Digital Storage

[Vicster]

Hello

I have an external hard drive with about 500GB of photos etc on it and  it has started to make a weird clicking noise which, when I google, suggests that it is on it's way out.

I'm reluctant to buy a new external hard drive, (seem to cost around £50) but also don't want to lose photos etc.

Can anyone recommend any good cheap ones or free/cheap online storage options.

many thanks in advance

Vicky

[ketchup]

If it's clicking, it's (basically) already gone.  Buy a new drive today, and copy that stuff off straightaway.  Do not power it off until you do this (it may not come back on).  If you care about that data at all, and it's not backed up elsewhere, consider this an emergency measure (so if it costs a few extra bucks than it otherwise would, it's that or your photos).

In the future, back your stuff up (many options).  Two is one and one is none when it comes to data you care about in the slightest bit.

Hard drives are cheap as hell these days anyway.  I bought a 5TB drive a few weeks back for $135, and I remember paying that for 500GB in 2007 and thinking I was king of the world.

[zolotiyeruki]

If it's clicking, it's (basically) already gone.  Buy a new drive today, and copy that stuff off straightaway.  Do not power it off until you do this (it may not come back on).  If you care about that data at all, and it's not backed up elsewhere, consider this an emergency measure (so if it costs a few extra bucks than it otherwise would, it's that or your photos).

In the future, back your stuff up (many options).  Two is one and one is none when it comes to data you care about in the slightest bit.

Hard drives are cheap as hell these days anyway.  I bought a 5TB drive a few weeks back for $135, and I remember paying that for 500GB in 2007 and thinking I was king of the world.

This is spot-on.

If you're looking for online backup, there are a boatload of options: dropbox ($8.25/mo for 1TB), onedrive ($10/mo/1TB), google drive ($10/mo/1TB) etc.

[kiwi_saver]

Hey Vicky

If it's mostly photos you want storage for, try Flickr, it's free, you get 1TB or more, and there's an app for your phone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vicster]

Hey Vicky

If it's mostly photos you want storage for, try Flickr, it's free, you get 1TB or more, and there's an app for your phone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

oh yes! I like your thinking...

I'm just not wanting to spend any money this month, so that may be a good way to go

Thank you :)

[Inaya]

If you have Amazon Prime, you can use their unlimited photo storage option.

[marielle]

Posting to follow. I'm now getting paranoid about losing all the data on my external hard drive. Which is larger than the hard drive on my laptop thanks to all the movies/school files. I guess movies aren't a big deal to lose though.

[ketchup]

Posting to follow. I'm now getting paranoid about losing all the data on my external hard drive. Which is larger than the hard drive on my laptop thanks to all the movies/school files. I guess movies aren't a big deal to lose though.

You can set up a SyncToy job to periodically mirror your contents between the two drives.  It's easy to set up a filter in there to leave out files you might not care about (movie files).

[HipGnosis]

For archiving photos and other data, the best bang for the buck is DVD-R.  It'll last 30 - 100 years.
Some report that the gold tinted ones are better, but we won't know for sure for 40-60 years.

[ketchup]

For archiving photos and other data, the best bang for the buck is DVD-R.  It'll last 30 - 100 years.
Some report that the gold tinted ones are better, but we won't know for sure for 40-60 years.

That would be a logistical nightmare to do for 500GB of photos, though.  And optical media can degrade.  I have some CD-Rs from ~2008 that didn't work at all when I tried to read them sometime last year.  It's an option for sure, but I wouldn't put all of one's eggs in that basket.

[VeggieTable]

I use Shoebox for online storage. Free, but I believe they don't store them at the original size. Google Photos is an option too, as long as you don't mind the creepiness of Google. I do mind, so that's why I went for Shoebox.

I also have an external hard drive, so there are multiple copies.