Cloud Storage Solution

[Alan Goldhammer]

I did not see a current thread when I did a search on this.  I'm in search of a possible cloud storage solution for my LR files since I no longer work in an office where I can store an offsite hard drive.  My catalogue is not huge (40 GB) but it does exceed the limit for Microsoft Windows Sky Drive.  I'm interested in a reasonable solution to store the files in addition to my current to external hard drives.  What are folks using in terms of cloud storage and are their experiences good?

thanks,

Alan

[Jeremy Roussak]

I've been using Dropbox. It works very well. I'm not storing photographs on it: I'm just using the free 2Gb option but that's just because I have off-site backup sorted out without using a cloud-based system.

They charge $99/year for 50Gb.

Jeremy

[Ken Bennett]

Is this for backup, or for daily use (i.e., to get your files off your computer.) If it's for backup, we've been using Backblaze. $5 per month for unlimited storage. I don't (yet) use it for my photo work, since I can keep offsite drives at my studio and my home. But I'm using it for my college-student daughter as an offsite backup in case something were to happen to her laptop and Time Machine drive.

[feppe]

Is this for backup, or for daily use (i.e., to get your files off your computer.) If it's for backup, we've been using Backblaze. $5 per month for unlimited storage. I don't (yet) use it for my photo work, since I can keep offsite drives at my studio and my home. But I'm using it for my college-student daughter as an offsite backup in case something were to happen to her laptop and Time Machine drive.

Same q: backup has very different needs than daily use. For offsite online backup I use Mozy (similar to Backblaze), "unlimited" storage; I have 2.5TB backed up with them and they confirmed it being "unlimited" when I asked. I haven't done any major recovery tests, but will do soon. In addition to that I have on-site offline backups (unplugged external HDD), and offsite backups (external HDD kept at the office).

If you're planning to use the cloud for daily use, please note moving 40GB will take a while (hours or more likely days or even weeks). Practically all home internet connections are much slower upstream.

[Alan Goldhammer]

I should have clarified; this is for backup only.  I don't have the option of a second offsite location at the moment to store a hard drive.

Alan

[feppe]

I should have clarified; this is for backup only.  I don't have the option of a second offsite location at the moment to store a hard drive.

Safety deposit box at your bank?

[Alan Goldhammer]

Safety deposit box at your bank?

I thought about that but need to find out what the cost of the box is and of course on is limited by banking hours.

Alan

[Ken Bennett]

I should have clarified; this is for backup only.  I don't have the option of a second offsite location at the moment to store a hard drive.

Backblaze or Mozy. Just be forewarned that it can take months to do the initial upload.

I did email Backblaze about the ability to send them a drive for the initial upload, and they replied that they did not offer this service. I'd pay a pretty good price for that, though.

[marcgoldring]

I have used BackBlaze and it saved my butt when my HD crashed - was able to restore the entire C: drive and transfer the backup state to the new machine - that meant I didn't lose the backup of the external HD that has my image files. Yeah, it does take forever...

Also, I came across this online backup that allows you to "seed" the backup - they mail you a 1TB HD which you use to back up your stuff and send it to them and once it's on their servers, you back up via the Internet. A mere $150 for that... Here's a link:

http://b5.crashplan.com/consumer/details.html

I don't know anything about this service though so check it out...

Cheers,

Marc

[Alan Goldhammer]

Thanks to all!  I only have 50 GB of total stuff that needs to be backed up and I'm going with Mozy.

Alan

[PeterAit]

For large amounts of data, online backup can be excruciatingly slow unless you have some superfast connection.  But, perhaps if you have a web site you can set up secure FTP and use that?

[feppe]

For large amounts of data, online backup can be excruciatingly slow unless you have some superfast connection.  But, perhaps if you have a web site you can set up secure FTP and use that?

Mozy claims they don't cap their connection so you can upload as fast as your connection allows, which would make it just as fast as FTP. Don't know about their competition.

In any case, 50GB won't take more than a few days on broadband which shouldn't be an issue as you only have to do it once.

[Alan Goldhammer]

Mozy claims they don't cap their connection so you can upload as fast as your connection allows, which would make it just as fast as FTP. Don't know about their competition.

In any case, 50GB won't take more than a few days on broadband which shouldn't be an issue as you only have to do it once.

The only issue that I encountered is that the Mozy client seems not to override the Win7 Sleep setting.  The computer mouse and keyboard lock up once it enters sleep mode but the client continues uploading files.  This was a bit of a drag until I figured out what the problem was and just turned off the sleep mode.  I have a fast fiber optic connection and things are going smoothly.  Most of what I'm uploading are LR NEF files which go quickly.  Some of the larger TIF files from PS take longer.  It should all be done in another 2-3 days.

[Ken Bennett]

In any case, 50GB won't take more than a few days on broadband which shouldn't be an issue as you only have to do it once.

Depends on your connection. At home on a cable modem, I can upload less than 3 GB per day. At work it's much faster.

[Alan Goldhammer]

Here is a question that just occured to me this morning.  What happens with the XMP files which by default are hidden in Win7 (though you can see them easily enough).  Do they get copied over to the cloud site?  I work from NEF files in LR (haven't really seen a need to do the DNG conversion).  When I bought a new computer early in the year, I seamlessly copied my LR directory to an external hard drive and from that to the new computer.  Everything transferred without a problem.  My concern here is that I'm only backing up the catalogue and the NEFs but not the XMP files (but really don't know for sure).  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

thanks,

Alan

[Steve Weldon]

Look into an Amazon S3 web services account.

They offer several different 'grades' of storage and on different continents at different prices.

Amazon S3 is incorporated into many website gallery and other modules which generate a lot of storage requirements, which are of course expensive on a dedicated or purpose specific server, and using your sites servers for such things don't make a lot of sense.

I use them for both my site (galleries, blogs, etc are actually located on Amazon S3 but this is transparent to the user), and personal backup.  They don't cap their speeds.. so if you have a 50mbps connection you can go both ways at 50mbps.  You can choose from several different levels of encryption, or none at all.  All my personal files are encrypted, but my website load I don't bother to.

Very cost effective.

Rackspace Cloud Storage is also something to consider.. also becoming popular with web professionals.. though they have a different pricing structure which may or may not suit your needs.

[feppe]

Here is a question that just occured to me this morning.  What happens with the XMP files which by default are hidden in Win7 (though you can see them easily enough).  Do they get copied over to the cloud site?  I work from NEF files in LR (haven't really seen a need to do the DNG conversion).  When I bought a new computer early in the year, I seamlessly copied my LR directory to an external hard drive and from that to the new computer.  Everything transferred without a problem.  My concern here is that I'm only backing up the catalogue and the NEFs but not the XMP files (but really don't know for sure).  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

It backs up my .xmp files. If you save them in the same directory as your image files and don't have any exceptions set, Mozy will back them up.

If you already have started using Mozy, you can see what files are backed up by going to settings. You can also enable a checkmark on backed up files in Windows Explorer in settings. Not sure how it works with Macs.

[Alan Goldhammer]

It backs up my .xmp files. If you save them in the same directory as your image files and don't have any exceptions set, Mozy will back them up.

If you already have started using Mozy, you can see what files are backed up by going to settings. You can also enable a checkmark on backed up files in Windows Explorer in settings. Not sure how it works with Macs.

Yes, they are in the same directory and no exceptions are set.  Mozy is perking right along and working fine.

[Adam L]

I work in the cloud industry on a B2B basis.  My job is to price out large enterprise web sites.  We are moving head first into cloud technology as fast as we possibly can and given my role in the company, I consider myself well versed in all things cloud.   I do not have any insight into any of the companies mentioned, except rackspace and Amazon.

My primary concern would be security.  Small cloud companies will likely offer only rudimentary encrypton in an effort to maximize disk usage.  They'll have a simple firewall and likely little else.   Research and make sure they're certified by Verisign and ask about data privacy and protection.

Storage costs will drop dramatically year over year.   Do not lock yourself into a long term contract.  Storage can be fast or slow - both raid type and size of the disks will influence access times.  New storage technology is becoming dynamic but I would be surprised if it was implemented anywhere except the largest outfits.

Some sites will automatically upload from specified directories so you do not need to keep track of changed files.  This is an important feature to have.

I know Iron Mountain offers a data upload service that this secured with multiple technologies.  I have no idea what the rates are.  If I were in the market I would give Amazon serious consideration as they're best positioned in the cloud industry for growth and success. 

[feppe]

My primary concern would be security.  Small cloud companies will likely offer only rudimentary encrypton in an effort to maximize disk usage.  They'll have a simple firewall and likely little else.   Research and make sure they're certified by Verisign and ask about data privacy and protection.

The problem with encryption is that there's no way to verify that the cipher and protocol is secure. They can claim 2048 bit encryption all they want, but if the password is in ROT-13 in the client - or worse, sent to the cloud provider - all those bits amount to nothing. And if the encryption is not client side it's pretty much pointless and there should be zero expectation of privacy, since if files are transferred unencrypted, anyone who eavesdrops, the cloud company, and any unscrupulous admin has full access to the contents.

Verisign only checks for malware AFAIK, but there are many more attack vectors to exploit data in the cloud.

Most of this is largely academic for photographers, though - unless you're doing forensics, hosting your bank information or the next big wikileak