Google unlimited free storage for photos/drive etc to end

[elusive]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/techcrun ... ay-up/amp/

Starting from next june all photos including the current high quality free option will count towards your free 15gb allowance. Also includes drive,docs and all the others

[Miro]

The strange thing about this, is as far as I was aware, all my photos are/were being uploaded in high quality, so I was surprised to see I had used up 3.2GB of my 15GB. There was an option to free up space by compressing original quality photos & videos, which I did, wiping out that 3.2GB - but I would have liked an option to see exactly which photos were saved in original quality before making this decision.
Based on my storage so far, I suspect it will be a good few years before I need to worry about hitting the free 15GB limit.

[elusive]

Same for me aswell miro. But tbh i probably did originally upload in full quality and then changed it later on. Its such a longtime since i started uploading i dont really remember. I have about 9k pics maybe and had only used just under 1Gb for photos. The pic quality doesnt look any different after i took the free up space option.

Prefer the old fashioned C.D burning but i would need quite alot of C.D,'s for that. And my desktop went years ago. Always abit of a worry having things in the cloud although i have them saved on memory cards aswell

[spanish_lad]

I´ve got all my phones photos etc in cloud storage with google, but i´ve also got the "hard copy" on my pc at home - I´ve only just upgraded to windows 10 so i´m hoping i can back up everything on the PC as well.

Theres lots of irreplacable photos of my mum, and family members..

I totally understand people who have physical photo albums.

[elusive]

Totally prefer actual photos but considering the amount i take it would cost a fortune getting them processed like back in the day! I dont have a p.c so save them onto memory cards.f.book accounts etc aswell as the cloud. I have loads on cd that i burned when i had a desktop but i dont use windows etc anymore.so photos taken when living here (about7k!) Are in the cloud and memory cards etc.Anything that is special to you defo get printed copies

They also announced that if you dont use any of the services ie photos ,drive,docs ,gmail for more than 2 years they will delete whats in them ie photos pdfs etc. Of course they will give you warning but something to be aware of if you only use photos randomly. Also if you hit the 15gb limit and dont buy anymore. I guess the answer to that is create another Gmail account if you havnt already.

[spanish_lad]

Totally prefer actual photos but considering the amount i take it would cost a fortune getting them processed like back in the day! I dont have a p.c so save them onto memory cards.f.book accounts etc aswell as the cloud. I have loads on cd that i burned when i had a desktop but i dont use windows etc anymore.so photos taken when living here (about7k!) Are in the cloud and memory cards etc.Anything that is special to you defo get printed copies

They also announced that if you dont use any of the services ie photos ,drive,docs ,gmail for more than 2 years they will delete whats in them ie photos pdfs etc. Of course they will give you warning but something to be aware of if you only use photos randomly. Also if you hit the 15gb limit and dont buy anymore. I guess the answer to that is create another Gmail account if you havnt already.

I suppose the only "safe" way is to have things backed up onto a couple of usb sticks or memory cards, or even a portable hard drive of 500gb or something like a wd passport which i think are 4tb - so tons of space.

but then how far do you go, usb drives and memory cards can break or get wiped by accident, so do you back up the back up?

I´ve got a couple of copies of my pictures, on a portable 320gb hd and on my pc, and on my phone.. i "should" be ok, but not everything is everywhere... so i´d be upset if i lost any of them.

[spanish_lad]

Totally prefer actual photos but considering the amount i take it would cost a fortune getting them processed like back in the day!

thinking about it, do "actual photos" and "actual cameras" still exist? or is everything phones or DSR ?

[chrissiehope]

I don't have a smart phone & I do have an 'actual camera' - I often print my photos, but 2 to 4 on one page. My photos are backed on an external hard drive that only gets connected when adding photos / running Synctoy etc

[elusive]

Totally prefer actual photos but considering the amount i take it would cost a fortune getting them processed like back in the day! I dont have a p.c so save them onto memory cards.f.book accounts etc aswell as the cloud. I have loads on cd that i burned when i had a desktop but i dont use windows etc anymore.so photos taken when living here (about7k!) Are in the cloud and memory cards etc.Anything that is special to you defo get printed copies

They also announced that if you dont use any of the services ie photos ,drive,docs ,gmail for more than 2 years they will delete whats in them ie photos pdfs etc. Of course they will give you warning but something to be aware of if you only use photos randomly. Also if you hit the 15gb limit and dont buy anymore. I guess the answer to that is create another Gmail account if you havnt already.

I suppose the only "safe" way is to have things backed up onto a couple of usb sticks or memory cards, or even a portable hard drive of 500gb or something like a wd passport which i think are 4tb - so tons of space.

but then how far do you go, usb drives and memory cards can break or get wiped by accident, so do you back up the back up?

I´ve got a couple of copies of my pictures, on a portable 320gb hd and on my pc, and on my phone.. i "should" be ok, but not everything is everywhere... so i´d be upset if i lost any of them.

Yeah true. You could go on for ever. Not like the days of waiting 2 weeks for the pics to be developed and half of them being blurry!!

[elusive]

I don't have a smart phone & I do have an 'actual camera' - I often print my photos, but 2 to 4 on one page. My photos are backed on an external hard drive that only gets connected when adding photos / running Synctoy etc

Yeah i use a compact camera. Although its on its last legs. Tbh you see more ppl nowadays with those great big nikon/cannon things then you ever did before. Seems to be a fad. Ppl dont realise it doesnt matter how good your camera is if you dont know how to take a decent shot. I dont like using a phone. I have a new one and it takes great night shots but an average smart phone cant compete with a proper lense

[Miro]

I totally understand people who have physical photo albums.

Yes, but they take up so much damned space, and the pages curl at the edges and yellow with age....
A couple of years ago, I laboriously removed all my old photos (mostly taken on an old Pentax K1000) from their hard back albums and scanned the lot onto the PC. Then backed them up on an external hard drive. Then uploaded them to Google. I kept the originals (and negatives) in boxes in the loft but dumped the old albums. Felt good!

I haven't used a camera (rather than a smart phone) for years. I totally get the point about them not being anywhere close to a "real" camera, but having said that, in real terms the old K1000 cost me far more than my latest phone, and tbh, it's quite depressing looking at what I used to think were good quality pictures. Some of them were barely worth scanning at all!

Still, it was a fun exercise and a good excuse to go through all the old albums, and at the end of the day, it's the quality of the memories that matter more than that of the photos recording them

[spanish_lad]

Then uploaded them to Google.

without sounding like a noob, how did you do that, are you on win 10 ? as i said, i´ve only just got win 10 at home, and would like to take advantage of the 15gb.

[elusive]

Just sign into your google account and go to the photos webpage and upload from there

[markwilding]

There are other benefits from backing up online such as it’s automatic and photos are sorted out. My wife likes our photos backed up on the computer hard drive so I just back up her backup on my laptop

It should be noted Amazon Primer comes with free photo storage, which with the app on Fire Tv allows TV viewing seamlessly

I don’t think I would ever go back to using a camera. We bought a reflex a few years ago which just collects dust in a cupboard because my IPhone takes decent photos and video. Add to that its video software, making it easy to edit and upload to the cloud.

[Miro]

without sounding like a noob, how did you do that, are you on win 10 ? as i said, i´ve only just got win 10 at home, and would like to take advantage of the 15gb.

Go to photos.google.com and in the top right hand corner click on "upload". You may see options for where you want to upload from. Select "computer" and a window will open so that you can navigate to the folder on your PC where your photos are. Open the folder and simply select the photo/s you wish to upload. You can select multiple photos by holding down the Ctrl key.

[spanish_lad]

Just sign into your google account and go to the photos webpage and upload from there

Go to photos.google.com and in the top right hand corner click on "upload". You may see options for where you want to upload from. Select "computer" and a window will open so that you can navigate to the folder on your PC where your photos are. Open the folder and simply select the photo/s you wish to upload. You can select multiple photos by holding down the Ctrl key.

Thankyou both, I will definatly be doing that one of these days.

[Beachcomber]

Given Google's track record I don't think I would voluntarily store anything on their servers.

[knowal]

Just buy a 1Terabyte external hard drive and store your stuff on that. Why rely on someone else?

[Miro]

I have my photos on such a hard drive, but like anything physical, it could get lost/stolen/broken, so having them backed up online as well is a useful extra precaution, and if it's free, why not? Although, I do sometimes lie awake at night worrying about what Google might be doing with my photos of my cat

[markwilding]

Agree, I've had problems with hard drives that break or tell me they need to be reformatted. I don't think I am so important that Google or anyone else for that matter will want to view my holiday snaps.
I would imagine if anyone had photos, which are worth something, are just at risk if they are kept in a drawer or online. Both ways would require extra security.