SmugMug Launches SmugVault Service

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.smugmug.com/don/2008/06/23/smugvault-store-everything-for-next-to-nothing/' target='_blank'>http://blogs.smugmug.com/don/2008/0...ext-to-nothing/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>&quot;SmugMug has always allowed everyone to upload an unlimited number of web-displayable files - JPEG, GIF, PNG, and MP4 - but to date we haven&rsquo;t been able to accept the RAW files generated by modern digital cameras. For years our customers have been asking, begging, and pleading for us to let them upload their priceless archives. I&rsquo;m happy to announce that day has come!&nbsp; SmugVault is a new SmugMug product that lets you upload all the RAW, PSD, BMP, and TIFF files you&rsquo;d like. And not just those - we&rsquo;ll accept XMP sidecars, PDF files, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, video archives, and anything else you might want to store with your photos. What&rsquo;s more, we&rsquo;ll bundle your files together for easy, intuitive browsing and safe retrieval.&quot;</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1214328553.usr1.jpg" border="1" alt="" /></p><p>SmugMug does a great job storing my photos, so this seems to be a natural extension of that service. Here's what I'm not so sure about though: I did the math and to store 100 GB of data with SmugVault, it would cost $22/month. With <a target="_blank" href="http://jasondunn.carbonite.com">Carbonite</a> [affiliate] or <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mozy.com">Mozy</a>, I can get unlimited data for around $5 per month. So what's the value in paying $22/month? My guess is that services such as Carbonite and Mozy are making money in the overall picture (losing money on the 100 GB users, making money on the 5 GB users), whereas the 15 cents per GB that SmugMug is charging is a per-GB profit plan. Backing up your data is hugely important, but I don't see the value in SmugMug's offering for people that have more than 20 GB or so of data to back up. What's your take on this?</p>

[Rob Alexander]

I agree that this seems a bit steep for what you get, though I also keep my photos on Smugmug and really like their service for that. I have been using Carbonite for nearly a year for full backups, but I find it aggravating in several ways and will not renew my subscription. Just this week, though, I have started trying out a new backup product that is quite intriguing.

The service is called syncplicity (www.syncplicity.com) and here's the great thing about it. Carbonite backs up your files, but only on one computer and that's all it does. Syncplicity let's you access your account on several computers and it synchronizes your files between them. I have used a USB drive for years to sync between my work and home computers (well, I actually started it with an Iomega Jaz before there was such a thing as USB), and that works well, but I have to remember to actually do the sync as the first and last things each time I use one of the computers. Then, I have so many files, that it takes a good three minutes or so to just check and see if any files are changed. That feels like a long time when you're standing there waiting to go out the door. Anyway, with this service, any time you log in with one of your computers, it checks to see what's changed and it syncs them in the background automatically.

I can't tell you how it works yet, as I am still in my initial upload (I have only 7 days left until it's complete), but the idea is great so I'm excited about seeing how it does. Oh, and it also syncs your PC with your Google Docs and with something on Facebook (I don't recall what), so that's an added bonus. You can also access your files from the web and you can share a folder with someone who is not part of their service (they email a web link to the person you name that gives them either read or full access). It's free now, while in beta, but is expected to cost about $20/month when released.

[Vincent Ferrari]

One of the things I like about Smugmug is that they're focused on providing the best photo experience on the web, and that's why my photos live there despite the plethora of free alternatives.

This rubs me the wrong way on many levels, not the least of which is that this distracts (even if it is ever so slightly) them from their core mission, for a service few people will use that isn't really competitively priced.

I'm not impressed, nor will I use it. I actually wish they had never launched it in the first place.

[Jason Dunn]

I have been using Carbonite for nearly a year for full backups, but I find it aggravating in several ways and will not renew my subscription. Just this week, though, I have started trying out a new backup product that is quite intriguing.

I'm giving up on Carbonite for two reasons: one, I could never get it working properly after re-installing Vista on my machine that Carbonite was backing up...the Carbonite service wouldn't constantly use 100% of my CPU cores, and after a month of trouble-shooting with tech support they were unable to solve the problem for me. I'll likely be going with Mozy.

The service is called syncplicity (www.syncplicity.com (http://www.syncplicity.com)) and here's the great thing about it. Carbonite backs up your files, but only on one computer and that's all it does.

I took a look at it, and it seems somewhat flawed in my opinion: right now you can get the PC to PC synchronization for free with FolderShare of Live Mesh. Both work great, and allow unlimited data to flow from one PC to another. Live Mesh gives you only 5 GB of in-the-cloud storage, while FolderShare gives you nothing. But Foldershare (free) + Mozy ($5/month) gives you unlimited storage in the cloud and across all your PCs, all for only $5/month. I'd need to spend about $30/month on Syncplicity to get 90 GB of storage, which isn't enough for me.

[Rob Alexander]

I took a look at it, and it seems somewhat flawed in my opinion: right now you can get the PC to PC synchronization for free with FolderShare of Live Mesh. Both work great, and allow unlimited data to flow from one PC to another. Live Mesh gives you only 5 GB of in-the-cloud storage, while FolderShare gives you nothing. But Foldershare (free) + Mozy ($5/month) gives you unlimited storage in the cloud and across all your PCs, all for only $5/month. I'd need to spend about $30/month on Syncplicity to get 90 GB of storage, which isn't enough for me.


Ah, well, there you hit the nail on the head. Up until about a week ago, they were saying the price was going to be $20/month for unlimited storage and it has been an elegant service... very well-designed. I would have paid that. But now that they've announced their pricing policy, they've totally lost it. I would need to spend about $50/month to store what I'm currently storing on Carbonite and that's just out of the question. Syncplicity is a goner from my PC.


Since Carbonite has been such a problem for me, Mozy was the next one I was going to try. I didn't think Foldershare would have worked for me because you needed both computers on at once, but I never considered combining it with Mozy. I'll have to check that out.

[Jason Dunn]

Ah, well, there you hit the nail on the head. Up until about a week ago, they were saying the price was going to be $20/month for unlimited storage

Ah, I see. Yeah, for $20, that's a slick solution having both local and online backups. For $50/month, it's not practical.

I didn't think Foldershare would have worked for me because you needed both computers on at once, but I never considered combining it with Mozy. I'll have to check that out.

Yeah, definitely do - FolderShare works well for PC to PC sync, and Mozy works well for backup...