Where to store pictures

[Nancy]

I bought a new computer that has a small hard drive. I have lots of pictures on old computer. Where is an inexpensive place to store them. I have several cloud accounts, but not sure how much space they have or how much space I need.

Any suggestions, ideas.

Thanks

Nancy

 

[remowidget]

If you store them in standard size, Google gives you unlimited storage on Google photos. They reduce them to 16 megapixels if they are larger. Then you can log in from any device to see them.

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[remowidget]

If you store them in standard size, Google gives you unlimited storage on Google photos. They reduce them to 16 megapixels if they are larger. Then you can log in from any device to see them.

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Oops too fast. One nice thing about google apps is that it is one password for them all. If you have a gmail or android phone you already have an account.

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[PigsDad]

If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, it includes storing unlimited photos in the cloud at full, original resolution / quality.

If you don't want to go the cloud route, get a portable disk drive. I have a 2TB My Passport by Western Digital (~$100 from Amazon), and I have been very happy with it. I use it as a backup to my home NAS. So in the end, my photos exist 4 places: home computer, home NAS, Amazon cloud, and My Passport portable drive. I feel pretty protected.

Kurt

 

[maddog497]

Flickr offers 1 terabyte for free. I have our portable devices set up to upload automatically once connected to WiFi. It use to be easy to upload from your computer but they took that option away. Now you have to upload individually which is a pain.

This is awesome for people who use their phones for the majority of their pics. Take them, they then get uploaded automatically, no worry about losing them.

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[bbodb1]

Kurt's point is solid in that you want redundancy of backups when it comes to something as important as photos.

But....here's something to think about.

A good number of people will use online backup and never really verify that all of their photos exist in the cloud. If you have a lot of photos, make sure they are all backed up to your online storage. Here is where some human methodology can help.

If you have a good number of photos within a folder, make one subfolder for every 50 or 100 photos. Put exactly 50, 75, or 100 photos in a subfolder. Then, as you backup to the cloud (or even a connected hard drive for that matter), you can quickly see if a sub folder has been completely backed up. I know this sounds like overkill but all it takes is missing that one special photo that is irreplaceable .....

...just don't forget about that online account. Check on it - log into the account one per quarter (place a reminder on your calendar) so it does NOT become inactive and/or deleted.

 

[Nancy]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I do have Amazon Prime and use Google for addresses, calendar, etc.

 

[PigsDad]

Flickr offers 1 terabyte for free. I have our portable devices set up to upload automatically once connected to WiFi. It use to be easy to upload from your computer but they took that option away. Now you have to upload individually which is a pain.

This is awesome for people who use their phones for the majority of their pics. Take them, they then get uploaded automatically, no worry about losing them.

I agree, having your phone pics automatically uploaded is great. I just wanted to add that both Google and Amazon have apps that will automatically upload your phone pics and videos to their cloud storage as well.

Kurt

 

[Bucky]

On your old computer right click on your photos folder and then click on properties and that will tell you the size of what's in that folder. Then you will know for sure what size you need.

I have several cloud accounts but I also back up all my photos onto a thumb drive just in case!

 

[TUGBrian]

also, memory sticks go up in the multi multi gigabyte range now for only a few dollars.

i rotate them in and out every few years as they do have a finite lifetime...but it takes mere seconds to copy the data from one to another!

 

[jimf41]

I'm not a fan of online storage for photos or docs of a personal nature. I store all that stuff on hard drives where only I can access it.

 

[pittle]

I use SmugMug. It is not free, but I like the ability to share certain photos or folders here on TUG or with friends and family. I have a Flicker account and Amazon and Google, but have not saved all my photos to any of these. (One of the things I need to do.) We also copy files and photos on computers to portable hard drives at least once a quarter. We have several of these and our photos ire in numerous places. I have also scanned a bunch of old photos and saved them on one of my portable hard drives.

 

[geekette]

I'm not a fan of online storage for photos or docs of a personal nature. I store all that stuff on hard drives where only I can access it.

Yes, this is me, too. Once you put something on the internet, it's not exclusively yours any more.

I favor dvds for long term storage. Burn it and be done.

 

[TUGBrian]

note that cds and dvds have a finite lifespan even if they arent used especially the ones sold commercially for writing/rewriting!

 

[geekette]

note that cds and dvds have a finite lifespan even if they arent used especially the ones sold commercially for writing/rewriting!

re-writable media definitely has lifespan but I have not found end of life for write-once cds or dvds.

 

[MULTIZ321]

re-writable media definitely has lifespan but I have not found end of life for write-once cds or dvds.

How Long Can You Store CD's and DVD's and Use Them Again?
From Council on Library and Information Resources

"Among the manufacturers that have done testing, there is consensus that, under recommended storage conditions, CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R discs should have a life expectancy of 100 to 200 years or more; CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM discs should have a life expectancy of 25 years or more...."