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looking for something to store photos digitally.

Definitely not the right place for this, but I'm yet to find the right place. I need an SSD/HDD that can store about 10 years worth of family photo and video. I was looking at that Samsung rugged SSD, but it's a little above my price range right now. I'e like to have at least a terabyte for future photos so I don't have to worry about this again for a while. Any reliable options?

19 comments
  • On top of any local thing you do, you should strongly consider some type of cloud backup. (BackBlaze has a good price.) Even if you have 2 redundant drives at home that you backup to, what happens in the event of a fire while you are out? Those drives are now equally roasted. If you care enough and can take the cost, you should always try to have a backup thats at a separate location from your home/primary storage.

    • Actually, the main reason I'm doing this is so we can switch away from our Verizon plan, which includes cloud storage. All the photos are there now, but Verizon has been fucking us over for like 10 years and I'm sick of paying for a bunch of bundle bullshit I don't use.

      • Noted, though cloud storage and cloud backup aren't the same. BackBlaze is $70/yr for unlimited backup. Regardless, the main point was just to make sure you're aware. Many people try to use an external drive as backup for data they really care about without realizing how vulnerable that setup can actually be. As long as you know, then anything after that is your call.

  • There are multiple options

    • Cloud storage is popular these days (has it's disadvantages)
    • External HDDs (portable, but needs care when moving as simple drop can damage it), I had good results with WD drives
    • External SSDs (overkill for cold storage like you described)
    • Internal HDDs (depending on your PC configuration, can be the best solution, if portability is not a requirement)

    Also, for any storage, the 3-2-1 rule is recommened.

    It states that there should be at least 3 copies of the data, stored on 2 different types of storage media, and one copy should be kept offsite, in a remote location (this can include cloud storage).

  • You don't need to splash for an SSD if it's for back up.

    Rather get 2x 2Tb HDD external drives, and nice waterproof cases for them. label one as back up, keep it as a clone drive that you can update every few months

    Keep you main drive with you with your computer at home, and keep your clone drive somewhere else, maybe at your office or parents house or in a steel box hidden elsewhere in your house. This will help keep your photos disaster proof

    On top of this, in your drive keep a folder where you have a copy of your selects and best bits. If you have Google drive or photos, you can set up the software on your laptop to sync that folder to the cloud. That way the best photos and memories are stored off just your two drives and whatever you drop into that folder gets synced automatically.

    I keep my raw photos in folders organised by 'date - occasion', In a master folder. When I go through a folder and make my selects for my album I put the selects in a subfolder called 'date - occasion - processed'. I copy the processed folder and paste it in my cloud folder which I have on my PC, sometimes I delete a few processed images to keep it small. These will go in the cloud. That way I have 2 copies of everything, and 4 copies of my favourites.

19 comments