Digital File Archive/ Storage

[Schittra]

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Sorry if this is the duplicate topics. I searched and found some closed topics but not exactly what I am looking for.

I'd like to hear your experience for digital photo/files archive / storage. I keep them in 2 external hard-drives to back up each others. I currently using 1 TB size, for the digital files nearly 1 TB now (it was from 1993 scanned photo too). I subscribed for iCloud because it seems to be cheaper and more reliable. The problem is, iCloud cannot preview the photo. 

I am thinking about the online / server system because it's more reliable. For the external hard-drive, I will need to get bigger external harddrive or maybe other system.

Thank you very much for your input.

[LocalHero1953]

The question is always worth raising again as technology and suppliers evolve.

I use a QNAP NAS/DAS as my main storage with fast SSD, backed up to a slower WD mechanical HD. That in turn is backed up to the cloud with Backblaze (unlimited storage). I edit using Lightroom Classic, keeping the images on the NAS and the catalogue on my laptop. I use the setting 'Use smart previews for editing' so I can still work while disconnected from the NAS.

Backblaze does not allow you to preview the photos but that doesn't worry me. If you want an online system that lets you preview or edit photos then you need Onedrive, Dropbox or similar (but these only work from an internal or permanently attached drive, not a NAS); or you can use Adobe CC accessed using Lightroom CC. This gets a bit expensive by the time you add up the Adobe Photographer's package plus 2TB storage, which is what you would need. It was what I had till recently, but decided there were cheaper ways to do what I wanted - hence the new system with Backblaze.

Edited June 15, 2020 by LocalHero1953

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[P1505]

I use a LaCie RAID along with Backblaze. The RAID gives me local storage with redundancy in case an HDD fails and Backblaze gives me offsite safety. I’ve ditched iCloud and Google Drive now as I had issues with both (severe issues with iCloud).

When I import my images they go to the SSD on the computer, and Lightroom duplicates them to the RAID. Backblaze is set to backup the local storage which included the Lightroom catalogue. Everything is automated and simple.