Online Photo Storage

[SpoiledPrincess]

I wasn't quite sure in which section to post this but here goes. I'm not very good with computers, but I've just started needing something I can permanently store photos in in case my computer breaks. It has to be free, very easy to use, have a large capacity and be permanent, these are photos I really don't want to lose. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I've been using the same photobucket account for years - never had an issue.

Very easy to upload, sort, resize.

Http://photobucket.com

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

Cheers Manly, I'm off to have a look

 

[Osiris]

I'm still of that old school web view that nothing online is forever. I know we just completed burning all our photos to CD and DVD. Rather than look at an online, I'd try CD media. You can get a burner for about $40 US and a spindel of 100 CDs is about $20 to $30 depending on where you buy them.

If you have to go onlline, I use Photobucket, but they have issues now and again and my wife uses Snapfish.

The only thing to remember about free services though is that you usually get what you pay for.

Drop me a line if I can help you get a burner cheap.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

I have a burner Osiris but I burned all my mp3's to disk, then when my son formatted my computer one of the disks wouldn't work so I plan to back up these photos in several ways to be ultra careful with them.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Good idea - I have lost so many cool pics because they weren't backed up well enough.

Get quality copies printed too. It doesn't cost that much and there is nothing like a printed photo :smile: Loads of places do it (even over here - I'm sure Boots, Tesco, etc. do) - from a CD, from a USB key, SD card...

 

[Osiris]

I have a burner Osiris but I burned all my mp3's to disk, then when my son formatted my computer one of the disks wouldn't work so I plan to back up these photos in several ways to be ultra careful with them.

Ah, ok, given that info I would agree with MB and use photobucket. As for burning them, as long as you save them as JPEGs, you should be universally OK unless Bill Gates decides to change that system as well.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

There's nothing quite like sitting around with photos Manly and I do intend to print them all out.

 

[Osiris]

There's nothing quite like sitting around with photos Manly and I do intend to print them all out.

Given that, you may want to look at Snapfish. My wife uses it because she can go to the Kodak PC at the shops and print out prints she wants, give access to family to the photos that same way over great distances, and even manipulate them with borders and the like. We did our Christmas cards that way this year.

 

[HazelGod]

Photobucket is fine for the occasional tidbit I intend to share with a forum, but for holding libraries of photos (family shots, etc), their dimension and size limitations get in the way.

Flickr is a much more robust site for these kinds of uses.

 

[SlimGuySB]

I have a burner Osiris but I burned all my mp3's to disk, then when my son formatted my computer one of the disks wouldn't work so I plan to back up these photos in several ways to be ultra careful with them.

My advice here (it's informed advice, not 'pulled out of thin air advice'!) is to recognise that no media is perfect and all the home recording media have a limited lifespan. For files or other images that are unreplaceable, my backup strategy is this:

1) Buy two different brands of CDs. Be careful here. You need two different brands which are *actually* different. A little web searching will reveal that a lot of the brands you see in stores are actually just rebrands from a small group of manufacturers.

2) Burn two copies of your files onto each brand.

3) Place one of the sets at a different location. Your desk at work, a parents/childs/trusted friends house. Offer to do the same for them.

4) Store the disks in a dark, dry, cool place.

4) Refresh (ie reburn) the files at a very minimum every 2 years. The dyes used in the disks do break down over time. This will happen very quickly if there is a fault in the disk allowing air in. I'd consider a yearly refresh to be the best way to do it.

Hope this helps

Also, I trust the online sites for backing up important files about as far as I can throw their data centers. You never know when they will simply cease to exist.

 

[Calboner]

To upload a large number of photos to a photo web site one at a time would be needless tedium. Compress the files into a single ZIP file, or a small number of such, and store it or them on any file-sharing web site. Or use an external hard drive. I have one from Maxtor that I am very happy with.

 

[HazelGod]

Or use an external hard drive.

Best advice yet.

 

[B_Think_Kink]

Burn them to a cd or use photobucket. Either works well. Good luck!

 

[ManlyBanisters]

To upload a large number of photos to a photo web site one at a time would be needless tedium. Compress the files into a single ZIP file, or a small number of such, and store it or them on any file-sharing web site. Or use an external hard drive. I have one from Maxtor that I am very happy with.

Best advice yet.

Well - it would be if SP hadn't said she was not particulary techno savvy and if photobucket didn't have a bulk upload feature, oh and if external harddrives didn't fail / get broken too. But other than that...

Generally speaking it is good advice - but it all depends on the user and the situation, doesn't it...

 

[Yonkers]

SpoiledPrincess - Here's some freebie sites for you.


Snapfish.com
Shutterfly.com
pixfiles.net :: Image Hosting & Image Sharing!
ImageShack® - Hosting
PaintedOver.com - Image Hosting and Online Photo Albums
ImageUploading.com free image hosting for messageboards, auctions, personal websites and blogs.
UploadYourImages.com :: Image Hosting & Image Sharing!
Video Search Engine - Free Video Hosting - Flurl.com
theupload.com
ImageCave - Free Image Hosting and Photo Sharing
Glowfoto :: Photo Sharing
imagecabin.com
FileHigh - Free Image Hosting with Galleries!
Free Image Hosting - 4FreeImageHost
Hostpic Free myspace image hosting with hotlinking allowed. Blogs and Myspace welcome!
Imagez.Org - Image Upload
Free Image Hosting, Picture Upload, Free Photo Hosting, Image Hosting - Home
Video Search Engine - Free Video Hosting - Flurl.com

To use the following, you'll need to spend a moment and open a free account.

applepics.com
UploadIt.org - Online Storage and Image Hosting
Pix8.net - Dedicated Hosting and Photo Sharing
Free file hosting by Savefile.com
PhotoDump - Free Hosting

I've had this list for a while. As far as I know most if not all are still active.

Hope these help.

Yonkers.

 

[SpoiledPrincess]

Thanks very much to everyone who answered, I made a photobucket account and I intend making another one out of the things that have been mentioned, the photos I want to save are important but there aren't thousands of them so I'm thinking if I have them on my hard drive and on two separate photo saving accounts which I check on a regular basis I should be ok. As MB pointed out I'm not particularly computer savvy so while the advice about external hard drives and other devices might be very good it'd perplex me a bit

I've saved all Yonkers sites so if anyone ever asks me about photo storage I can crack on I'm an expert.