So I just got a Mac and have tons of photos I currently store on CDs. I would like to upgrade to a more modern storage device. What do you guys recommend for an external storage device that works with MAC. Thank you.

 

You want to keep your pictures in Iphoto, on the internal HD and use Time Machine to backup.

 

join the cloud.... OneDrive, Dropbox, etc..etc..etc.. Mine are automatically backed up there but I mostly keep my pics on flash drives, which are also backed up on my hard drives. Redundancy never fails

PS If you are serious about your pictures you can use Pictage, but it's not free.

 

What size is your combined set of pictures?

How many new pictures do you add at a time?

Are you only interested in free/one time purchase options like external hard drives or are recurring monthly/yearly charges OK?

 

remember, online storage is not protected by the 4th amendment.

 

I'm a bit paranoid about my pics, having once lost almost all of them due to a virus.


I have archives on blu-ray (i like having a non-mechanical backup), and I keep intending to bring it to work).
And a copy on my external hard drive.
Cloud isn't particularly viable for me since I have oh.... about 600 gig of pics/movies.

Definitely keep a copy off your computer, in case it dies (power surge or whatever),
and It's a good idea to keep one outside of your apartment if you value your pics, in case of fire/flood/theft/whatever.

 

While not a traditional backup service (and I don't like the recent UI issues w/i the last year), Flickr offers basically unlimited photo uploads (1TB) for free...

It's a nice, offsite location for JPEG versions.

 

Thats what I do.

 

Thanks guys! I'm not a computer guy so forgive me but what is time machine? I'm currently working on putting photos into iPhoto, but I want to keep them somewhere else incase the computer dies or is stolen. I really don't want to use an internet site or something like that. I would prefer something I can actually touch or take with me to another computer or whatever. Thanks again for the help.

 

Brought my daughters MacBook Pro to the Apple store last week to have something checked out. Turned out nothing was wrong but tech suggested backing up the machine. Picked up a 1TB external hard drive on site for $96 including taxes.

 

Honda, the only downfall to the "I want a device plugged into the computer" method is that when the house burns downs or the computer is infected with a virus, that backup device is trashed too...

Unless you plan to swap it out to a different location regularly, you would be hosed if your house was broken into, had a fire, flood, power surge, etc...

even if you want them on an external hdd (simple copy/paste, time machine, other) I highly recommend ALSO uploading them to a free service like Flickr as a "just in case" backup of your backup. Set the service as private so only you can see the pics and you are done. Just remember to upload new pics as you take them.

 

Virus on the Mac??

 

well....

 

You make a good point! Thanks again guys for all the help!

 

Fire-proof, water-proof safe?

 

A. they are only rated for paper re:fire. Not plastic (read thumbdrives) melting. Check the internal temp ratings of home fireproof safes.
(see #s 5 and 6: http://www.klsecurity.com/fire_proof...htm#difference )

B. this dependence requires that you actually put the backup drive IN the safe prior to the fire. Most people leave the drive attached to the computer.

 

Time Machine is an Apple product that is an external hard drive + integrated software to automatically back up files. Since I don't have one and use PCs, I can only assume these work only on Apple computers. My son has one for his MAC and loves it.

 

For a windows time machine like program, check out Crashplan (hosted) or this program: http://www.altaro.com/home-pc-backup/

I use Altaro Oops and it truly works as advertised...