I need a safe storage for my photos , around 10 to 12 TB should do the job.
I was suggested RAID drive, I was considering a compact 2 BAY NAS with 2X12 TB HDD RAID 1, in case of need, I can easily take with me to Lebanon , but a friends is suggesting I get 4BAY RAID 10 plus 4X6GB noting that price difference isn't big, another is saying I just go with raid 5 and save money 3X6GB or 4X4GB will give the same result. a fellow photographer is saying forget abut RAID altogether and save them online on a cloud server
I just want the safest alternative and want ease of use can anyone advise me
The safest storage is certainly not home storage, regardless of the RAID level.
If you've got a good internet connection - why not go Smugmug? Unlimited storage for $10/month ($83/y) - and never worry about going out of storage space again.
That's probably also not even more expensive because you don't have to buy a new disk array every 5y or so.
If you can't live without a local drive - this one seems to be decent:
https://www.westerndigital.com/products/network-attached-storage/wd-my-cloud-expert-series-ex2-ultra#WDBVBZ0120JCH-NESN
Chief Editor - opticallimits.com
Doing all things Canon, MFT, Sony and Fuji
I have 2 local USB drives (one primary and one mirror of sorts) for all my data, and also one drive stored at my parents' home on the other side of the country - I update it every year when I visit them. The drives are 4, 3 and 2 TB respectively.
And a cloud space of 2.1 TB on mail.ru for which I'm paying... something (probably about $20 a year, I kinda forgot since I'm paying by the years anyway). I had a free terabyte for many years but this past March I finally broke down and got more space since my photo archive went past 1TB this year (maybe I should've culled it better...), and I have other kinds of data and whatnot to backup that are no less important to me.
I like RAID for the data on my workstation, as that has saved my bacon quite a few times over the years. However, that is the in-built data storage.
In addition I have a backup-set of everything in-house, and another second back-up set in a small, fireproof safe, in the cellar of my house. In addition, for really important stuff I tend to have a few extra back-ups, and that includes my images. I also make sure I always fill my disks for no more than about 70%, mostly for speed reasons, and have some extra capacity available, i.e., extra hard drives just in case, both mounted and unmounted.
These days I only use SSDs, BTW, as I find that if you buy a reputable brand, they last at least twice as long as a spinning hard drive, although I still do have a bunch of hard drives as fall-back if need be. They latter tend to gather dust, however.
Personally I don't like using the cloud for data storage, as it means you depend on an internet connection and on an external host provider - two extra steps I do not trust 100%. I only use the latter for sharing stuff on the various internet-platforms I take part in.
For creating back-ups and updates I currently use the FreeFileSync and RealTimeSync software applications, they are both free. Quite effective and fast.
HTH, kind regards, Wim
Gear: Canon EOS R with 3 primes and 2 zooms, 4 EF-R adapters, Canon EOS 5 (analog), 9 Canon EF primes, a lone Canon EF zoom, 2 extenders, 2 converters, tubes; Olympus OM-D 1 Mk II & Pen F with 12 primes, 6 zooms, and 3 Metabones EF-MFT adapters ....
08-19-2022, 12:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-19-2022, 12:27 PM by Rover.)
I've not had a data hard drive fail on me since 2003. Though in 2020, the system HDD in my laptop failed. I guess four copies (two on-site, one off-site and in another city, one in the clouds) are about enough, at least in my case.
I don't think losing 90% of my photos would do me any harm, anyway: it's mostly boring stuff shoot on assignments. Vacation photos are another story, though I don't have the two separated from one another.
08-21-2022, 02:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-21-2022, 03:03 PM by toni-a.)
[quote pid='55829' dateline='1660881562']
The safest storage is certainly not home storage, regardless of the RAID level.
If you've got a good internet connection - why not go Smugmug? Unlimited storage for $10/month ($83/y) - and never worry about going out of storage space again.
That's probably also not even more expensive because you don't have to buy a new disk array every 5y or so.
If you can't live without a local drive - this one seems to be decent:
https://www.westerndigital.com/products/network-attached-storage/wd-my-cloud-expert-series-ex2-ultra#WDBVBZ0120JCH-NESN
[/quote]
This is exactly the drive I intend to get, About Smugmug, does it accept RAW and videos ? Video is not a real problem, but I absolutely need to safeguard my RAW files
Hi Tony, 12TB is 12TB.
Smugmug offers an option RAW files at $5 per TB per month. It allows you to mirror your directories as they appear in your local machine. Good luck with the video files...
10-12 TB is a lot... not sure how expensive would it be to completely put it up on the cloud. I remember a Chinese offer for 36TB, but... it was Chinese... 
By the way, I'm also kind of wary about "standalone" providers going out of business at some point. In my perception (which may be wrong), there's less of a chance of that if you use a cloud service provided by a major IT company even if it's not their primary pastime (Yandex, Mail.ru, Google in my case... though we know how "well" it turned out with Microsoft...)
(08-22-2022, 07:48 AM)Rover Wrote: 10-12 TB is a lot... not sure how expensive would it be to completely put it up on the cloud. I remember a Chinese offer for 36TB, but... it was Chinese...
By the way, I'm also kind of wary about "standalone" providers going out of business at some point. In my perception (which may be wrong), there's less of a chance of that if you use a cloud service provided by a major IT company even if it's not their primary pastime (Yandex, Mail.ru, Google in my case... though we know how "well" it turned out with Microsoft...) In the end, the cloud is just a bunch of computers owned by someone else, managed by someone else.
Personally, I would prefer to set up another PC at a different place myself, if that option is available, and allow for remote login on that computer. If it is with family, it may cost just the expense of the extra computer, which doesn't have to be the be all and end all, and possibly electricity used. Even if you'd like to give your family (or a friend) something for the opportunity offered, it is probably less costly than a 'cloud service'.
You may even be able to reciprocate, with the right person. Dedicated storage at your place for the person(s) which provide storage for you. And remote access makes it very similar to cloud storage.
Just an idea ...
Gear: Canon EOS R with 3 primes and 2 zooms, 4 EF-R adapters, Canon EOS 5 (analog), 9 Canon EF primes, a lone Canon EF zoom, 2 extenders, 2 converters, tubes; Olympus OM-D 1 Mk II & Pen F with 12 primes, 6 zooms, and 3 Metabones EF-MFT adapters ....
Well, yeah, but a cloud is still better than just two hard drives side by side on my desk (which I rely on primarily, though not exclusively). Not sure about how much redundancy they have, either, though I expect some.
I would not burden my parents - who live across the country - with having to run a server 24/7, incurring electricity and connection costs on them. Besides, they are not technically proficient. Enough that they are keeping a spare backup HDD of mine in a jewelry casket, and I update the contents every time I visit. Not ideal but alright given the circumstances.
Good idea about asking friends, though - thanks! I'll try that next time I visit (which will be in less than a month from now...)
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