I went into my.Dropbox on ios and realized I hadn’t backed up over a thousand photos. I already use Apple Photos and backup via Arq to B2 and Carbon Copy Cloner. I’ve heard good things about Photosync, what do other people use to make sure ios photos get backed up?
I archive my photos to an external HD, eventually also burned to DVD. To use an analogy, I do not trust to allow any possibilities that private documents are lost because the cloud dries up or globally distributed because the cloud rains openly on some other locale.
–
JJW
I still use the Dropbox client. I’m usually in it at least one a week, so it keeps my photos copied. I have a Hazel rule that moves videos from the Dropbox folder as soon as they are created to my locally attached Drobo. Hazel also moves pictures that are 6 months old to a photo folder on the NAS filed by year and month.
Normal backups are taken of the Apple Photos as well as the photo/video directories on the NAS.
I used to love the dedicated Dropbox photo client (forgot it’s name) until they dropped it. The killer feature for me was the feature that showed you all of your photos taken on the same day in previous years. That used to keep me opening the app as well.
Now I’m better about putting key pictures in Day One and it has implemented that feature there as well.
1 Like
Weekly or more often I photosync all photos to my main mac in my folder for this year. That’s a temporary location. Once a MOnth I import them to LightRoom which also moves the actual picture files off to the main server. That server is backed up nightly to an external HD. I also burn them onto CDs every year. I also keep 3 rotating offsite backups of the main server and my main computer as well as 2 different timemachine drives.
I do, but just as another backup of the photos. I figure that they’re the thing I would least like to lose, so it doesn’t hurt to have them backed up / synced to 5 places (apple photos, backblaze, external connected HD, external hard drive offsite, dropbox).
Hopefully you store at least one of those backups off site. Backing up to external drives is OK to deal with a drive failure, but if you have a fire in the room that contains the drives…
I use as just another backup. I already have dropbox, so why not? I have a local HD, a remote HD in the office, use Apple photos, feed to Dropbox and Flickr. Flickr is free, so again, doesn’t hurt to use it.
Primary - PhotoSync to Synology (There are Hazel rules I have for sorting, naming, moving, etc)
Secondary - Photos to iCloud
Tertiary - Photos to Dropbox
The 2nd and 3rd options only exist as a precaution, i.e. phone gets stolen, damaged, etc. and I didn’t get a chance since my last backup.
But on a typical week, as soon as I use Photosync and Hazel to get my photos into Synology. I wait for 1 additional copy to be created by Synology when its gets backed up to Crashplan.
After that, I delete all copies from my 2nd and 3rd locations.
I concede the concern is important. At some point soon, I’ll tackle it as well.
–
JJW
My ‘expensive camera’ RAW images go into Lightroom Classic on my Mac. My iPhone pics get copied every 1-2 weeks to Photos on the Mac (and auto-deleted from my iPhone as part of the transfer). So far I have not availed myself of Adobe’s included 20Gb storage as part of its Creative Cloud Photography plan.
I use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up all my files locally, and I use Backblaze to archive all files offline.
Philosophically I decided I had no serious need for instantaneous access to the vast sea of photos I’ve taken, so I haven’t needed large amounts of Dropbox/iCloud/etc storage. It’s been the rare occasion I wished I’d wished I was able to find some photo from a month or three years ago while out and about.
Thanks all for the comments. I’ll look at my Hazel rules this weekend and see what I have going on and maybe purge some rules and modify stuff.
What’s interesting to me is that it seems like the Dropbox upload is really slow as far as I can tell. A lot slower then I remember it being a lot faster and responsive. I know I have about 1800 photos to upload from May 2018 to now but I remember previous that’d be done in a couple hours. I enabled Background Uploading but I’m unsure if it’s truly working. Maybe an update for compatibility of iOS 12 would make a difference.
Similar to @bowline I use Backblaze B2 and Carbon Copy Cloner though photos especially I’d rather have copies all over just in case. As I plan to get a Synology in the coming year, I will probably adopt a workflow very similar to @FrMichaelFanous’s. Interesting that Fr Michael deletes from Photos (iCloud) and Dropbox following them being copied to his Synology.
@Jonathan_Davis let me add on a bit more to my workflow, I don’t need them in iCloud Photos or in Dropbox once they are on the Synology. I still follow the backup rule of having 3 copies.
My main archive (and primary backup) is my Synology. (20 years worth of photos and I am still haven’t finished the older photos that need scanning).
My second backup is Crashplan.
My third backup is a portable drive that carries the essentials that I can’t duplicate again (i.e. photos, videos, special projects) that gets swapped at regular intervals.
Photos folder alone…560 GB.
From time to time, I do share some photos in iCloud Sharing, but the Synology also allows for that as well.
I started to use PhotoSync but am slightly frustrated by it not seeming to automatically sync as I’d like it to. I set it up to sync when connected to my wifi network but I don’t see a way to confirm the sync is updated and current. Also I have two networks in my parent’s condo. Condo and Condo Kitchen. I really want to love the app and will do some further digging to ensuring that it can work.
I’m also thinking further about trying to ensure that I can access all my photos easily. Kinda torn about using both Lightroom and Photos for my photos. Gotta ponder this.
When you click on the PhotoSync app any pictures with a blue outline are not yet synced.
FWIW we have 10 wifi networks at various paces around the farm so multiple networks don’t seem to be the issue. I’ll go set mine to sync automatically and report back. I tend to prefer doing it manually.
Let me put in a plug for Lightroom. It’s far more future proof than photos and also more robust with far more features so that as your use and needs grow the app can still keep up with you.
I would pick one or the other. Mixing them seems to be a recipe for disaster with some photos in one place and not the other. Pick one as the primarily location and go with that.
Thanks, I didn’t know that. I think what’s different is that many apps say “1200 of 1300 photos synced, 100 remaining”. I think it’s just an adjustment for me given it doesn’t provide a count-down.
Did you figure it out? Curioud what happened.
I am a Lightroom user. I think for me I’m torn as I’d like my photos available in the cloud but maybe that isn’t the biggest deal or I could use Google Photos for showing people various photos.
Absolutely, it’s a pain having to figure out where my photos are.