The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: billt on June 30, 2017, 07:07:07 AM
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I've had an account there for years. They have been progressively going to hell. Slow, too many pop ups, etc. Now they want money to "upgrade" so I can post photos I've already posted. I'm done.
So now I've got hundreds of pictures stored there I can't use. I just opened an account at Flickr. That's a PITA. I can't get URL links to post photos. Just a http link that will lead back to my account there. I want to be able to post photos like I did at Photobucket before it went to hell. What do you guys recommend? I'm already getting aggravated. >:(
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I had same issues trying to post photos from OFASTS just this week. Slow as molasses and huge ad exposure...
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I just opened an account with Imgur. (www.imgur.com). It uploads fast, and all of the editing features and links to post your photos are easy to use. And it's free.
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Flickr works for me. You can upload full-size images and they give you 1 terrabyte of storage for free. Not perfect but much better than Photobucket ever was. Now that Verizon bought Yahoo we'll see what they do with it (Yahoo owns Flickr).
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Flickr works for me. You can upload full-size images and they give you 1 terrabyte of storage for free. Not perfect but much better than Photobucket ever was. Now that Verizon bought Yahoo we'll see what they do with it (Yahoo owns Flickr).
I have a Flickr account as well. But I'm having problems getting a url link to post pictures. All I can get is a link that links it back to my Flickr account to see the photo there. I'm not very computer literate.
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I am removing almost 200 gigs of pics from photibucket bow.
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Unless I want to show really high detail, I usually just make a "smaller" copy (under 300k in file size) and attach it to the post as a file.
If I want a full sized picture in the post then I've always used photobucket....but have also been thinking about switching and deleting my account because of all the crap involved now.
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I am removing almost 200 gigs of pics from photibucket bow.
How? Can you give me "step by step" instructions when you have time?
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Right click save as.
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Right click save as.
I tried that. I used, "Save Target As". But when it went into, "My Pictures" it won't open.
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Never mind, I got it.
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I just spend over 2 hours downloading all of my pictures from Photobucket into, "My Pictures". It took forever because Photobucket kept locking up, and ran slower then hell. I'm done with them forever! Tomorrow I'll upload them into Imgur. It shouldn't take half as long.
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Our staff photog recommends smugmug. I have an account there and I like it. It allows you to customize your web page for visitors. You can also restrict downloads and charge for your pictures. Of course it's not free, but it is my primary storage place for all family photos. Feel free to check out mine at my last name dot org.
I do have a free photobuket account but that's only for "for sale" postings and other odd stuff.
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I just spend over 2 hours downloading all of my pictures from Photobucket into, "My Pictures". It took forever because Photobucket kept locking up, and ran slower then hell. I'm done with them forever! Tomorrow I'll upload them into Imgur. It shouldn't take half as long.
mine has been running for the last 2 days. I had 6 accounts too close out. Had 3 done when I left this morning. I havethem set up too happen one right after each other.
Still bot sure where I am going too host them, but many if the pics it was the only digital copy I had, scanning hunsreds of old family photos 15+ years ago, and 6 computers.
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Be considering a "hard copy" back up of your pictures in addition to the easy access one on line.
A single Blu-ray disc will hold from 25GB to 128GB depending upon the number of layers. Not sure what is available for home recording equipment, but if it is feasible, make two copies...one set to keep at home and one set for a safe deposit box.
Having your only copy in the custody of someone you don't know and can't trust is risky.
After checking I see Blu-ray recorders are not cheap..and DVD's look to hold 9GB max...from what I have found...
So, a 200GB collection would require 25 or so DVDs...50 for duplicate copies
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I don't leave anything on a cloud for too long...
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I keep all of my pictures backed up on a separate external drive attached to the USB on my router. It' s password, protected, etc. Also, I leave the drive off until I want to back up to add to security of someone getting to it.
It's a mirrored drive as in I have two drives in the box and what I copy to one drive is mirrored on the 2nd drive automatically. So, anyone here in the house (or remotely via internet if I open it up and we use additional password) can backup and save to it manually or automatically (provided they walk over and turn it on).
So when I leave for while I drop the backup in the safe. I also upgrade the dang thing every 3-5 years (for a couple of hundred bucks) not that the old one is bad...I permanently "save it" in the safe or in an otherwise protected place and add to it with the new one. So...it is likely I will never lose everything.
The online picture thing I used only for posting on boards like this.
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Be considering a "hard copy" back up of your pictures in addition to the easy access one on line.
A single Blu-ray disc will hold from 25GB to 128GB depending upon the number of layers. Not sure what is available for home recording equipment, but if it is feasible, make two copies...one set to keep at home and one set for a safe deposit box.
Having your only copy in the custody of someone you don't know and can't trust is risky.
After checking I see Blu-ray recorders are not cheap..and DVD's look to hold 9GB max...from what I have found...
So, a 200GB collection would require 25 or so DVDs...50 for duplicate copies
How many photo albums would that be ?
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A hard drive enclosure with a fan and for 2 drives (one backing up the other) run from $45 to $130 at Newegg. 1 terabyte drives start around $45 so buy 2 at $90. For $150 you have 1 TB of backup with a full backup on that TB or you can set it up for 2 TB. Plug it into your computer USB or the router like I do. Sure beats putting the things on discs that takes so much time.
If you want you can buy 3 drives. When you get it backed up for the first time take one of the two drives out and put it in your safe deposit box and then plug the 3rd into the enclosure. It will automatically mirror from the remaining drive no work to do. Then, after a few months, put the saved drive back in to update while you put the 3rd drive in storage and rotate them that way.
2 are fine for me but if you are really anal you can buy 3 drives. If super anal you can get enclosures for 3 or 4 drives and back all the suckers up to the primary drive.
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A hard drive enclosure with a fan and for 2 drives (one backing up the other) run from $45 to $130 at Newegg. 1 terabyte drives start around $45 so buy 2 at $90. For $150 you have 1 TB of backup with a full backup on that TB or you can set it up for 2 TB. Plug it into your computer USB or the router like I do. Sure beats putting the things on discs that takes so much time.
If you want you can buy 3 drives. When you get it backed up for the first time take one of the two drives out and put it in your safe deposit box and then plug the 3rd into the enclosure. It will automatically mirror from the remaining drive no work to do. Then, after a few months, put the saved drive back in to update while you put the 3rd drive in storage and rotate them that way.
2 are fine for me but if you are really anal you can buy 3 drives. If super anal you can get enclosures for 3 or 4 drives and back all the suckers up to the primary drive.
I would do something like that in a heartbeat.......... If I knew how.
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Well heck, this was longer ago than I thought. 2010
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707159 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817707159)
Link above is what I bought for an enclosure...newer stuff is better. This one is only USB 2.0
Link below is what I have for a router...got it early 2015 because it has USB 3.0. I still have not upgraded the enclosure though.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320218 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320218)
I actually have two 500 GB drives in the enclosure and I only have about 250 GB stored (each drive has 250 GB on it). I bought those two drives locally for like $70 each 3 years ago...I guess. Shoot, I did not remember this enclosure being 7 years old. The first drives I had in it were around 250 GB...they are in the safe and then I upgraded to the 500 GB. So, I have all the data I generated on the first drives up to around 2014 when I took them out of service and then everything on those plus since then on the 500 GB drives I have now.
I unplug the drive enclosure and put it in the safe when I go on vacation in case of a fire. You don't have that worry if you store on the cloud but Big Brother (which includes Google, Microsoft and others along with the US Government, hackers, Russians, Chinese, etc.) will find a way to see what you got or to mine data from it if they like. Not so easy when the data is not accessible 98% of the time because the backup is powered down with a hard switch.....I don't care how good a hacker you are you can't make the wires come alive and flip that switch.
I'll look around and let you know what looks good. Being 7 years old it's time to upgrade the enclosure again I think. You can buy external hard drives...but they were more expensive up to a year or two ago and especially so if they had two drives with one mirroring or backing up the other.
Perhaps we have a network guru here who can help us?
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Explanation of the varirous types of back up types...Raid 0, 1, etc. I want high quality and I want both drives to mirror one another automatically so if one fails I plug another in and copy it....for RAID 1 both have to be the same size and type. So maybe you go with a different RAID level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_1 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_1)
I like RAID 1. This unit does RAID 1 plus other RAID levels:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817198063&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=enclosure-_-17-198-063-_-Product (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817198063&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=enclosure-_-17-198-063-_-Product)
$75 after rebate and has USB 3.0 and 2 bays for RAID 1 and 3.5" drives with SATA 1, 2 or 3 and up to 8 TB per drive.
HOWEVER, this one does not allow the drives to spin down when not in use. They keep turning. That's not a big deal for me since I turn it on and off to back up to keep the hackers and ransomeware guys at bay. When my computer is running fine and I've done a virus check I'll backup....then if they get me they can kiss my a$$ I have ALL of my data since the last backup. And again, I have the USB attached to my router so that we can backup the wife's laptop, both of my son's college laptop work remotely and I backup from my desktop corded to the router and then the backup enclosure drives.
500 GB for $40 each:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149380&ignorebbr=1 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149380&ignorebbr=1)
1 TB drive for $50 each:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339&ignorebbr=1 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339&ignorebbr=1)
2TB drive for $68 each:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178993&ignorebbr=1 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178993&ignorebbr=1)
3 TB for $90 each:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178994&ignorebbr=1 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178994&ignorebbr=1)
4TB for $114 each:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179009&ignorebbr=1 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179009&ignorebbr=1)
8 TB for $230 each:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178748&ignorebbr=1 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178748&ignorebbr=1).
I have to do some additional checking to really know if this is compatible but so far it looks good. So it's looking like $75 for the enclosure (after rebate) that supports multiple levels of RAID. Then pick two hard drives...I will probably go with 2 TB since my wife got a new camera last month. But then again...I have a lot of room left on the 500 GB I have.
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https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAA3N4BU7302&cm_re=ENCLOSURES-_-9SIAA3N4BU7302-_-Product (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAA3N4BU7302&cm_re=ENCLOSURES-_-9SIAA3N4BU7302-_-Product)
This unit, though more expensive, appears to spin down when not in use. So if you like to keep it on all the time this is probably better....may not spin down for a Mac unless you "manually eject" it.
Also is USB 3.1 and faster....
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Bill, make a decision about storage yet?
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Bill, make a decision about storage yet?
I'm using Imgur now. I've got most all of my photos transferred to them from Photobucket. I try to do a few every morning early. There is less traffic then, and Photobucket doesn't lock up so much. Once I get them off Photobucket, and into "My Pictures", it's a breeze to upload them to Imgur. They also have nice, easy to use editing and resizing. A dream compared to that disaster Photobucket.
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I started an account on Imur too. I like you can keep high quality. It's the sort of thing I'll only use for posting on the board...my primary backup is still my home RAID hooked up to the router. I posted a pic on Tom's handgun thread. I think it loads slow because the pic is too large...next time I'll cut back on the resolution.
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My wife does a big production book fair every year for her library. I'm talking BIG. Gross sales over 4 days are around $35,000. Short story long, I take many pictures as does one of her assistants. Her assistant insists on using Shutterfly. I have a free account on Shutterfly just so I'm able to download the assistant's pictures. Haven't been there in a while but tonight I remembered why I don't like it. SLOW-W-W--W--W.
I transferred 300 pictures from Cathy's account to mine. That was completed 1/2 hour ago, but Shutterfly won't let me view these picture, much less start downloading them yet. Shutterfly is "updating" my new photos and "preparing a new photo experience." PLEASE, just let me have the photos the way they were originally uploaded. Yes, Smugmug costs, but I have instant access to the pictures I upload. And downloading can be done directly from my site without visitors having a Smugmug account.
[UPDATE: 9am Friday]
Sometime around 3 or 4 this morning Shutterfly finally let me see the photos. I then requested a download and after a few minutes they sent me an email with a link to download a .ZIP file. I have all the pictures on my computer, finally, but that was painful.
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But they are holding all your photo's hostage.
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But they are holding all your photo's hostage.
That's exactly what Photobucket is doing. But they're F'ing up royally doing it. The damn site is so slow, no one would be stupid enough to pay for it. If it ran like greased lightning, people who have a lot of photos stored there would pony up a few bucks a month to be able to keep them posted at third party sites. But not the way it's been running for the last year.
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I use Photobucket only for those odd postings on "for sale" sites and forums. Free and I don't care about their features or offerings.
Smugmug provides me with:
a) A cloud based backup to all my pictures. Hackers can encrypt my computer so I can't use it, but my photos will still be available to me. I'll just buy a new computer.
b) A web site where friends and family can view all the pictures.
c) If I want to start selling pictures they provide the infrastructure to EASILY do so.