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Google Photos is corrupting older images but here’s how to fix it

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It appears that Google Photos is having a bit of a moment. It seems that it’s corrupting some older images stored on the service dating from 2013 to 2015, according to reports from users. The phenomenon shows up as what looks like digital tears (as in rips through the image, not liquid that comes from your eyes) across the image, as you can see in examples posted to the Google support forums.

Quite a few people have reported the issue. As well as post on Google support, there are also a number of Reddit threads with more examples. There is some good news, though. It looks like Google is already on the case and some users have had their images fixed without them having to do anything. But, if you’re facing this issue and it doesn’t get automatically fixed, there is a way to do it yourself.

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How to get your photos and videos backed up so you don’t lose them forever

Backing up is always a hotly debated topic. Even just whether to back up or not is often a cause of conflict in a lot of social media photography groups. And even if you have chosen to backup your work, you’ll see three million responses describing exactly how you should back everything up in order to ensure you never lose anything – and they’ll all be different. Ultimately, everybody has the workflow that works best for them.

But what will work best for you? If you’re just thinking about backing up your photos and video, or even if you do already but you want to learn more about other backup technologies, this video from Gordon Laing will set you off on the right foot. In it, he talks about a whole bunch of different backup options along with the pros and potential cons of each.

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Amazon, Google, SmugMug, Apple: what’s the best home for your photos?

When last we met, I pointed out the perils of using Apple’s iCloud Photos for photo backup for one simple reason: if you delete an image off your iPhone, Apple will in turn also delete it from iCloud*.

This time I’d like to go over the best alternative photo backup options for you in more detail, because like it or not, in today’s world, just like paying for food, shelter and taxes, if you snap photos on your smartphone or camera, you will be paying for online storage. And paying more in the coming years as well, as you snap more images.

There’s no such thing as free backup anymore.

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Don’t use iCloud to backup your photos

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My friend Bill just returned from a family vacation in Costa Rica and shot lots of photos and video on his iPhone, including some killer shots of breakfasts with local monkeys.

No surprise that once he got home, he checked his iPhone storage and found that it was 98% full. Just a few more snaps, and he’d be totally out of room.

His solution? “I’ll just put them all on iCloud, and then delete them off my iPhone,” he told me.

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PSA: Google’s free cloud photo storage ends in 2 weeks – Here are eight alternatives

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Last November, Google announced that its free unlimited photo backup was going to end and it would all fall under the free shared 15GB get you with Google’s other services, like Gmail and Google Drive. Now, it’s almost upon us, with the service set to shut down on June 1st. You can, of course, upgrade to Google One (although there’s no “Unlimited” package), but what are your alternatives?

Well, none of the alternatives are really free, either. Not for unlimited storage, anyway. But with Google shifting over to a paid-only option with minimal free storage, the advantage they once had is now gone. Here we take a look at a few of the competing services for you to check out and see which best fits your needs.

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PSA: Amazon Photos auto-save might not be auto-saving all of your raw files

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The whole cloud backup thing has been a hot topic for a while now as various services have been simultaneously killing off unlimited storage while others have been bringing it back and trying to outdo each other to win over your business. Amazon Photos is one such service that offers unlimited space as long as you have a prime account – including your raw photos. But it seems it’s not backing up everything – even if you think that it is.

Reddit user /u/somebodytoshove posted to /r/photography noting that the auto-save feature of the Amazon Photos iOS app has not been uploading the .raf files from his Fuji mirrorless camera. It thinks it has, and it looks like it has, but when you look at the uploaded files, they actually contain only the jpg preview.

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Amber X is a privacy-focused in-home cloud storage for your photos you can access anywhere

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With all the goings-on at Google and people looking for alternate cloud storage options, sometimes it’s easier to just be your own cloud. I use Resilio Sync for this, but that does usually mean building up a dedicated PC. The Amber X wants to simplify that process with an inexpensive cloud-storage-in-a-box solution that lets you store your data and retrieve it anywhere.

Amber X is currently running on Indiegogo, where it’s long since passed its goal. It has a couple of days left to go, with pledges starting at $129. But we’ve got you a special link that’ll let you get your hands on one for just $119 – about the same cost you’d pay for a year of Google Photos or iCloud for the same storage, except there’s no subscription with this!

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New Google Photos storage rules could delete your Gmail and Google Drive files too

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Google recently announced they were killing off free storage for Google Photos from June 1st, 2021. A lot of people haven’t been happy with Google’s track record on moves like this, and have been seeking alternatives.

Many users assumed that any images already there would remain safe, but it seems not. Google has started emailing some of its Gmail, Drive and Photos users to let them know that their content may soon be deleted without warning or permission. Like the new Google Photos restrictions, these new policies also come into effect on June 1st, 2021.

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5 alternatives to Google Photos cloud storage for backing up your work

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Google Photos has been one of the best photo hosting cloud services out there, offering storage for an unlimited number of your photos absolutely free – as long as you didn’t mind a slight hit in image quality. But that is coming to an end and Google is abandoning its free tier. You still get your free 15GB (shared across all Google services, like Gmail, etc), but if you want any more than that, you’ll have to pay now.

It was a sweet ride while it lasted, and there aren’t really any great free alternatives out there now. But now that you do have to pay, what are the other top paid alternatives out there? Let’s take a look at five of them.

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Google is killing unlimited storage for non enterprise users – don’t move away from G Suite

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If you have been using the unlimited storage feature of G Suite to back up your photos and videos, wait before moving into Google Workplace. Google Workspace only has unlimited storage on enterprise plans.

Google made some big noise about replacing the G Suite with an even better Google Workspace. Among the many changes that may or may not be incredible for you, one change is clearly not in favor of high storage users.

If you or your team were using G Suite Business, you would get unlimited storage for $12/user. If I recall correctly, you needed at least four users to enroll in that level of service.  Now Google Workspace will only give you 2 TB of storage for your $12, 5TB for $18, and according to Android Police, you can move to an Enterprise account for $20 ($30 for enterprise+) and get the same unlimited storage. However, it will be at least 50% significantly more expensive.

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