Some, such as Shutterfly, don’t offer automatic backups at all. Since my main purpose is to backup my photos, I want a service that will automatically upload pictures from my computer and my handheld devices. Instead, SmugMug charges $40 a year for unlimited storage.Īutomatic backup. SmugMug gives users no free-storage option. With Picturelife and StreamNation, users get just 5 gigabytes for free, although users can get more free storage by doing things such as referring other consumers to the services. Other sites give a much smaller amount of free storage - or none at all. Google ( GOOG) Plus and Shutterfly offer unlimited storage for free. Yahoo’s ( YHOO) Flickr service, for example, offers 1 terabyte of photo and video storage for free, which is enough for about 500,000 average-size photos. But here are some of the features I’ll be considering as I weigh my options:Īmount and cost of storage. So I’m still debating which service I’m going to choose. Unfortunately, I’ve found there are no hard-and-fast rules about what users can expect from photo backup sites. And unlike general online backup or storage services, photo sites typically offer features specifically for photos or videos, such as the ability to create galleries, easily share them in apps or on social networking sites, and make prints or books of them. Unlike external hard drives, online photo services protect your collection from physical theft and disasters such as fires. I’ve already backed everything up to an external hard drive, and have been looking at online photo storage services as an additional option. I’m determined not to lose my picture files again. About a year ago, I lost hundreds of photos and videos when my computer was stolen.

Flickr cost 2020