Cloud storage
Dear all I’m considering migrating to a cloud based data storage system as my primary storage repository. Does anyone have practical experience of this that they would like to share? I’m thinking of using pCloud since it has a one-off payment for a lifetime(99 years) for 2 TB. I’d want to be able use LR and photoshop, to edit images via the cloud as well as other documents etc. I would see this as removing the need for the numerous local back up disks I’m currently using .
Your thoughts and experiances
Thanks
Chris
Your thoughts and experiances
Thanks
Chris
Whichever cloud solution you use, remember the old adage about not putting all your eggs in one basket.
I would change your "numerous local back up disks" for two new ones - each capable of holding all your images plus room for more - in addition to the cloud. I use two local external disks, one is stored not in the house in case of fire or theft and a Norwegian cloud store. Unlimited storage for a minimal monthly payment.
I would change your "numerous local back up disks" for two new ones - each capable of holding all your images plus room for more - in addition to the cloud. I use two local external disks, one is stored not in the house in case of fire or theft and a Norwegian cloud store. Unlimited storage for a minimal monthly payment.
Chris what do you mean you want to edit via the cloud?
Do you expect to load images or documents into the likes of Photoshop directly from the cloud storage?
Or is the cloud just going to mirror your files and mirror changes that you make to them?
Working on local copies of files is faster than working with online copies but the latter is doable.
You should have at least 3 copies of every important file. One needs to be offsite and offline where its is safe from viruses, hackers and accidental deletions.
It's easy to screw up a file on your computer only realising the problem after you hit save, that can be mirrored to the cloud as well.
Do you expect to load images or documents into the likes of Photoshop directly from the cloud storage?
Or is the cloud just going to mirror your files and mirror changes that you make to them?
Working on local copies of files is faster than working with online copies but the latter is doable.
You should have at least 3 copies of every important file. One needs to be offsite and offline where its is safe from viruses, hackers and accidental deletions.
It's easy to screw up a file on your computer only realising the problem after you hit save, that can be mirrored to the cloud as well.
You can use PhotoShop/Lightroom on a portable second device (mobile & tablet) for free if you pay the Cloud monthly subscription of just under £10, including a "reasonable" amount of Cloud storage for free.
How long will it take you to upload individual files?
Often uploading takes 6 times longer than downloading
2 or 3 4TB hard drives do not cost much money.
How long will it take you to upload individual files?
Often uploading takes 6 times longer than downloading
2 or 3 4TB hard drives do not cost much money.
I did try a free cloud service for a time but only for a small subset of my images. It was also essential to keep a copy of the images on my hard drive which were regularly backed up to the cloud. At some point the cloud images on my hard drive were deleted which resulted in the cloud version being deleted. I am sure that this would not happen now but you do need to be certain what does happen. I did not lose the images in this case because the cloud was not my original images or my primary backup. I now just backup to 9 T Byte NAS plus a backup copy on a 4 T Byte USB drive normally kept in a fire resistant safe.
I am sure using a cloud for backup is sensible (even though I do not do it). However, I am not sure why you would need LR/PS to edit files stored on the cloud directly, if it is just a backup.
Dave
I am sure using a cloud for backup is sensible (even though I do not do it). However, I am not sure why you would need LR/PS to edit files stored on the cloud directly, if it is just a backup.
Dave
Quote:How long will it take you to upload individual files?
Often uploading takes 6 times longer than downloading
That's a 'how long is a piece of string' question. But a very pertinent one.
There's no point in having cloud storage if your internet connection is too slow. Before I changed to fiber, I was struggling to obtain 3mb/s upload speed and it literally took days to upload 200-300 60-70mb (raw & TIFF) files.
Dear all thanks for your comments. In my working life (non photography) I’ve been using cloud based computing for years with very few issues so I considered replicating this for my photography. Taking my experience from my non photography work, I’d expect all my files would be placed in the cloud as my live working environment using LR and PS to edit them. I wouldn’t take a local backup because the files in the cloud are backed up by the service provider (there are no local backup copies). My point in my question was has anyone done this / used this approach ?
My current working system backs up my data library on four separate HDDs with one stored off site. Whilst this works fine, it seems a bit old fashioned these days!
My current working system backs up my data library on four separate HDDs with one stored off site. Whilst this works fine, it seems a bit old fashioned these days!
Quote:Taking my experience from my non photography work, I’d expect all my files would be placed in the cloud as my live working environment using LR and PS to edit them
I've experience of a few different methods but still can't comment until I understand how you intend to access the files in the cloud from within Lr and Ps? When you press File - Open and you see a list of folders like below, but your files aren't stored or mirrored locally but are in the cloud, what is your next step?
If they are not on your computer how do you access them? Adobe Cloud might make it easier but is expensive for storage and you intend to store your images in pCloud.
In your non-photography work you might be connecting to a virtual machine and the software runs on that. Often students use remote desktop and cloud storage for school and college work. Services like Office 365 work like that.
The whole point of this is that you can see them stored on the Cloud! You get a a logical drive that you can see in explorer to build out a file structure and use it just like an external drive. You can navigate to it from Bridge or Ps. You need to use the Web version of Lr. You can edit the images etc just as you can from an external drive or your own PC’s HDD. That bit is not my concern. Clearly broadband speed could be an issue. My point is, is anyone actually doing this and effectively ditching local drives? What assurances are there of your data if a provider goes bust etc?
So if the internet is down You don't get to see or access them. If they get hacked you could lose them all.
Buy yourself a NAS and use that on the cloud, plus a 4TB HDD and back both of them up.
I would never trust the Cloud for Photography. I could not upload my RAW/Tiffs & Jpgs to the cloud. No Way.
Buy yourself a NAS and use that on the cloud, plus a 4TB HDD and back both of them up.
I would never trust the Cloud for Photography. I could not upload my RAW/Tiffs & Jpgs to the cloud. No Way.
Quote:The whole point of this is that you can see them stored on the Cloud! You get a a logical drive that you can see in explorer to build out a file structure and use it just like an external drive. You can navigate to it from Bridge or Ps. You need to use the Web version of Lr. You can edit the images etc just as you can from an external drive or your own PC’s HDD. That bit is not my concern.
That should be your concern. Have you ever tried browsing a network drive with Bridge? Go and make a coffee while the directory loads. With the Cloud you will have time to bake a cake
A bigger concern is the company go bust or their servers are hacked and your lifetime plan isn't worth the paper it's not printed on. And you've lost every photograph.
Hi Chris, browsing the cloud drive is quick and editing an image (50Mb Raw), as is saving a fairly large Tiff (150Mb) and a small Jpeg for viewing on the screen. Has your experience been different? What cloud service provider have you used?
OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox. With Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic (no need to use the other version so long as your catalog is stored locally)
Find it painfully slow to browse folders and to open files for editing (if files are set to online only and aren't cached locally as you intend)
That is over fibre broadband. Having the files mirrored locally is so much faster. Doing something like an HDR merge or Panorarma merge with cloud only data is too slow for me.
Local drives are always going to beat internet drives for speed. On a rainy day when the internet is down I want to be able to edit my photos.
Considering the price and the weight of these and that they can be made portable with one of these I would still choose local storage as my primary image location even if the cloud was free!
Find it painfully slow to browse folders and to open files for editing (if files are set to online only and aren't cached locally as you intend)
That is over fibre broadband. Having the files mirrored locally is so much faster. Doing something like an HDR merge or Panorarma merge with cloud only data is too slow for me.
Local drives are always going to beat internet drives for speed. On a rainy day when the internet is down I want to be able to edit my photos.
Considering the price and the weight of these and that they can be made portable with one of these I would still choose local storage as my primary image location even if the cloud was free!
