Photo Backup

[tl01]

I need an online photo backup site that is reliable. I have been using Picasa and pay to have 100GB or so of space right now but every time I use Picasa on my new iMac it quits. I don't really want to deal with it even though my cousin works on the Picasa program for google. I just want somewhere where it is easy to batch upload my photos. Can you recommend such services? Which are the easiest and quickest? What is most important is the ability to restore all my photos to a computer if my hard drive should crash.

Thanks!

 

[robgendreau]

Well funny you should ask, cuz Adobe is looking for someone like you. They've just started an online competitor called Carousel. Looks kinda pricey to me but YMMV. More pitched at sharing, I think, than mere storage. But has some good editing tools.

You could also explore various other sites that do online storage. Photo backup is relatively easy, since you usually don't need versioning in the same way you do for databases, etc. In other words, more like an archive. The problem is the size.

Check out Dropbox, Sugar Sync (free 50GB if you sign up via your iPhone), SpiderOak, etc. All these are very handy and versatile.

If you need to share a la Picasa, then look at Flickr or PhotoBucket or their competitors. I find Flickr to be quite nice since it integrates with several Mac applications, like iPhoto and Aperture.

For pure storage Amazon S3 is great since you only pay for what you use, but there are some cheaper sites popping up that I don't use.

 

[EricT43]

I need an online photo backup site that is reliable. I have been using Picasa and pay to have 100GB or so of space right now but every time I use Picasa on my new iMac it quits. I don't really want to deal with it even though my cousin works on the Picasa program for google. I just want somewhere where it is easy to batch upload my photos. Can you recommend such services? Which are the easiest and quickest? What is most important is the ability to restore all my photos to a computer if my hard drive should crash.

Thanks!

You can upload to Picasa from iPhoto.

 

[robastewart]

Try SmugMug. It offers several different levels of user service and features at different prices, from casual to serious amateur to pro. Unlimited storage for most file types. Works well with iPhoto and Safari with a simple add-on.