Anyone use iCloud for storage?

No idea.
I use Backblaze because it backs up unlimited data. It backs up files, photos, everything. EHD's as long as they are plugged in once every 30 days too.

 

I use iCloud, among other things. They only give you 5 gigs, and that isn't much. I pay 99 cents every month for 50 gigs. You can designate what you want to back up. I only back up pictures. One Drive is another automatic backup, but you don't get a ton of storage with it either, and it's pricey to add gigs. I also automatically back everything up to Flickr. So far, it's unlimited.

 

As @Cherylndesigns says, it's too pricey in my opinion. I also add the extra 50GB for 99¢ even though my dh laughs at me about that cause yeah, 50GB is nothing anymore. I do also have a 2T portable EHD that I use as an extra backup and/or when traveling with a laptop mostly for the Digi stash and anything I might want to work on in a week or two period. I have virtually no 'documents' anymore. My computer really only deals with photos and digital work. Ok, email, texting and the net.

@Cherylndesigns How do you do the auto backup of photos to Flickr? I used to do that years ago but have forgotten what the process was. Right now my images from MAC's Photos (auto uploaded from my phone -my only camera) get manually exported to an EHD and then into Lightroom. I paid for Flickr long enough to enjoy using their free storage now.

 

I am so dense with all this stuff, but my daughter got me set up with iCloud and I pay the 99 cents a month. Pretty easy to access my photos. That is all it uploads. I also have my 2T EHD for another backup for safety. Would like to look into that Backblaze. I joined Flickr but really don't understand it. Do they backup automatically?

 

I let my phone automatically back up to iCloud for a while, until the inadequate space filled up and I kept getting annoying notification pop-ups repeatedly. I think it will back up everything you want -- though you might have to tell it what to back up -- but I don't think it's the economical choice.

My automatic cloud back up is Backblaze, since 2008 or 2009. It's a bargain at $5/month for unlimited storage. You can tell it not to back up certain items or folders, but default is to back up pretty much everything. I like the automaticity of it. And I've restored files, so I know that works too. Just know that your initial backup period is an intense time that could last a couple of weeks, depending on how much data you're backing up. To make it go faster, adjust the throttle to full speed and adjust your computer settings to never fall asleep.

I also manually back up all my photos and scrapbook pages to Smugmug because they're very important to me and having important digital stuff in more than one space is wise. If one fails, you have another. Also, I wanted to have a website and a simple way to share my images, which Smugmug makes possible. I have private galleries only my immediate family can access as well as public galleries anyone can see (and various levels of privacy in between). Note: The link above has a referral code that will give anyone a discount and earn me credit on my Smugmug account. If you'd like to see my Smugmug website, click on the link in my siggy.

 

Are your DSLR photos on your phone? I believe that iCloud only backs up phones and tablets. I have the 200 GB, $2.99/month iCloud plan, but I don't use it for storage -- I use it only for backup of my phone and tablet, and $2.99 is the cheapest plan that is large enough to handle my 128 GB iPhone.

I am thinking of signing up for BackBlaze for my computer, but haven't gotten farther than deciding I want to do it.

I backup my documents to Google Drive and I pay for additional storage. (I am on the 100 GB, $19.99 / year plan.)

My photos (DSLR and otherwise) are backed up on a local networked drive, on an EHD and on my computer. I turn over EHDs often -- not because they fail, but because I see a new shiny one that I want to buy -- and they all have static copies of my photos and digital kits. (Because the "someday" where I clear them off and consolidate/delete duplicates hasn't happened yet.)

At some point, I am going to need to prioritize figuring out my backup strategy; my EHDs haven't failed me yet and I'm a bit complacent about it. I eventually plan to upload everything to my SmugMug account, but I have fallen into the "after I organize my photos" trap. I do not know if that will be automatic or if it is something I will have to do manually.

I'm not concerned about my digital kits. I don't use any of the supplies that I bought when I first started digi-scrapping -- or even ones I bought a few years ago -- even though I still have them all (multiple copies of some!) and I don't worry about preserving them.

 

Smugmug doesn't do automatic backups. I'm happy with it that way though. It's kind of reassuring to do it myself, every time I process photos. It's part of my routine: import . . . caption . . . edit . . . upload to Smugmug. But I do also use Backblaze, so I have it both ways.

 

Go to your Flickr account and then to "settings". You can set your account up to automatically back up pictures. I have relied heavily on Flickr to have my back for years. I used to pay, but a few years ago, they gave everybody the same thing. So far, it's unlimited.

 

You have to go to "settings" and there's an option to automatically back up your photographs. I trust Flickr and have used it since 2008. I hope and pray that they don't change it. That happened to Picasa they closed it.

 

Katrina, as Courtney mentioned, you can backup EHDs with BB. That's what I do, since I don't keep everything on my computer--but everything is on my EHD. (I only back up 1 of my 3 EHDs since all 3 have identical contents.) And you can set up BB to send you email reminders about your EHD. I don't leave mine plugged in all the time, so I set it up to email me if it's been 14 days since the EHD has been backed up. (Sometimes I'll plug it in to grab a kit or some pics, but it's plugged in for such a short time that BB doesn't sync with it.)

 

This is why I have a whole computer backup! Because I have 3 EHDS with varying levels of photos on them. I do have one I keep 90% updated. And then I have one that is probably missing the last 8 months.... So, I figure if 1 of them, plus the ones on the computer are backed up, then I can someday consolidate when I get there.

This is why I have multiple backups! I've used a few sites that have been bought and migrated or closed. And I listened to a really sad podcast about people that were using a photo storage site, and it disappeared. Some people were able to get their photos back, others are still waiting. It's a mess. I do use Flickr to upload all my full size printable layouts as an extra backup. And because it can be easier to find a layout there sometimes!

 

I'm another BackBlaze user. I have all my digi stuff on my desktop computer. I also have 3 EHD's that have varying backups as well. The smallest one only has the digi stuff that I would want to take with me if I go away to scrap with my laptop. I have no digi stuff on my laptop except the program I use.

Just a couple weeks ago, I noticed when I was updating the EHD's that one of them was not showing as connected. When I checked it was plugged in so I just disconnected it. It was my original EHD so is quite old and not very big. Finished doing my transfers to the other EHD's and forgot about it. A week to 10 days later I got the email from BB that a drive had not been backed up for awhile. When I checked my BB settings, it was that EHD. So I changed my settings to the EHD that is now my main backup in place of that one. It is still doing the initial backup on that drive (didn't help that I had no internet for over 44 hours over the weekend).

I'm a fan of BB. Well worth the money!

@bestcee I agree about the photo websites. I've got stuff on photobucket which as you know you can no longer link to (which is why I set it up). I used it for a lot of my blog photos when I blogged 5-10 years ago. I'm not sure they would show up now though. Anyways, I went through my account to see if there were any photos that I didn't have on my computer. I don't think there are but I went through the process to download a few of them. That went OK although it was time consuming. So there was a way you could have all photos in an album put into a zip file for you to download. They would send you an email when it was ready. I still don't have the email and that was last summer when I was trying to do it!

 

I have multiple back ups too. Google also has auto back-ups, so I use it too. I really like Ribbet, too. I have the premium membership ($35 a year) and that includes unlimited storage. Drop Box and One Drive are others I use. I like using Drop Box as well as iCloud because they're right on my computer so I can drag from my iPhone and iPad to my computer and vise versa. Makes it handy to get pictures from everywhere.

 

WOW, this sure is a learning curve for me!! Guess I better start looking around. All I have now is iCloud and one EHD back up. About 9 years ago I lost everything when my one and only EHD crashed. I lost so many photos and kits!!! I still hang on to that old EHD hoping someday, someone will come up with a way to retrieve everything. But I doubt it!!

 

They might? Depending on what broke on it, they can move the drive to a new box. I do know that depending on what broke, it can be really expensive! One digi girl was talking about how it was going to cost her $1200 to be able to retrieve about 70% of her ehd. But she was doing it - because photos. My brother was able to retrieve my mom's because hers was the hardware, not the disc itself that was bad. He's a computer tech guy.

 

I am just wondering.... can you choose what is backed up or does it back up everything on your computer?

 

The 200 GB iPhone cloud storage works well for me. I automatically back up photos taken on my iPhone. I love the instant accessibility of the cloud across all my devices. I have many Apple products.

I manually add digital kits and phtots taken from my Nikon to the cloud. I have a desktop and laptop computers. Again, I like the instant accessibility of the photos and kits from both computers.

I also backup some items to external hard drives. I permanently lost over 1,000 phtots from a trip across America due to an external hard drive going bad. So it may be overkill to have cloud and an external HD, but I learned my lesson. Technology is fabulous until it breaks.

 

You can choose what to back up.