Ask HN: Is it possible to lose all my photos stored in the cloud?
7 comments
Note that 2TB may not be sufficient. It depends on how many photos we are talking about, and how large they are.
In the arena of backups, we talk about the rule of three — you should have at least three backup copies of everything you care about.
Of those backup copies, at least one should be stored remotely, in case there is a local problem like a fire that wipes out all your local copies.
Having more than one local backup copy is good, because if you mess up your local copy during the process of performing the backup or the restore, then you’ve got another local copy that you can use to fix that problem. Having that extra local backup copy means you don’t have to wait to download the backup you stored remotely, before you can begin the process of fixing your local problem.
And you should assume that everything stored in the cloud is ephemeral, unless you are paying money to keep it long-term. And even if you are paying money to keep it long term, the company could always have a hiccup and lose all your data, or decide to shut down the service, or go bankrupt, etc....
Note that you also have to verify all these backups you’re keeping. Because at any stage, there could be silent corruption of the data, and you would never find out without regular data verification processes.
And finally, all the backups in the world are completely and totally useless, if you can’t actually restore from them. So, you need to regularly test all your backups.
In the arena of backups, we talk about the rule of three — you should have at least three backup copies of everything you care about.
Of those backup copies, at least one should be stored remotely, in case there is a local problem like a fire that wipes out all your local copies.
Having more than one local backup copy is good, because if you mess up your local copy during the process of performing the backup or the restore, then you’ve got another local copy that you can use to fix that problem. Having that extra local backup copy means you don’t have to wait to download the backup you stored remotely, before you can begin the process of fixing your local problem.
And you should assume that everything stored in the cloud is ephemeral, unless you are paying money to keep it long-term. And even if you are paying money to keep it long term, the company could always have a hiccup and lose all your data, or decide to shut down the service, or go bankrupt, etc....
Note that you also have to verify all these backups you’re keeping. Because at any stage, there could be silent corruption of the data, and you would never find out without regular data verification processes.
And finally, all the backups in the world are completely and totally useless, if you can’t actually restore from them. So, you need to regularly test all your backups.
biggest risk with cloud services is more that randomly some fraud prevention etc system decides it doesn't want you to be a customer and kills your account, wiping all the data. (although bugs with data-loss happen to them too)
The same rules as for all other backups apply: have backups in multiple, independent places.
EDIT: Also, if it's just a synchronization of the photos from your phone and not an explicit backup, a mistake or fault could also delete the photos on your phone and then it would dutifully sync that deletion to the cloud. sync services != backup for many purposes
The same rules as for all other backups apply: have backups in multiple, independent places.
EDIT: Also, if it's just a synchronization of the photos from your phone and not an explicit backup, a mistake or fault could also delete the photos on your phone and then it would dutifully sync that deletion to the cloud. sync services != backup for many purposes
> Is it possible to lose all my photos stored in the cloud?
Yes. Cloud services have lost customer data before, but it's more likely that you'll lose access to your account with the cloud service. Many people have lost access to their Google accounts, for example.
> Are there any other better solutions to store photos safely ?
There is no single fool-proof thing you can do. This is an exercise in risk mitigation.
It's not terribly likely that you'll lose access to your Google account, but if you do, you'll lose everything off this is your only backup.
If you only have your photo library stored on one hard drive, it's likely that the hard drive won't be readable after 8-10 years (depending on luck and wear).
The best solution is to have multiple copies of everything, in multiple places. I wrote this up after many of my beta users asked me this exact question: https://photostructure.com/faq/how-do-i-safely-store-files/
Yes. Cloud services have lost customer data before, but it's more likely that you'll lose access to your account with the cloud service. Many people have lost access to their Google accounts, for example.
> Are there any other better solutions to store photos safely ?
There is no single fool-proof thing you can do. This is an exercise in risk mitigation.
It's not terribly likely that you'll lose access to your Google account, but if you do, you'll lose everything off this is your only backup.
If you only have your photo library stored on one hard drive, it's likely that the hard drive won't be readable after 8-10 years (depending on luck and wear).
The best solution is to have multiple copies of everything, in multiple places. I wrote this up after many of my beta users asked me this exact question: https://photostructure.com/faq/how-do-i-safely-store-files/
May I also recommend burning a copy or two on CD or DVD, as well as keeping a copy on memory card. Even if many computers drop their optical drives, a lot will still be around, DVD players can display picture files, etc.
If they are family pictures, send a copy to all other family members with a file documenting what the picture files are, who sent them, when.
Get a photo printer and print out those valuable enough that you would be willing to put them in a physical album and document them.
Ridiculous overkill? No, not at the cost of storage media. Someone 50 years from now will be very glad you did. Once the pictures are gone, they are gone...
If they are family pictures, send a copy to all other family members with a file documenting what the picture files are, who sent them, when.
Get a photo printer and print out those valuable enough that you would be willing to put them in a physical album and document them.
Ridiculous overkill? No, not at the cost of storage media. Someone 50 years from now will be very glad you did. Once the pictures are gone, they are gone...
Please don't trust memory cards for long term storage: just like SSD drives, if they sit on a shelf and aren't energized, they can lose data in as little as a year.
Many years ago Google had a mass email problem with Gmail that ended up with people losing part or all their email. Google referred users to their terms of service that spoke to the fact that they weren't responsible for the loss.
Yes, you can lose all your photos and there's very little that you can do about it and finding someone liable is not likely.
I trust Google is better at keeping people's email safe now but ultimately it's up to me to make sure I secure the data that I treasure.
Secure backups require at least 2 independent places of storage. You might was to setup a local storage place that you can access if your photos go missing.
Yes, you can lose all your photos and there's very little that you can do about it and finding someone liable is not likely.
I trust Google is better at keeping people's email safe now but ultimately it's up to me to make sure I secure the data that I treasure.
Secure backups require at least 2 independent places of storage. You might was to setup a local storage place that you can access if your photos go missing.
Yes, absolutely. It's happened to others before. Run, don't walk, to buying a 2TB external hard drive, and downloading all of your copying all of your icloud images to it.
I know cloud storage is generally considered a better alternative than on device storage, with good fault tolerance, but is it fault tolerant enough in the long run ? Is it possible that one day all photos will just be gone ?
Are there any other better solutions to store photos safely ?