I've been trying to find the best solution for my budget to store family photos/videos from the past 25 years. In total, once scanned & converted, the files should number only around 2-4TB. Cloud storage for this amount is just too expensive for me right now. I've been looking at other storage solutions such as a Drobo, or several external drives. The plan is to duplicate the entire collection so that I have a fully copy and my brother has one as well. Two backups in two geographical locations (fire safes).
Anyone have a setup/experience in this arena?
EDIT 1
The more I look @ different solutions the more I am thinking that I just suck it up and do a cloud storage solution. 4TB is $1024 from Google Docs. Amazon's cloud storage is the same price for 1000GB. The cost of purchasing hard drives, drobo/enclosures, then backing them up for 2 physical locations (thus multiplying all expenses by 2) will likely end up higher than the $1024 a year (though the cost of maintaining will be cheaper over time) but I can only assume that online cloud storage prices will slowly go down over time as well.
Just for perspective:
8x 1TB hard drives ~ $60 x 8 = $480
enclosures = $100-$800 (drobo) x2 = ~$200-$1600
fire safes = $200 x2 = $400
the lowest cost estimate is around $1000+, highest cost well above.
Let me know if my calculations are wildly off or if I'm going about the wrong way completely. I am just concerned about keeping my family's photos/videos (hard copy & digital versions) safe in the best possible way and I'm sure some of you have done so already.
Anyone have a setup/experience in this arena?
EDIT 1
The more I look @ different solutions the more I am thinking that I just suck it up and do a cloud storage solution. 4TB is $1024 from Google Docs. Amazon's cloud storage is the same price for 1000GB. The cost of purchasing hard drives, drobo/enclosures, then backing them up for 2 physical locations (thus multiplying all expenses by 2) will likely end up higher than the $1024 a year (though the cost of maintaining will be cheaper over time) but I can only assume that online cloud storage prices will slowly go down over time as well.
Just for perspective:
8x 1TB hard drives ~ $60 x 8 = $480
enclosures = $100-$800 (drobo) x2 = ~$200-$1600
fire safes = $200 x2 = $400
the lowest cost estimate is around $1000+, highest cost well above.
Let me know if my calculations are wildly off or if I'm going about the wrong way completely. I am just concerned about keeping my family's photos/videos (hard copy & digital versions) safe in the best possible way and I'm sure some of you have done so already.
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