You could use Backblaze B2, for 100GB it costs 0.5$/month. If we compare three big cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, Backblaze and their storage in $ per GB, Backblaze with B2 Cloud Storage will be the most affordable. Anyway, the decision is on OP, here is the full comparison article. I had almost set on Backblaze B2, but when I was browsing the documentation of rclone I was also introduced to Scaleway C14 cold storage. There are around 2TB of data that I would like to backup to a given service, and I plan to let rclone to handle encryption internally (with the crypt module).
Backblaze is one of a few photo backup systems that I use. When I first started getting into photography, I had a hard drive with some of my first digital photos and negative scans on it. I lost the power cable to the hard drive, and then the hard drive eventually went missing after moving a few times. At the time, I had no cloud backups or copies of these photos. The photos are gone. Forever đż.
Backing up photos with Backblaze is a solid option if you donât want to lose any of your photos or digital files. Backblaze makes it easy because they have a simple app for your computer and an easy-to-use-web interface. If you encounter a drive failure, Backblaze can even send you a replacement hard drive with all of your photos and digital files.
How much does Backblaze cost?
Backblaze is currently $5/mo and $50/year.
I like Backblaze because the desktop app (I use the Mac app) is simple to use. It runs in the background and backs up your photos quickly. In the past, I recovered a 200GB hard drive from Backblase and the process was very seamless!
There are no limits on how much you can back up, either. Youâre able to download a ZIP file of your data or have your data sent to a location of your choice. Your data is safe because everything is encrypted. Iâve been using Backblaze for almost three years, and itâs been a seamless and passive way to back up my photos.
See why Backblaze is great!
You'll get three months for free! The free trial is a great way to evaluate if Backblaze is right for you.
Sign up for BackblazeBackblaze vs Carbonite vs Crashplan
Backblaze has an excellent guide describing the differences between Backblaze vs. Crashplan. Some of the major takeaways for my uses are the various restoring options and being able to back up multiple external hard drives.
Backblaze has a similar guide for choosing the difference between Backblaze vs. Carbonite. The big difference falls in price. The Carbonite Basic plan has a lot of features that are useful, but are only included in their more expensive Carbonite Prime plan. The most significant advantages that I see are backing up multiple hard drives and some various recovery options.
Backblaze Cloud Backup
Why is Backblaze good for photographers?
Backblaze has less customization over which data you want to back up than its competitors do. I think this is an advantage for Backblaze because the external drives that I want to backup only contain photo and video files. There are no selective sync options that I need to enable with my backup drives.
Thereâs an interface for browsing and restoring your files. With my backup system, I have a few hard drives and partitions that split up my workflow. I donât always have my external hard drives with me, and that could cause a problem if I needed to access a file. With Backblaze, itâs almost like you did have all of your external hard drives, because you can access whatever you need. You can even search for a specific file name and get a breakdown of where those files exist. I donât recommend that you treat this as a way to normally access files. But, in a pinch, you can find the files that youâre looking for if need be.
Thereâs no limit to the size of a file or the total backup size. If you have 5000 TB worth of photos, youâre technically able to back them up (although I bet they might contact you and try to figure out why you have so many photos).
Why is Backblaze a good backup service?
Thereâs more to Backblaze than the typical features, the low price and the its quality app. Under the same account, youâre able to enable B2 Cloud Storage. With B2, you can back up a RAID system and other large amounts of data. B2 is considered cold storage, and you pay to access and store. Because I travel so often, it doesnât make sense to own a NAS drive, like Synology or something else. When Iâm ready to have a stable office, a NAS is on the top of my list. To back up that NAS, B2 is my go-to option.
With Backblaze, you can share files with anyone. This is good if you have large files that you donât want to store on Dropbox. Youâre easily able to create a share link and have someone download your file. This sharing capability is only a feature on B2.
One feature that isnât mentioned too often is the ability to locate your computer. If your laptop is stolen or you somehow forget where you left it, you can sign into your Backblaze account and locate your laptop. Computer theft is tricky, because computers often get stripped and sold for the parts that make them up. Using this feature of Backblaze is one additional measure that you can take to try and locate a stolen machine.
How can you get started with Backblaze?
If youâre interested in starting a trial with Backblaze to start backing up all of your photos, check out their website. When you sign up, youâll get three months for free! Without Backblaze, I wouldnât feel ensured that my photos are safe and secure. This is one of the best options that you can choose to back up your photos.
See why Backblaze is great!
You'll get three months for free! The free trial is a great way to evaluate if Backblaze is right for you.
Sign up for BackblazeHow I use Backblaze
I made a video talking about my hard drive thought process and how I back up everything with Backblaze.
Why photo backups with Backblaze is important?
Backblaze Review
I use external hard drives for all of my photo backups. External hard drives are the easiest to travel with, and theyâre inexpensive. You can find 2TB hard drives for about $150. You can find a 500GB solid state hard drive for about $100. Without backing up your photos, thereâs very little you can do if your main working hard drive fails.
If your working hard drive does fail, you can pay a lot of money to try and have the data recovered. If you have any backup system, you donât have to worry about any data loss if you have a hard drive failure.
I think of digital photos the same way that I think of physical photos. I have a lot of physical photos from my childhood that donât exist anymore. I want to make sure that my digital photos live on forever so that I can share them many years in the future.
Last updated on February 11th, 2021
Iâve known and worked with many photographers who have had a number of issues with losing images. Whether itâs out of laziness, tech confusion or a total lack of understanding, it can ruin a photographerâs business entirely if they were to lose a clientâs images.
Storage and backup of RAW files should be a very high priority for any photographer.
Years ago, I myself had an issue with a corrupted CF card when I was shooting with only one card slot at a wedding. It was mortifying but thankfully I have always known it was possible and use smaller CF cards for that reason. If one was to get corrupted and you shot the entire day on it, youâd lose nearly everything.
When you work on smaller cards, you minimize your risk and are limiting what shots could get ruined or lost.
I think this post comes mainly from the fact that I am equal parts paranoid and organized. I love having a very firm system that I use for every session and wedding because taking the guesswork out of it makes my life easier. I am also extremely paranoid and while I know my contracts are very tight, I prefer to not have to tell someone that I lost their images.
I am so excited that my husband, Kyle, agreed to get on board with this tech post for photographers!
Kyle is a software engineer and a solutions architect and he specializes in problem solving through automation, custom application development and API integrations among many other things. He on occasion will analyze, monitor and tune enterprise storage for clients to solve problems. Which is kind of what weâre going to talk about⌠but just on a small business scale.
This post was very difficult for Kyle because I continually asked him to simplify things that in his mind are not able to be simplified. On our first few drafts, we talked about things like RAID configurations, network card throughputs, disk read and write rates, disk and I/O block sizes, max speeds of 802.11ac wireless versus wired gigabit ethernet connections, Amazon AWS S3 storage and disk cache.
If youâre lost, thatâs understandable. So was I. But we worked together and talked through everything many times in an attempt to make this post both easier to understand and more helpful.
Kyleâs Suggested Backup and Storage Solutions
Cloud Storage
This doesnât work for most photographers and may not work for you depending on what/how much you shoot and your internet speed. Cloud storage of RAW files isnât feasible for me and we do have quite fast upload speeds. However, it is always preferred when used correctly!
NAS System
Network Attached Storage (NAS) is similar to an external hard drive but instead of plugging in to a USB, itâs over your network and itâs a bit smarter. A NAS is a computer system thats sole purpose is storage. Ideally you would set your NAS to have mirrored hard drives. This is what I use!
Direct Attached Storage
Direct Attached Storage (DAS) is the classic external hard drive plugged in using USB, firewire, etc. If youâre going to do this, you still need to have everything in two places. Using one external hard drive is never sufficient.
Kyleâs Top Tips for Storage and Backup
Donât put all of your eggs in one basket. Basically, donât ever put all of your backup plans in one solution. You need to assume that at any time something could implode and you and your business would still be absolutely fine.
In the event that something does implode, leaving you with your data in only one location, you absolutely must duplicate it elsewhere ASAP. Donât ever push this off. It becomes Priority #1.
Hard drives WILL fail. Itâs not if, itâs when. Hard drives are like a car. They could run great for 400,000 miles or they might start having issues at 50,000. Thereâs no way to predict this but eventually, they will stop running all together. Like most things, hard drives have a life-span. You need to know this, understand it and accept it. Do not treat them as a reliable backup / storage solution on their own. This applies to all hard drives - in your laptop, in your desktop computer, in your NAS and your external USB hard drives.
If you have the bandwidth, knowledge and funds - cloud storage solutions are the best (like mentioned above) when used correctly. Always. However, for most photographers, this isnât practical unless you have fast enough upload internet like gigabit internet. It also can be very pricey and difficult to get âcaught upâ when you first start using cloud storage.
Editing and exporting things on your local hard drive will always be faster than over a networked drive or USB drive. However, you still need to have those RAWs in two locations. So if youâre able to have the RAWs on your laptop/desktop computerâs hard drive until you export them for the client, thatâs ideal for speed. Savannahâs custom solution below explains this!
Know where the bottlenecks are in your system hardware (this could be an entirely separate blog post so this is just glazing the surface of this issue). You could invest a lot money in the fastest solid state drive (SSD) in your network attached storage (NAS) system but most likely youâre connecting to your NAS over your network which will have a maximum speed that is slower than your SSD. So essentially, you could get the same performance out of a more affordable storage solution (a hard drive direct connected or in your NAS).
If youâre using a NAS or a DAS, it can be quicker to transfer your RAW images to them in a ZIP file. Zip up the folder containing all of your images while itâs on your computer and then transfer the large ZIP to your NAS/DAS. It can be quicker to do this one large ZIP than it is to do many small files.
Google is your friend. It can help you find products, someone to help you set up your storage solution, the answer to your one nagging technical question, tutorials, recommendations and more. If youâre lost or confused, start Googling.
Savannahâs Storage and Backup Solution
What is my setup? I have a NAS. It is a small, square computer with four slots for hard drives and the same processing power as say⌠your cell phone. It is on and running 24/7. It has 4 disk bays (aka slots for hard drives) and two currently have hard drives in them. The two empty slots are for eventual expansion.
QNAP NAS
HGST 4TB Hard Drive
Toshiba 4TB Hard Drive
How is the NAS connected to my computer? I can connect to my NAS via my laptop over the network - which is a collection of devices that can talk to each other. Everything on your home wifi is a part of your home network. Usually, a NAS is directly plugged into a router via ethernet which allows any device that also communicates with that router (for example⌠your laptop using wifi) to be able to connect to the NAS.
What does my NAS do? My NAS is set up so that I write to the NAS (put files on it, make changes, etc.) and then the NAS applies all of this to both hard drives. The two hard drives are mirrored - each one contains the exact same data. In a very simple way, itâs almost like automating the process of you putting your files on two separate portable hard drives. I do one thing on the NAS and the NAS duplicates that automatically. This is called RAID 1.
Why RAID 1? This duplication allows either drive to fail or any kind of reason and I will still have my data on the other. The NAS will notify me if either one of the hard drives is unhealthy, about to fail, etc. and I can simply replace it and then the NAS will automatically copy over the rest of the data.
But, about those hard drives⌠If both drives fail at the same time⌠thereâs nothing I can do about that. To attempt to prevent this and decrease the likelihood of this ever happening, itâs important to purchase two identically specâd hard drives from two different manufactures so that theyâre a lot less likely to fail at the same time. Look for hard drives with the same capacity, rpm and same cache but different manufacturers. Example: I have a 4 TB Hitachi and a 4 TB Toshiba both 7200 rpm and 128 MB cache.
What is the catch? You might be thinking, this sounds great! Well, Iâm paying for 8 TB of storage however, only 4 is usable since they are exact copies of each other. This however is still more cost effective than cloud storage. I could have the NAS automatically then back up to Backblaze or a similar cloud storage solution but this can be expensive.
Savannahâs Storage and Backup Workflow
I shoot on a camera with dual card slots. While shooting, Iâm writing RAW files to both a 128 GB SD card and a variety of small sizes of Compact Flash cards. This goes back to not putting all of your eggs in one basket! Itâs important to change out those CF cards fairly frequently. I like 16 and 32 GB CF cards.
I cull from the 128 SD card using Photo Mechanic and import the photos to a brand new Lightroom catalog while moving the RAW files from the SD card to my laptopâs hard drive. I always, always use a new Lightroom Catalog every single job, every single time.
I make a copy of the RAW file folder on my desktop and put that copy on my NAS.
I place the 128 GB SD card into a fireproof/waterproof safe in my office and then I format the CF cards. Unless something goes wrong, I donât use those CF cards for culling or anything at all really.
After I edit the gallery completely in Lightroom, I export the final JPEG files to my Desktop and then upload them to Shootproof, my gallery delivery and client management service.
I move the folder containing the Lightroom catalog and the edited JPEGS to the NAS (where the RAW files already are). Each session or wedding gets a dated folder on my NAS containing the RAWs, edited final JPEGS and the LR Catalog files. Every job gets a new Lightroom Catalog, every time!
I deliver the final gallery to the client.
I delete the RAW files from my computer and format the SD card that has been in my safe.
Q & A
Question: I think I want a NAS. Iâm pretty confident about that. But I have no idea how to go about setting one up or buying everything! How do I actually set one up!?
Kyle: Most of the top brands of NAS systems, (Qnap, Synolgy) are trying to be user friendly. You should be able to purchase the NAS system and disks, insert the disks, plug into your router and then follow a provided setup guide.
Question: What does your 'always in at least 2 to places from start to finishâ process look like with your RAW files?
Savannah:
128 GB SD Card / Multiple Smaller CF cards
128 GB SD Card / Multiple Smaller CF Cards / Laptop Hard Drive
128 GB SD Card / Multiple Smaller CF Cards / Laptop Hard Drive / NAS
128 GB SD Card / Laptop Hard Drive / NAS
128 GB SD Card / NAS
Question: How long do you keep RAW files?
Savannah: Contractually, I do not promise to keep the RAW files beyond gallery delivery but I do obviously try to as long as I can. At this point, I have all of my RAW files from June 2017 and earlier. At the end of 2019, I plan to delete 2017âs RAWs. My contract states that it is the clientâs responsibility to download, backup and preserve their JPEG files and I do offer a few solutions and guidance to help them do this. It also states that their gallery will be online for 6 months following the release date and I will keep the JPEG files for 365 days following gallery release.
Question: Iâm so hesitant to wipe my cards even though I have mirrored externals AND cloud backup. Help!
Savannah: You shouldnât be nervous about this because it sounds like youâre doing everything right. Obviously freak accidents happen and thatâs where having a strong contract and a great client relationship are really important. If youâre shooting on dual cards and still nervous, try waiting until about 7 days after you deliver the final gallery to the client and then format the backup card. I know weâre all worried about the client asking about random photos you may have culled out but you have to just be confident in your culling and make sure you have an image selection clause in your contract (stating that the final say is always yours). Youâve got this!!
Question: What is the best way to back everything up so that you can confidently clear your cards?
Kyle: At least two places, all the way through gallery delivery! Thatâs the only way.
Question: Why and how do you use a new Lightroom Catalog every single time?
Savannah: I know a lot of photographers use the same Lightroom Catalog for everything. Theyâll use labeling or collections to sort their jobs/images and just constantly use that same catalog. DONT. DO. THIS. Youâre again, putting all of your eggs in one basket. While this doesnât affect the protection of your RAW files, it does affect your workflow. If your Lightroom Catalog gets corrupted (which is much more likely when itâs dealing with that heavy data load), youâll have to re-ediit not just the current session or wedding but everything you havenât delivered so far. If youâre doing this, itâs also almost impossible to outsource your editing. Most services and editors require you to use a new catalog every time. Itâs just the smart and safe thing to do! From there, you can use collections to sort things like sneak peeks, blog images, vendor images, etc.
Question: Long term storage of 1+ year, what is the safest option?
Kyle + Savannah: Cloud storage would be the safest and therefore the best but evaluate different companies to see which meet your need and budget most (Dropbox, Backblaze, CrashPlan, AWS, Google Drive). It really depends on what you mean by long-term storage. There is definitely a difference in the way you should store data that you need to access frequently vs. data you just want to offload but canât get rid of completely. If itâs the first, I would suggest cloud storage or a NAS. If itâs the second, cold storage, I would suggest researching Amazon Glacier or finding your own DAS solution.
As photographers, uploading 128 GB+ of raw files can be really difficult, time consuming and expensive. So you need to weigh how much youâre shooting and if this would even be feasible for you considering your upload speeds and the cost. Even though we have very fast upload speeds, this wouldnât be feasible for me and thatâs why I choose to go the route of the NAS + my extra workflow incorporations.
If you are a photographer and you have questions regarding any of this, Kyle and I would love to help you! Just send an email with your question over to Savannah@SavannahSmithPhotography.com
and weâll help you as best as we can.