Cheap Unlimited Cloud Storage With Google Drive

• I couldn't make this up: After moving this blog post to my new blog that you see before you (a laborious process) I opened my email, only to find a message that counter-acted everything I just typed.
• Google G-Suite is changing their name to Google Workspace and removing all options for unlimited drive storage for individuals/small businesses.
• This means everything now crossed-out below is null and void.
• Due to this news, and the fact that Google is not grandfathering in current customers, I have decided to recoup the $12 from my monthly budget and cut ties.
• After extensive research into other companies and solutions, I have decided to go the route of storing my data on two to three portable, external hard drives for a few reasons:
• They are portable, so I will still have easy access to my data when I travel.
• They are cheap. I picked up a second from Amazon for $90 on sale (link).
• They allow me to access my data faster than I can on the cloud.
• Don't get me wrong, I would prefer it to be on the cloud, but this is a small benefit.
• By keeping my data on two hard drives, it is highly unlikely that I lose all my data as both hard drives would have to go down at once.
• Of course, there is still the chance of a house fire, flood, or robbery. I will mitigate this risk by storing a third hard drive at a family member's home, which I will backup every few months.
• NAS setups are extremely expensive and not very portable
• Also, my home internet is not fast enough to allow me reliable access to a NAS from abroad
• So, that's my plan. I already ordered the drive so we will see how it goes!
• The old, outdated post:
• As photographers, one of our most pressing concerns should be the safety of our photos. We spent time and money to capture our photos and they are now worth something, so it is important to keep them safe at all costs.
• We could use external hard drives, our computer’s internal hard drive, or even an expensive RAID server if we can afford it. But, all of these options could crash or go down in a house fire or flood.
• The safest option for storing important data today is the cloud. If you don’t know what the cloud is, just think of it as a fancy term for a RAID server (a lot of hard drives linked together so if one goes down the others are still there with the data) with multiple copies stored in separate warehouses all over the world and owned by huge corporations that are unlikely to fail overnight. It’s incredibly safe, especially if you elect to host your data at one of the more reliable companies, like Google, Dropbox, or Amazon.
• For a long time unlimited cloud storage was incredibly expensive. Now, with a Prime account you are allowed unlimited photo storage on Amazon Drive. This is the cheapest option if you are already a Prime member, so I recommend starting there. Unfortunately, the interface of Amazon Drive is not nearly as intuitive as Google Drive, which is why I switched.
• For $12.00 per month I am subscribed to a G-Suite account, which is basically a Google Business account. It allows me to get my email from my web domain in a nice window like any other Gmail address, gives me access to Google support, and provides me with unlimited Google Drive Storage. I started looking into it for the email, and bought it because I couldn’t believe how cheap it was for unlimited storage.
• If you would like to store an unlimited amount of data on the cloud, I highly recommend looking into opening a G-Suite account. Unlike Amazon Drive, Google Drive isn’t offering unlimited storage just for photos, but for ALL files. That means you can back your whole hard drive up to it to make sure you are safe even if your entire computer crashes.
• Don’t get stuck in a house fire trying to save your computer, or stay in a city that is about to be hit by a hurricane because you don’t want to leave your RAID server. Get unlimited cloud storage for less than $12 per month and sleep in peace at night knowing that if anything happens your photos will be safe.