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Are you happy with iCloud+optimize storage?
- Thread starter nquinn
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Back up often. With Optimized storage, it is my understanding FiFo is used, so once you hit the threshold the oldest pics move off and retain the thumbnail. Thus, the newest items live on the computer until it is their turn.
Ironically, because I create a new library yearly where I save the previous one after culling, I've never run out of disk space. And, that is coming off a 128KB drive.
Ironically, because I create a new library yearly where I save the previous one after culling, I've never run out of disk space. And, that is coming off a 128KB drive.
Uploading media to iCloud is a mug’s game in my view as retrieval will depend on the speed of your local connection “at the time” you want “that” particular photo or video! Ok when you’re at home and have top class broadband but no good when you’re on holiday in the Outback with no access not even mobile!!
My Mac photos collection is heading towards 400GB spilt across 5 topic-led libraries containing both images and 4K video. And therein lies another problem. If your camera (iPhone?) can shoot 60fps 4K video then why not use it - you can always down scale to a lower resolution when posting to social media. Unfortunately shooting 4K video creates very large files which become even more of a problem up / down loading from iCloud!!
My advice? Order your MacBook Air with the max 2TB storage and buy a cheap Synology 2Bay NAS with 2x 4TB hard disks running mirrored Time Machine in the background and you’ll never have to worry about anything (hopefully!).
This is a mom PC.
Suggesting a $2000 macbook air model and $180 NAS + $150 worth of drives adds up to $2330. A 256gb air is only $1079 on edu pricing. $1300 difference is more than doubling the price.
Not to mention the Apple Photos app can't store the library on a remote NAS, so the NAS can only be used as backup.
I guess it depends how important your family photos are! Re NAS storage, ok I understand the “it’s local” bit, although I can easily access my NAS (and photo libraries) remotely. When I go away from home I tend to download the libraries I want with me onto my laptop and just hope I haven’t forgotten the important one!!
Best of luck sorting your Mum out just remember she will be really p*ssed should something fail and she looses all those memories!
Especially get her on the cloud if she does not back up files regularly to a second device.
I understand the appeal of iCloud, but I prefer to have everything on my computer, with a pair of backups (one at home, one offsite).
Also, I use a desktop and a laptop, with backups for both.
Also, I use a desktop and a laptop, with backups for both.
A Canon instructor I know recommends never deleting pictures. There was an event in the news, and a friend of his vaguely remembered a photograph. He had an assistant go through the slides/negatives (this was pre-digital - took his assistant days) and he found the photo he wanted. Made the cover of Time Magazine and $10K.
The only photos I delete are the obvious ones (totally black, pictures of the ground). What you find not keepable today may be something you really want tomorrow. Disk is cheap, don't delete.
If you care about your pictures you should implement a 3-2-1 backup strategy. iCloud doesn't count. One bootable clone, such as that made by Carbon Copy Cloner, is always the best to have if you have to restore. Don't use TM for more than 1 backup as it is unreliable.
NAS backups can be problematic, depending upon your data, method, NAS speed, connection type (Thunderbolt, 10 or 1 GbE). TM backups on a NAS I can never get to work more than a month or 2 and are very slow. I am successful in maintaining NAS backups using Carbon Copy Cloner.
Sure it is not a 3-2-1 backup solution, but at least the images are duplicated off the system.
It's not any sort of backup. It's a sync solution. Delete the file locally, it is deleted on the cloud side. If you turn on Optimize Storage, then the only copy (eventually) is on the cloud side, the only thing local is the thumbnail.
Just say no.
Some countries has good coverage even in the outback. And your photos are still available on the phone or the Mac, just not in full resolution.
But the few hours per year I spend in areas with no coverage is not a time when I feel the need to look at old photos in full resolution.
I keep everything local.
While I do backups to iCloud (and Dropbox and OneDrive, if it comes to that - and then, not anything sensitive, like banking info) as well as external drives here, I have no desire to have to rely on the vagaries of the net / wi-fi / Apple online to sync and access my digital life. Especially when we're looking at a notebook and when we are never sure what connectivity elsewhere might be like.
I mean, wasn't the whole point of a 'personal computer' was that the user had everything local and wasn't using a dumb keyboard to access a distant mainframe?
While I do backups to iCloud (and Dropbox and OneDrive, if it comes to that - and then, not anything sensitive, like banking info) as well as external drives here, I have no desire to have to rely on the vagaries of the net / wi-fi / Apple online to sync and access my digital life. Especially when we're looking at a notebook and when we are never sure what connectivity elsewhere might be like.
I mean, wasn't the whole point of a 'personal computer' was that the user had everything local and wasn't using a dumb keyboard to access a distant mainframe?