Best Cloud Storage for iPhoto backup?

LarryHN wrote:

That is not a problem with iPhoto - it is your problem because you are misusing the iPhoto library - if you use it correctly as supported it is just hunky dory

I would suggest that it is a problem with iPhoto. Using a massive database (in relation to the actual number / size of photos in the library) that apparently needs to reside only on an OS X filesystem seems unnecessarily complex.

For example, I have one iPhoto library that consists of just under 10,000 photos (~40GB). The database folder contains many hundreds of files in dozens of sub-folders and is over 400MB in size.

The whole thing seems pretty unwieldy and, as TD explains, pretty unsuitable for syncing even incremental backups using Dropbox.

If that's a problem with iPhoto, then it's the same problem with all the competitors too. The point whether you use iPhoto, Picasa, Aperture, Lightroom or whatever, the libraries get very large and complex - and don't be fooled by seemingly "uncomplicated" nature of a Picasa library. It's library looks less complicated only because it had set all those back up files to be invisible in the Finder, that's all.

Simply, there is no way to have a photo library for an app that uses lots of metadata, has versioning and so on that isn't complicated.

Regards

TD

I'm not overly familiar with other apps; iPhoto is the one I use most often. Sadly, every iteration of the app gets slower and slower and I suspect that the complexity and size of the database is chiefly responsible.

Sadly, every iteration of the app gets slower and slower and I suspect that the complexity and size of the database is chiefly responsible.

That's not my experience I have to say, I find it snappy as ever - though unsurprisingly a 45k library will take a little longer to open than a 5k one - but we're talking seconds here.

Performance issues are a pain to troubleshoot as there are so many variables: What mac? What processor? How much Ram? How much free space on the HD? What version of the OS? What version of the App? How many items? How many smart items and so on.

Regards

TD

I had used BackBlaze for a year. Love how easy it is to use. The only reason I switched from BB is because I came to realize that your backups are not permanent archives. In other words, if you delete your local file, eventually it will be deleted on BB servers. At least that's my understanding.

I switched to Crashplan because backups are true archives. As long as you keep paying them their very reasonable annual fee, all your files are there forever.

For Restore operations, BackBlaze gives you the option of mailing you a hard drive. Crashplan does not. For my purposes, I don't mind not having that option because I have Time Machine backup as well. Basically my house would have to burn down for me to lose everything. If that happens, it's the least of my worries to wait for several days for my Restores.

Having said that, what I really would prefer is that CP had a service for mailing a Restore HD or that BB had the option for permanent archive.

I researched Carbonite and there was some deal breaker for me with their service, but I can't recall what it was.

DropBox is awesome, but you really start to pay cash when you get into the storage space required for larger photo libraries. Much more costly than typical cloud backup services. Plus, I don't know how DB handles iPhoto library changes. I suspect it wouldn't be good. Crashplan and Backblaze are smart enough to just upload the sub-files in the Library package when you make changes. So you can have a giant iPhoto library, add a few keywords and those services will just upload the few KB or MB of data, not the GB or TB of data for the entire library.

I'm really hoping Apple offers a full cloud backup service instead of this watered down BS they have now. I want my entire photo library backed up online in the simplest way possible and I'll pay a reasonable fee for that service.

Google's Picasa is certainly full featured enough, but god that interface is a mess. It really feels like half-baked software. If they can get that app polished up a bit more I might switch to it, though only if there's an easy way to import my existing iPhoto structure.

SayMay did you find a solution? Having the same issue and finding all the options confusing.

It is possible to use a NAS box to store your iPhoto library and backup to Crashplan from there, providing resilient local and off-site backups fairly easily.

No - Unless you find a NAS that uses the required Mac OS extended (journaled) format (which I have not seen) or you put the iPhoto library on a sparce bundle (an absolutely critical step that you do not mention) then putting your iPhoto library on a NAS will not work and probably will cause data and possibly photo loss

And it is likely that Crashplan will damage the iPhoto library by having it on an improperly formatted volume - before recommending it you need to absolutely verify that people using your suggestion do not cause major problems due to your suggestion not only not working but actually causeing problems

At this time no one has successfully tested a cloud backup that I have seen - and if one exists you still have the issues of the typical size of an iphoto library making restoration from the cloud unweildy at best and probably impossible in a usable time frame

LN

It is possible to use a NAS box to store your iPhoto library

Just remember that Photo needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos. Most NAS devices are not formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Have you ever done a restore of your photos from Crashplan though? How did it work? I tried using google's backup services but could never successfully get my photos off after my hard drive was wiped.

Just Cloud is a commercial cloud backup that is really a bait and switch scheme - stay away from just Cloud

LN

Hi @saymay and everyone else.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to find this thread.

A few years ago some entrepreneur friends and I were having this very issue and founded Picturelife.

https://picturelife.com/

Picturelife has deep integrations with both iPhoto and Aperture. Not only does the data from each flow seamlessly into our system, but then also if/when you want to download everything we include the metadata in the format iPhoto needs to get back your information.

Hope this is helpful!

Nate

CEO - Picturelife

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And your site looks interesting - I am away from my Mac but will try it out later

LN

So far none of the solutions provided address the real problem, our iPhoto libraries are growing bigger than our hard drives.

If you properly format and migrate your library to an external disk you can keep buying bigger disks, which is great for a desktop but ***** for a laptop.

If you properly format and migrate your library to a disk attached via the local network you will only have access to the library when you are on that network.

Sure, you can view items you intentionally keep in Photo stream, but you can't keep everything in there if you're running out of local disk.

The backup offerings out there like crashplan and backblaze only back stuff up, you would have to restore it and re-import it into iPhoto to view it, losing any tags, faces, places or other metadata.

The only real solution is "something" that virtualizes your iPhoto library across your local disk, a backup device in your network, and an archive location in the cloud. IPhoto wouldn't be aware of all of this, only the "something". The local disk would hold the iPhoto library metadata database and new and recently accessed files, the backup device would hold everything else. Files would be migrated from local disk and backup disk based on a narrow set of rules you set, including % or Gb of space to use and last accessed file age. The cloud destination would be something you pay a regular fee for to hold a copy of everything in case of disaster.

If, while at home, you try to access an older file that has been migrated to secondary disk, it would pull it from your backup device on your network.

If, while away from home, you try to access an older file that has been migrated to secondary disk, and you're connected to the internet, it will pull it temporarily from the cloud service.

Things like this exist but only for large enterprise systems.