Organised backup is one of the fundamental, basic, sine qua non, must-have, obligatory things you must have sorted out as a photographer. Was that clear enough? Should I say it again: you must back up, and back up well and efficiently.
Once there was back-ups on CDs, then DVD and ultimately BlueRays.
Disk storage became cheap enough to use hard disks for backup too and many photographers (I think) also went for NAS servers. I’m not sure how many terabytes I have today but it is well over 20. (Everything must be in several copies.)
But online photo storage for archiving and backup has not been a viable option, both for cost and speed reasons. But recently two things have changed:
- Fiber is now widely available which is a quantum leap for the speed of your internet connection. (Take a few minutes and do the maths on how long it will take you to upload 1000 50MB images over a standard ADSL connection, and then multiply that with 10 or more, and you’ll understand.)
- A few “unlimited online storage”-offers have appeared.
Photoshelter just announced that they are now include unlimited online storage in their Pro subscription. This is fantastic news!
I will be sure to test this as soon as I have the time to look into it. Photoshelter is a fantastic tool to manage an online archive, to display your pictures online and to sell photography online.
Photoshelter is, in my opinion, the best tool there is to manage you own online photo business, selling stock photography, but it can also be used for other types of photograph, art, wedding etc. And excellent tool to showcase, display and sell.
But it has not been a tool for archiving and backup.
This has now changed. With unlimited online storage it may also become an outstanding tool to manage an online backup of your archive.
If this will be the outstanding solution it sound like depends on how you will be able to manage the online archive. I have yet to test that out for backup purposes. It is very good to manage your online library that you want to display to customers, but that is a different thing.
I look forward to trying Photoshelter also for archiving.
One word of caution thought: Never, never, NEVER, use any online service as your ONLY archive. Always have your primary archive physically in your own possession. (Google “Digital Railroad” if you wonder why.)
If you want to try the Photoshelter online photo platform you can use this link. It will give you a 14 days free trial, a special offer if you decide to go for it, and it will give me a small referral fee if you do, using this link.
They have three levels of service:
- Basic @ $110/year
- Standard @ $330/year
- Pro @ $550/year
It is only with the Pro subscription that you get unlimited storage. Photoshelter is not the thing to choose if you only want an online archive, but it is an excellent choice if you want a photography site to display, sell and deliver your photos. You get a lot for your money.
Read more about the unlimited storage offer from Photoshelter here.
(On a side note: Another very interesting unlimited online photo storage offer is Amazon Prime, or Amazon Premium as it is called in some countries. No frills and certainly not comparable to Photoshelter, but still interesting. I am currently testing that and will write something about it in the near future.)
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