Image storage

I use a MacBook Pro, with a 500GB hard drive, which isn't large enough to store my photos. So I have been transferring all of my images to a 2TB My Passport Pro, and use that drive to initially store and process all of my images. I then backup the Passport Pro with a 4TB Seagate RAID drive.

My Passport Pro drive failed yesterday. Most of the work was backed up on the Seagate, and the Passport was under warranty, so Western Digital is sending me a replacement. But I'm trying to figure out a alternative solution for initial storage / processing and backup. I would like to use something fairly reliable and easily accessible (by LR and Photoshop CS6) for initial storage / processing, and then possibly back up those images on both the Seagate and, going forward, the cloud (e.g. Amazon). Does that plan sound reasonable? What do people recommend for initial storage / processing? And what cloud service can people recommend?

How much money are you willing to spend?

As for cloud it is useless for you, it will take hours if not days to transfer large amounts of data (RAW files) over an average internet connection unless you only back up few images at a time.

Cloud backup is for documents, JPEG files and such it's not for RAW files or large volumes of data.

If you want a secure backup outside of your home for large volumes of data, you can use Amazon snowball service, they mail you a special devices to download your data and then you mail it back to Amazon for cold storage, I use this service but I'm not sure you want to spend this much $$$.

hope this helps

How much money am I willing to spend? The 5D RAID storage devices I am looking at on-line are around $1000. I was hoping to spend closer to $500, but if I have to spend more for reliable storage, I probably can...but not much more than $1000.

If you are willing to spend near $1K I highly recommend going with an SSD solution. It is much faster than an old HDD solution (at least 5-10X faster). It makes a huge difference when processing your RAW files. It is also much smaller, 100% quiet, consumes less power and because there are no moving parts it's less prone to failing.

I use an OWC thunder bay 4 thunderbolt SSD enclosure for my Mac Pro. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ing_owctb4mjb0gb_thunderbay_4_mini_4_bay.html

I have 4 X 1TB SSD's but you can start with 2 X 1TB SSD's. I recommend SanDisk or Samsung SSD's.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...k_sd8sb8u_1t00_1122_1tb_x400_solid_state.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1086227-REG/samsung_mz_75e1t0b_am_853_evo_1tb_2_5.html

You can run it as a RAID or just separate drives (JBOD).


This solution is not only cost effective, because you are not paying for drive markup but it's extremely fast, compact and light. you can easily move it around the house or even take it with you when traveling.

Thanks for your input, Arash...it is very helpful.