until I find something which may suit my needs better...and yes, I know the Adobe Cloud service is contracted to by Adobe to Amazon Web Services.


----------



## Kelly_Jo (Jul 31, 2020)

Bill Ballard said:


> Thanks everyone -
> 
> Reading through the responses, it became clear I should have explained my situation a bit more...my wife and I are cruising sailors, and our 34' sailboat is, (and has been, for the last 6 years), our home. We are normally on the move on a regular basis, though the COVID situation has us in the Florida Keys until sometime next spring, at least. When we were land based, I did the 'hard-drive shuttle' to and from a bank safety deposit box. Unfortunately, that's no longer a viable option.
> 
> ...


----------



## Bill Ballard (Jul 31, 2020)

Kelly_Jo said:


> Unrelated to the topic: just curious which marina you are in in the Florida Keys. My nephew is a captain and takes people out on Color Change Charters.



We're in Marathon, at Marathon Marina on the western end of Marathon/Vaca Key.


----------



## KeithS (Aug 8, 2020)

So, did the yacht, Skyline, pull in yesterday?  (very photogenic)


----------



## Bill Ballard (Aug 8, 2020)

KeithS said:


> So, did the yacht, Skyline, pull in yesterday?  (very photogenic)



Don't know...I really don't notice boats coming and going as it's a daily thing...and, I work in the marine industry (my day job) and a boat is a boat is a boat...so, unless it's one I'm involved with (I investigate marine accidents; so, being pad to deal with in some capacity) I really don't pay that much attention to boats other than my own. It's a bad attitude, I know. I'll have a look and report back...


----------



## Bill Ballard (Aug 8, 2020)

KeithS said:


> So, did the yacht, Skyline, pull in yesterday?  (very photogenic)



If Skyline was here, they're gone now - no boat with that name in the marina...


----------

