What Photo Storage Do You Use?

[marko]

Google photos does not allow you to get a direct link to a jpg image (ie, a url with a .jpg at the end). You'll only get a link to a page that hosts the image. This limits your ability to link to your photograph on some sites - works just fine on this site.

You can send a link to others which sends them to a secure site to view. This is handy in cases of large albums or video where the receiver doesn't want to use a lot of data to view.

You can also download photos as a .jpg and send as an attachment like any other in .jpg format.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Many of you seem to see no need for remote, off site backups. But one fire and all your redundant drives are history.

That's akin to insurance, right? Just a question of risk tolerance.

I have mine on my phone, in Google Drive, and maybe in an old memory stick somewhere. I've never been much for going back through old photos and reminiscing, so i don't take many. I don't even know if all my photos take up a full gig.

And I really don't care who sees what I've had for lunch.

I'm not a very good representative of my generation in this category.

The SO on the other hand, I probably could fill several 10TB archive drives full of photos if she had a phone of infinite holding.

 

[DayDreaming]

I use Dropbox to synchronize my photo directory between desktop PC, laptop, and the Dropbox cloud. I also have Dropbox on my phone so it automatically puts a copy of my camera photos into Dropbox.

 

[meierlde]

Many of you seem to see no need for remote, off site backups. But one fire and all your redundant drives are history.

If you use flash drives a safe deposit box is one idea, or give a set to a family member to store in their house, or if you have a storage unit keep a set there. This takes the needed disaster up a notch. Of course before digital, if you had a fire the images were also gone. (and backup was not possible).

 

[kcowan]

I used Webshots for as long as I could. After that, I have not found what I need. I have Dropbox, Flickr, OneDrive, iCloud and 2 external USB drives. Still looking for a good solution like the OP.

 

[pb4uski]

For those who keep lots of pictures, how often do you view them?

 

[FIREmenow]

For those who keep lots of pictures, how often do you view them?

It's not a matter of how often YOU view them, it's how often you make everyone ELSE view them!!

 

[Huston55]

Just uploaded our phone & iPad photos onto Amazon Prime, based on an earlier post. Very easy to do and easily accessible via the app.

Let's see if this link works.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/kL2WzsZxMKiaD5ekFjHZNyqp1FRzpcoX8VqL6sgB95K

 

[Chuckanut]

I backup my photos as well as all my important files, to an offsite backup business. It's all encrypted by me.

I also upload my photos to Google Photos. That makes it very convenient to quickly bring up a photos from my last trip to Lower Slobovia for all my curious friends.

 

[marko]

For those who keep lots of pictures, how often do you view them?

This is a great question!

With the exception of a few 1)really good shots 2)sentimental value 3) once in a lifetime photos, 99% of my pics are essentially disposable.

If I lost almost all my pics (hope not!) I don't think my life would be altered.

It's a bit like those 2,000 songs I've paid for, downloaded and stored to play back at some point and never do. (Thanks Pandora for making the songs I bought redundant)

 

[NW-Bound]

For those who keep lots of pictures, how often do you view them?

Just recently, I scanned through most of them to select some to load the digital frame that my children got me for Christmas. It came with an 8GB flash stick, and if I reduced the resolution down to match its screen, it could hold many tens of thousand of photos.

Some relatives of mine took a lot of photos with their digital cameras, and I think they just erased the memory when it is full, then started over. Never look at them or order print. Some people never learned how to transfer the photos from the flash memory to their computer. My BIL could not come up with any photo of his father for the latter's funeral. I had to go through my own collection to get some.

Now, they do it with their smart phones, and at least they are posting some on Facebook.

 

[mpeirce]

I store all my pictures on an external 4tb hard drive. DH and I no longer take pictures unless people are in them. Who wants to look at something we thought was really cool or some scenery.

I've been digitizing lots of old family photos. I've come to realize that the only photos that I really care about are photos of people and a few of homes and other personal items.

I just don't care that grandma saw the Golden Gate Bridge back in the 50's. It pretty much looks the same as it does now.

 

[donheff]

For those who keep lots of pictures, how often do you view them?

I keep 800+ of my favorite photos as a screen saver on a 24" desktop in my kitchen. We hang around in the kitchen a lot so the photos cycle thru -- nice way to view them. I would like to do something like that with a large screen TV. It is easy with Apple TV but I only keep a limited share of photos there since I don't want to pay for storage. I may checkout wither I can do something with Flickr either through Apple TV or through Roku which I have on another TV.

 

[FIREmenow]

I keep 800+ of my favorite photos as a screen saver on a 24" desktop in my kitchen. We hang around in the kitchen a lot so the photos cycle thru -- nice way to view them. I would like to do something like that with a large screen TV. It is easy with Apple TV but I only keep a limited share of photos there since I don't want to pay for storage. I may checkout wither I can do something with Flickr either through Apple TV or through Roku which I have on another TV.

Roku can get the photos right from your other machine, IIRC.

 

[2017ish]

Just uploaded our phone & iPad photos onto Amazon Prime, based on an earlier post. Very easy to do and easily accessible via the app.

Let's see if this link works.

https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/kL2WzsZxMKiaD5ekFjHZNyqp1FRzpcoX8VqL6sgB95K

It works. Nice rainbow!

 

[donheff]

Roku can get the photos right from your other machine, IIRC.

I will check it out. Thx.

 

[Cobra9777]

We store photos on two HDDs, one internal, one external. Then we also use both Amazon Prime Photos and Google Photos. Both are free, but Prime Photos is full resolution whereas Google photos reduces the size somewhat. Both services have some pretty amazing search functions (by people, by location, etc). A bit scary actually. We tend to use Prime Photos more because both our Android phones immediately backup all photos there. Since we also use Amazon Fire TV, our latest photos are always on the TV if we want to show them to someone.

 

[seraphim]

Flickr for sharing with other photographers and finding other photographers with whom to communicate. FB for photos to share with friends and family. 2T of hard drive storage. Been photographing a long time lol.

 

[Huston55]

I've been digitizing lots of old family photos. I've come to realize that the only photos that I really care about are photos of people and a few of homes and other personal items.

I just don't care that grandma saw the Golden Gate Bridge back in the 50's. It pretty much looks the same as it does now.

How have you been digitizing? I get lots of emails from Legacy Box and similar services, and am wondering what the best method is. We have several trunks of 35mm slides, old pics, mementos, etc. that we want to convert.

 

[FIREmenow]

How have you been digitizing? I get lots of emails from Legacy Box and similar services, and am wondering what the best method is. We have several trunks of 35mm slides, old pics, mementos, etc. that we want to convert.

We send them out. Has worked well for us so far.

Used a Groupon a couple of times - something like 1000 photos for $49. Our time is worth WAAAY more than that.

 

[donheff]

I take photos with a camera or even an iPhone and adjust in Photoshop. Easier than a professional service and more than adequate for viewing on a screen. You can vastly improve the color balance of old, faded snapshots in post processing.

 

[meierlde]

How have you been digitizing? I get lots of emails from Legacy Box and similar services, and am wondering what the best method is. We have several trunks of 35mm slides, old pics, mementos, etc. that we want to convert.

If you have time, you can get a scanner like an epson v600 ($209)and scan the pictures in (that does 4 slides at a time) or spend more and buy a v 800 that does 12 at a time.($675)
It does work and you get photoshop elements to fix the pictures after digitizing. Be aware that purchased slides from the 1960s may have faded to red, but kodachrome and etachrome from that time frame are still ok.

 

[mpeirce]

How have you been digitizing? I get lots of emails from Legacy Box and similar services, and am wondering what the best method is. We have several trunks of 35mm slides, old pics, mementos, etc. that we want to convert.

Various ways.

If you have lots of time a quality scanner works well. But it takes lots of time.

I've used ScanMyPhotos.com a few times. They have prepaid boxes that work out nicely. I've used them for both photos and slides with good results.

 

[Chuckanut]

Be aware that purchased slides from the 1960s may have faded to red, but kodachrome and etachrome from that time frame are still ok.

My Ektachrome slides show at least some degradation. The champ is Kodachrome. It has/had the advantage of basically being a black and white film to which the color dyes were added when processed. Apparently, these dyes have much more staying power than the ones built into the film.

 

[street]

I keep mine on my computer HD and also use Photobucket as a photo host for sharing pictures. Photobucket is getting awful but I still use it.