Laurent’s blog

SmugMug launches SmugVault: protecting your digital negatives has never been easier

SmugMug has always been in a category of its own. I have been using it for longer than Flickr because it addressed my need for a sound place that will take care of my best pictures. Their mission to keep my pictures in perfect (digital) conditions makes me feel safe. They secure the photos in their larger formats without altering them, making them available online in a very intuitive interface and, if I wish to order a hard backup, they can send me backups on DVD.

On the contrary to SmugMug, Flickr’s fluid interface makes it easier to stream and distribute publicly a few, lower quality, pictures that I wouldn’t mind loosing. I do not expect from Flickr to be a reliable backup service for pictures.

The good news is that today, SmugMug founder’s Don MacAskill has reinforced its commitment to safegarding my digital negatives above and beyond what already existed. The extended service is called SmugVault and allows to easily store all negatives or assets around a picture. But most importantly, it is possible to upload the RAW files directly and pricing is based on your actual usage.

I gave up a long time ago on using hard drives or DVDs as backup. Instead I moved all my personal archive to a dedicated S3 account. With a slick new interface targeted at photographers, this messy solution won’t be necessary anymore.

Pricing is as follow and uses Amazon DevPay:

• Storage costs 22 cents per gigabyte per month. If you upload the contents of a 2 GB memory card, you’ll be out 44 cents/month for storage.
• There is a $1/month recurring charge.
• Data transfer in is 30 cents per gigabyte. Data transfer out is 51 cents per gigabyte.
• Monthly addition to your home electrical bill: Zero.

CenterNetworks mention that a few people say this solution may be expensive. If you look at the actual value of having a flexible archive in terms of size without making investment in hardware or the uncertainty that your backups will not be corrupted or lost, having an archive online is well worth it. Moreover, prices are bound to drop overtime. Gartner estimates (in a 2006 report) that disk storage cost decreases by 50 to 60% per year.