p.1 #1 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
If you are a prime member you can access Amazon Photos and get unlimited storage for photos and it supports RAW files. At first glance this seems like it's too good to be true, so is there a catch? This could replace many online paid storage services if you are already an Amazon Prime member, and to repeat, its unlimited for photos. I'm wondering if Amazon is doing this to get access to your photos for AI, but it states no one else has access other than you. You can also share selected libraries and allow people to download them, so this can replace many paid services people are currently using.
Has anyone used this? I can't imagine unlimited will be free forever, so maybe this is just a play to get people locked in for the long run. Video is only limited to 5GB, so maybe they are thinking you'll eventually pay for the video storage and get more subscription revenue?
Thoughts?
Anyone going to start uploading their 30TB+ libraries??
p.1 #2 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
I have it but never use it. The first two reasons are the same as you mentioned. Restrictions on videos and you never know how long this will last.
The other reasons are 1. no good sync capability, and 2. File attributes are not saved. So I will need a separate utility to save those (basically creation date and last modified date).
p.1 #3 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
I am sure there are people who are just fine using Amazon for backups, but I wouldn't trust it for anything I care about. HostBrr's "storageboxes" are very affordable.
p.1 #4 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
I do and have been using it for a long time. Amazon photo does not compress the files like google does. That said I also use google photos too. Google is my index/search system and Amazon the storage. I have completely given up on Lightroom catalog. My nas is in the garage next to my car, and my old pc is a freenas backup in my office. So I have access to everything from everywhere with multiple backups, I might be paranoid 🤪
Downloading a lot of pics from Amazon is problematic since the interface does not allow large batch downloads. So I call it an emergency backup access point but nevertheless i have everything there.
p.1 #5 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
I've been a Prime member for years... how did I not know about this?
I will never abandon my NAS and my Lightroom catalog, but this may be an interesting cloud backup option, assuming there is some sync mechanism available through the desktop app... Will have to explore.
Edit: Okay, so I have played with this a bit.
The most significant limitation for me is that, while Amazon Photos does support .XMP sidecar files, it does not yet support Adobe's new .ACR sidecar file format. (This is used when applying Denoise or Super Resolution.) This is going to limit how useful it is to back up a RAW library.
The desktop app (on Windows at least) also has some quirks. Firstly, it is strictly a backup / download tool; it provides no ability to browse or delete your files. (You must use a web browser for that.). Second, it provides no mechanism to close or quit the app after it is running. You either have to force close the process or sign out of your session altogether (and make sure the app is not set to auto-launch). I get that it is meant to always work in the background, but this seems somewhat user hostile. Definitely odd.
The whole experience feels a little underbaked and like it could become abandonware at some point.
But it's hard to argue with "unlimited free" cloud storage, albeit with specific restrictions.
p.1 #6 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
I have been using Amz Prime for my "cloud backup" for several years now. My internet upload speed is limited, so I'm not considering backing up RAW files as that would mean my computer would be constantly uploading. I only upload full-sized processed TIFS. I am comfortable with this. If somehow something happens to both of my physical drives, I will still have all of the important files. I try and remember to upload TIF files once a month.
p.1 #7 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
artsupreme wrote:
If you are a prime member you can access Amazon Photos and get unlimited storage for photos and it supports RAW files. At first glance this seems like it's too good to be true, so is there a catch? This could replace many online paid storage services if you are already an Amazon Prime member, and to repeat, its unlimited for photos. I'm wondering if Amazon is doing this to get access to your photos for AI, but it states no one else has access other than you. You can also share selected libraries and allow people to download them, so this can replace many paid services people are currently using.
Has anyone used this? I can't imagine unlimited will be free forever, so maybe this is just a play to get people locked in for the long run. Video is only limited to 5GB, so maybe they are thinking you'll eventually pay for the video storage and get more subscription revenue?
Thoughts?
Anyone going to start uploading their 30TB+ libraries??
p.1 #8 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
msadat wrote:
I do and have been using it for a long time. Amazon photo does not compress the files like google does. That said I also use google photos too.
Google Photos has an option of keeping files in their original size or compressing and potentially resizing to ~16MP. It's your choice. If you're concerned about this, you can instead use Google Drive. And from Drive you can also populate Photos, but it will result in a double hit against your storage limit. But this would be a way of keeping an 'untouched' set of images in Drive without the search flexibility of Photos, while also getting the benefit of Photos.
This is kind of what I do with several Google accounts currently. For example I use one for client image delivery. I upload to Drive and provide them the link. I also copy those over into Photos with additional compression. After a while I delete the Drive files and retain the Photos set for easy search and for the rare times a client will request the images again (usually because they misplaced their set).
p.1 #9 · Amazon Photos....anyone using it for backup?
rscheffler wrote:
Google Photos has an option of keeping files in their original size or compressing and potentially resizing to ~16MP. It's your choice. If you're concerned about this, you can instead use Google Drive. And from Drive you can also populate Photos, but it will result in a double hit against your storage limit. But this would be a way of keeping an 'untouched' set of images in Drive without the search flexibility of Photos, while also getting the benefit of Photos.
This is kind of what I do with several Google accounts currently. For example I use one for client image delivery. I upload to Drive and provide them the link. I also copy those over into Photos with additional compression. After a while I delete the Drive files and retain the Photos set for easy search and for the rare times a client will request the images again (usually because they misplaced their set)....Show more →
Loading full res into google means storage expenses, the indexing is just perfect for me, Amazon photos ‘now’ is covered under prime
