Offsite backups?

PU7E

PU7E

PU7E

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Hi All,

Finally got around to ordering a new backup NAS and having everything in one place and looking at some offsite services to back it up like Crashplan, can you let me know the costs and your thoughts and experiences of using the wide array of services, file integrity is the most important for me as I've heard some horror stories.

I have around 14TB of active backups and generally have around 500GB on an avg trip I'd like to remotely upload from anywhere in the world as I travel a lot and like the idea of being able to upload the raws and feel safe in the knowledge that if I lost the unique SD card, HDD-A in my check in and HDD-B in my carry on I'd be covered :eek::eek::confused::D

This is how I'd like my backup process to go in addition to what I already do

1. Take photos on SD-A/B
2. Copy full raws to both HDD-A/B
3. Note Card ID and split SD pair on a pair rotation
4. Upload rated to cloud service from hotel
5. Import into catalog on dedicated monthly SSD
6. Backup monthly SSD to yearly NAS files
7. Automatically upload NAS updates to cloud service
8. Backup to A/B offsite USB drives

Now this may sound a little overkill but it's now an entirely passive workflow for me, I managed to lose around half a million photos a good few years back by not having proper backups and I don't want to ever be in that situation again.
 
Amazon Prime. Unlimited photo storage.

Uploads aren't the fastest though.

On offer few times per year when big shows launch.
 
As above, we use Prime as well as nothing comes close for the money particularly as I use Prime Music and TV as well.

We copy photo's to our local NAS which in turn uploads to Prime once every 24 hours. Prior to backing up however we convert RAW's to .DNG which saves around 2/3rds storage space and still retains much of the RAW data. After 2 years we then convert all files to jpg and compress down further again saving a significant portion of space.
 
does Amazon prime allow you to delete the files off your computer after upload or are you still required to have a mirrored copy on your pc?
 
Recent update is pushing the sync option like Dropbox etc but right clicking the system tray icon there is an 'upload without syncing' option.

It used to do that by default.
 
but do prime allow photographers (wedding,portrait,etc) as a business to use & store raw & jpeg?

currently use Crashplan & external drives. & ARQ
 
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Amazon have said the next update will allow changing of sync folder location to drive of your choice.

In the meantime there is a workaround.

1. I did a fresh install of the Amazon Drive software on my Windows 10 and synced it with Amazon. (The installation creates the default C:\Users\YourName\Amazon Drive folder.)

2. I located the Amazon Drive icon down in my taskbar area and right clicked on it, clicked on the settings icon which is 3 vertical dots on the far right top of it's window, then clicked Exit Amazon Drive.

3. From there I opened the Command Prompt as Admin and typed in the following:

mklink /J "D:\Amazon Drive" "C:\Users\YourName\Amazon Drive"

That command creates the new "Amazon Drive" folder on the D: drive on it's own. When I created it myself before running the mklink command it wouldn't work because the folder already existed. I had also tried it without the "s in there and got syntax errors as well. That command above though works perfectly. (Of course you have to change the "C:\Users\YourName\Amazon Drive" part to whatever the path is on your computer.)

4. Now restart Amazon Drive and test it out by dropping a file or folder in the new D:\Amazon Drive folder. Login to your Amazon Drive account online and make sure it's syncing up.
 
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Gungnir said:
Amazon have said the next update will allow changing of sync folder location to drive of your choice.

In the meantime there is a workaround.

1. I did a fresh install of the Amazon Drive software on my Windows 10 and synced it with Amazon. (The installation creates the default C:\Users\YourName\Amazon Drive folder.)

2. I located the Amazon Drive icon down in my taskbar area and right clicked on it, clicked on the settings icon which is 3 vertical dots on the far right top of it's window, then clicked Exit Amazon Drive.

3. From there I opened the Command Prompt as Admin and typed in the following:

mklink /J "D:\Amazon Drive" "C:\Users\YourName\Amazon Drive"

That command creates the new "Amazon Drive" folder on the D: drive on it's own. When I created it myself before running the mklink command it wouldn't work because the folder already existed. I had also tried it without the "s in there and got syntax errors as well. That command above though works perfectly. (Of course you have to change the "C:\Users\YourName\Amazon Drive" part to whatever the path is on your computer.)

4. Now restart Amazon Drive and test it out by dropping a file or folder in the new D:\Amazon Drive folder. Login to your Amazon Drive account online and make sure it's syncing up.
Click to expand...

That will still mirror sync to drive c:

If you run the command before installing Drive App its fine
 
Been trying to read up on S3,Nearline,Glacier! I use ARQ to backup to Dropbox and never used my prime as I thought it could only be used for personal storage not business
 
Well ARQ is crap to use for amazon prime as it stores encrypted files (it uses the 5GB limit of data storeage)

£55 to upgrade for unlimited everything.
 
I've just started a trial of both Amazon Cloud Drive (non-prime version for unlimited storage) and Sync Back Pro.

Have to say I'm finding it ideal for my needs. Have a copy of my photos/data on a server that is backed up to Amazon each night. Since setting it up, it's been seamless.

Just a shame on the cost of Amazon Cloud Drive plus the cost of Sync Back Pro
 
Syncback is only a one time buy :) and very worth it! Had it for a few years still use it for NAS/Dropbox. My issue with Syncback is that it deletes files on Amazon cloud drive before another upload

I bought ARQ for its security with encryption from PC to host. Just very annoying that prime sees this as files(Lightroom folder) that ARQ sends so the 5GB limit is VERY annoying.



What Amazon service would anyone recommend? S3,Glacier,Nearline?

At the moment I'm encrypting files to HubiC folder and it gets synced when my PC is on backing up my LR folder
 
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The thing is, S3 and even Glacier isn't that cheap - especially when you get up to 3TB or more.

The storage for 3TB on Glacier is ~$45/month and then you're paying extra for the actual file transfer. If you need to access anything in a short space of time you're looking at crazy money. I'm sure when I used the calculator it was something like $256 to download 3TB over the space of a week. If you're doing an emergency recovery it's going to be much more than that.

Hubic and Amazon Drive Unlimited both seem like decent options for high storage requirements at around £50/year but I found Hubic to have quite slow upload speeds. Haven't tried Amazon Drive yet.
 
I do need help with a more efficent backup & workflow.

I used to import direct to LR once ive done a shoot

However I how have Photo Mechanic as i used a trial 3 odd months back and finally bought it this week as it has helped with culling and imporing to LR much easier

Main C:
Create a folder on desktop
Drag and drop RAW files from cards
ingest to PM (Photo Mechanic) (im thinking 2nd backup somewhere) - possibly NAS?
Cull & Import to LR
Edit photos
Save JPEG: in folder to Desktop
My LR folder(1.1TB) is stored on an external drive ( I ) (2TB) Which is mirrored to drive L: Using Syncback(2nd backup) but in the same room & house.

I then upload JPEGs to my website:

I use Syncback to upload the RAW to Amazon Prime. (looking for other method as I did plan to use ARQ with its encryption) But it uses a file system and Prime are limited to 5GB of files.

I did think about using ARQ for S3 or Nearline but is stupid expensive.


I have now a Synology nas with 1x 4TB Drive (nothing backup as of yet unsure what to do with it :D ) and will get more drives throughout next year. Ultimatly i did want this to be my main photo backup & upload to cloud so my pc didnt have to be on 24/7.


Would it be silly to upload RAW / FTP to my web host too?


Any other advice?

This seems like a good plan but unsure about the whole cloud backup.
http://www.francescospighi.com/best-photography-backup-workflow-system/2015/03/



Just a pain that the Prime membership when using ARQ chews up the data rather than the photo(unlimited side) tempted to get the £55 unlimited everything and ditch Prime.

But i can happy use Syncback pro to amazon (photo) but really paranoid about leaving photos to amazon for some reason.
 
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