this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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Dropbox alternative for photographer (alien.top)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I work as a photographer and used unlimited dropbox in the past. Now that DB has capped their business tier to 5TB, I’m searching for an alternative. I currently have about 25TB of data. Yearly I add about 5TB. My main computer is a Macbook Pro.

My current (dropbox) workflow: I import & edit files on an external SSD. I keep those files on there until they finish uploading. When I’m done with the project, I flag them as “online only” so there is a copy on the server when I need it, and my SSD has more free space.

I know Dropbox isn’t technically a backup-service. But for my purpose it does everything I want from a back-up: no loss of data and limited version history.

What I’m looking for is a way to keep my current workflow but without dropbox and ideally with a cloud backup system.

I’m mainly looking into NAS (synology) but can’t find a solution that ticks of my boxes. Synology Drive doesn’t do selective sync on external SSD for example.

Thanks!!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Please don't rely on only one cloud service like Dropbox. If not already, keep 1 more copy backed up locally.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Uggh, it's expensive to meet that duplicate backup requirement (and I agree with it!)

What are your thoughts on a single backup say with S3/B2/Impossible, etc? 25TB is quite a bit to have a local backup plus online (though it's the right answer).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Yeah, a giant home NAS that automatically uploads things to S3 with a lifecycle rule to automatically move rarely used files to S3 Glacier.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I'd look into cloud-based backup (for the off-site component) using something like Backblaze B2 to ensure you don't lose the data on that external drive when it fails.

IIRC, 25gb on B2 is about $30/mo. ImpossibleCloud is about the same.

From a get-files-to-home while remote standpoint, Syncthing is hard to beat. It works, it has clients for every OS, it's encrypted, it's free.

I'd probably also look for more robust storage at home. External drives are notorious for failures. In 30+ years of doing this stuff, I've had a handful of internal drives fail (perhaps 3%, at most). While externals it's more like 15%, and that's in a relatively short time, within 2 years of use. Externals get dropped, experience greater and more frequent temp cycles, and lack cooling.

I haven't priced consumer NAS lately, but for 25+ TB, that's where I'd be looking. And that would also potentially give you an OS that can run things like Duplicati and Syncthing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Photophrism