How do you store your photos?

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AndyG123

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Andy
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Do you guys store externally on drives. On the cloud or on your desktop pc

I find I've got folders upon folders on my work pc my wife's MacBook and my pc. I'm wanting to get these better organized. Just wanted to find a system what works well? Folders. Dates? File sequences etc. Share your favorite systems please.
 
On a separate internal HDD and uploaded to Zenfolio with unlimited storage
 
Internal HDD, backup to external HDD, backup to Amazon cloud drive.
 
AndyG123 said:
How are these storages for raw files? Do they have a decent upload stream etc...
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Zen charges £.085 per gb/ month for RAW storage my upload speeds for jpg are fine but that is over virgin 200mbs fibre
 
Do. Youse keep raw and Jpegs or just raw files? Like do you shoot in both raw and Jpegs? And do you use folders for storage. Or just everything under one roof.
 
AndyG123 said:
Do. Youse keep raw and Jpegs or just raw files? Like do you shoot in both raw and Jpegs? And do you use folders for storage. Or just everything under one roof.
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I shoot Raw, keep the raws and the JPEGs, and have a folder structure from where I import to LR. The LR catalogue is backed up to the same backup drive asthe images.

But it all needs a spring clean.
 
No longer shoot raw and jpeg. Raw only.
One thing I have learnt this year is to be more brutal and rid of images that I am unsure about. With files taking 25mb of space, you can fill up a hard drive v easily!

For organisation, I have a y ear and the the date of shoot, with a v short description of it. All raw files are renamed to yyyy-mm-dd_description. Meta tags are added in LR to make searching easier.
These are then replicated up onto a nas drive. I should have some off site storage as well and have been looking at MEGA.nz

There are probably better and more efficient way as out there, but this works for me.
 
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1 to internal hard drive. RAID 1

2 to 6TB My Book Duo with the drives operating as standalone drives

1 to 3 TB External hard drive kept off site.

LR catalogue is kept in the same folder as my RAW files so gets backed up each time.
 
Might consider losing the raw plus Jpegs to be honest. I don't even think I've touched the Jpegs to be honest as everything goes through lightroom. Still only learning lightroom still so know its true power in regards to file storage, management and backing up... Most of the time I actually drag files off SD card onto a folder, then import into lightroom from my folder. I never actually let lightroom import for me. Which I probably should...
 
AndyG123 said:
... Most of the time I actually drag files off SD card onto a folder, then import into lightroom from my folder. I never actually let lightroom import for me. Which I probably should...
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That’s exactly what I do too, you’re missing out on nothing, and have a logical file structure to fall back on outside LR.

But there’s no gain for shooting Raw & JPEG.
 
I use the Lightroom import function. Lightroom creates new folders in a year-month-day setup. I then add some relevant text like location by renaming the day folder.

Lightroom imports into my working drive (external as I was filling up the internal mac drive too much). Carbon copy cloner automatically runs a backup to a raid1 hard drive and to two portable hard drives, one of which is kept offsite at all times.

By using Lightroom and carbon copy cloner I never touch the working or backup drives.
 
The company I work for has a hosting package for its websites with unlimited hosting and domains. I might set up a domain with ftp access for me. Then use my desktop and clone to a portable usb drive for when I work between desktop and computer.
 
Meeten said:
No longer shoot raw and jpeg. Raw only.
One thing I have learnt this year is to be more brutal and rid of images that I am unsure about. With files taking 25mb of space, you can fill up a hard drive v easily!

For organisation, I have a y ear and the the date of shoot, with a v short description of it. All raw files are renamed to yyyy-mm-dd_description. Meta tags are added in LR to make searching easier.
These are then replicated up onto a nas drive. I should have some off site storage as well and have been looking at MEGA.nz

There are probably better and more efficient way as out there, but this works for me.
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I do exactly what you do except the NAS Drive.

Should think about some sort of RAID system in the new year.
 
Got a couple of cardboard boxes up in the loft some pics go back to the 1940’s
 
Much of mine is solely on Dropbox. I'm hoping that's quite safe. The new smart sync feature seems pretty handy — you can access the photos without syncing them to your hard drive — not used it yet though.
 
I use Samsung SSD External drives for jpegs.
RAW sit on other external drives and once wedding or portrait is over two years I delete them but keep the jpegs
I too use Backblaze very good service first upload takes days on BT carrot crunching internet. After that it’s just in the background.
 
I have a 4Tb NAS from WD. Plugged it into our WiFi router and it backs up from every PC and mobile device at home. Very easy to set up.
Then Nextcloud offsite storage (non US) on top.
 
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Everything is stored on an external hard drive, with a year-month-date file structure, although I need to then get better at meta tagging photos to search.

I also use Backblaze to online back up everything, an important consideration here was how easy it would be to access the back up. Backblaze will send you a hard drive for a refundable fee of all your data in the need of a restore, which sounds much better than trying to download 4tb of data

Also currently looking in to a NAS storage solution or other local back up systems as well
 
Internal and external HDDs. Some to CD/DVD. Some to big (A3+) prints. Negs and slides in archival sleeves, some scanned and treated as to left.
 
Internal plus external HDDs permanently connected plus laptop HDD plus weekly backup to external HDD kept in a fire proof safe. I use a folder structure - raw or jpeg depending on what I shoot but not both for the same photo.
 
Mark Dell said:
I use Samsung SSD External drives for jpegs.
RAW sit on other external drives and once wedding or portrait is over two years I delete them but keep the jpegs
I too use Backblaze very good service first upload takes days on BT carrot crunching internet. After that it’s just in the background.
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unless things have changed over the last couple of years iv'e always believed SSD is not a good idea for long term storage because of the way they work
if their plugged in all the time i think you stand a better chance of keeping the data stored on them as they refresh data automatically to stop data decay

like i said iv'e not looked into it for a while and SSD long term integrity might be much improved since i last looked
 
Phil V said:
That’s exactly what I do too, you’re missing out on nothing, and have a logical file structure to fall back on outside LR.
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What you are missing out on are the various aspects of data asset management by way of key wording on import, among others. But these take time to learn and there's nothing wrong with pulling files off an SD card into a conventional folder structure outside of LR, other than its a waste of time when you can do it more efficiently in LR.
Also LR doesn't dictate a folder structure, so its slightly misleading to infer that LR uses a different folder structure. The folder structure is determined by the user, not LR. LR can be used to create folders which immediately become part of the computer's basic file management system. So they will be there anyway, and don't disappear if LR is removed for some reason.
However the main point is that there is a lot less need to create the traditional hierarchical folder system, (which after some time you'll have trouble remembering!) when all the data asset management tools are available in LR, e.g. using a combination of key wording and (smart) collections. It's well worth spending some time to study these features.
 
BrynBoru said:
What you are missing out on are the various aspects of data asset management by way of key wording on import, among others. But these take time to learn and there's nothing wrong with pulling files off an SD card into a conventional folder structure outside of LR, other than its a waste of time when you can do it more efficiently in LR.
Also LR doesn't dictate a folder structure, so its slightly misleading to infer that LR uses a different folder structure. The folder structure is determined by the user, not LR. LR can be used to create folders which immediately become part of the computer's basic file management system. So they will be there anyway, and don't disappear if LR is removed for some reason.
However the main point is that there is a lot less need to create the traditional hierarchical folder system, (which after some time you'll have trouble remembering!) when all the data asset management tools are available in LR, e.g. using a combination of key wording and (smart) collections. It's well worth spending some time to study these features.
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All of those things happen on the import to LR and within LR post import.
There’s no reason to use LR to move your files, unless I’m really misunderstanding some magical LR file moving magic.
 
BrynBoru said:
So why duplicate the effort?
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I’m not duplicating ‘effort’, I’m saving time sat in front of the PC.

If I have several cards to import, I can copy the files across to the PC and then set LR to import and create the previews whilst I go off to do something else, if LR was importing I’d have to wait around to do several ‘imports’.

The 2 step process is doing the opposite of wasting my time ;)
 
Phil V said:
If I have several cards to import, I can copy the files across to the PC and then set LR to import and create the previews whilst I go off to do something else, if LR was importing I’d have to wait around to do several ‘imports’.
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So fine, you spend time pulling them off the card and then you spend more time duplicating the effort of importing them to LR. The fact you have to wait while LR creates previews etc is irrelevant, as you'd have to do that anyway! ;)
 
BrynBoru said:
So fine, you spend time pulling them off the card and then you spend more time duplicating the effort of importing them to LR. The fact you have to wait while LR creates previews etc is irrelevant, as you'd have to do that anyway! ;)
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No, it’s a single block of time the way I do it, whereas I’d have to physically wait for LR to ‘import’ the files before loading the next card.

It’s a significant difference when importing 2000 images from 3 or 4 cards, the ‘import’ is a lot slower than the simple copying of the data in Windows using a fast card reader.
 
Phil V said:
It’s a significant difference when importing 2000 images from 3 or 4 cards, the ‘import’ is a lot slower than the simple copying of the data in Windows using a fast card reader.
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Rather than Windows, maybe you need to consider to switch to a faster Mac with more RAM. Anyway, Happy Christmas !:)
 
BrynBoru said:
Rather than Windows, maybe you need to consider to switch to a faster Mac with more RAM. Anyway, Happy Christmas !:)
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Oddly, all the people who come here complaining about their LR running slowly seem to be using those Mackintosh computers. :p

Maybe you’re just a bit more used to ‘waiting’ than I am ;)
 
Phil V said:
Maybe you’re just a bit more used to ‘waiting’ than I am ;)
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How would you know what I am used to? I can't see why you feel it's necessary to try and put me down by being supercilious.
 
BrynBoru said:
How would you know what I am used to? I can't see why you feel it's necessary to try and put me down by being supercilious.
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Whilst I was ‘joking’ I also believe you started that. Maybe you should stay away from the internet if you’re so fragile :rolleyes:
 
Phil V said:
Whilst I was ‘joking’ I also believe you started that. Maybe you should stay away from the internet if you’re so fragile :rolleyes:
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Putting an emoji smiley into your remarks, does not justify a perjorative remark. I'm not in the least fragile. We all know and value your expertise on photographic matters but I think you should appreciate your limitations somewhat more when you step outside your field of expertise. But then you are never one for not having the last word, let alone recognising your limitations!
 
BrynBoru said:
Putting an emoji smiley into your remarks, does not justify a perjorative remark. I'm not in the least fragile. We all know and value your expertise on photographic matters but I think you should appreciate your limitations somewhat more when you step outside your field of expertise. But then you are never one for not having the last word, let alone recognising your limitations!
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Read your Mac comment again...

Then tell me how I’m being in some way insulting. o_O

Then consider how many years I worked in IT, and the fact I have a sense of humour. :cool:

And compare that to your paper thin ego. Like I said, you should keep away from the internet, and possibly away from adults too.
 
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