Help South america Cloud Storage???

Hello i am leaving to South America on April 13th and returning sept 1st. 2012

i am all pretty much ready to go . but i still havent figured out my photo situation?

should i just burn cds???

i was going to get an account at http://www.idrive.com/ is it worth it??? how much gb should i get???

150gb / 500gb ?

i will be going to Argentina,Chile,Bolivia,peru,ecuador

Thank you!

I prefer to back up onto another SD memory card or USB stick/thumb drive rather than a cd.

I prefer to back up onto another SD memory card or USB stick/thumb drive rather than a cd.

so do not get the cloud storage? right now i have 2 16gb memory cards i'll probably buy more as i go along. can you recommend a

USB STICK???? ive never bought one

thanks heaps!

yuma

Cloud storage while on the road sounds like good solution , but you´ll need extreme high speeed connection. Not familiar with SA , but I doubt you´ll find places that are comfortable with or practical for uploading gigs of picures in a single session . It could be an extra option for a few once in a lifetime shots.

You also need to be aware of the possibilty of the cards getting infected at net cafes etc . Make sure that your SD card is locked in read only mode before uploading.

In the Andes , keep in mind that hard drives also get altitude sickness : standard warranty says max 3000 meters , which is on the safe side : I´ve used my laptop in xLeh , and computers in xLhasa , Gyantse etc without problems , but above 4000 meters they start to break at alarming rates . Not an issue with shut off drives.

another alternative is a small portable USB hard drive. I have a 650GB Samsung S2 which is more than enough to store the photos you want to take.

Good luck!

Memory cards are not sensitive to altitude : no moving parts. Used them up to around 5500 meters , and they have been used literally above 10 000 as well. ( Macchu Pichu is a lot lower than often believed : the peak is one thousand meters lower than Cusco , and you´ll sleep even lower .)

I am not taking a laptop with me. only a camera/memory cards . so what is a better option then??? no hardrives? that seems like its destined to get stolen or broken.

flash card?

or burn cds?

I have the Sandisk extreme pro memory cards. are these going to break down in La Paz? Machu pichu? i think those are the high altitude places il be going to .

I really dont know what to do about saving pictures? my time is running out

2 weeks

should i just buy a flash drive in south america? burn cds. and cross my fingers????

Thank you

Edited by: Yumaviaja

Just save your photos on SDHC cards. 16GB is a lot of good photos. Buy an extra SDHC if you are nervous, cheaper than a flashstick. Sandisk sells SDHC Extreme cards up to 32GB. Better yet, trash the bad shots in your camera and save storage space.

More important is that you have an extra camera battery and don't forget your recharger!

J

cool thanks i think im going to get the could storage as well!!! i plan on getting a few more memory cards when i get to ushuaia since its tax free down there they will be cheaper than here in California.

Im taking 2 extra batteries. my charger and a USB cable

anyone know of a good cloud storage site????

If you have a msn/hotmail account, skydrive provides 25GB of free storage.

ya i do have a hotmail account.!25 gb? is that going to be enough??? for 4 months in 4 or 5 countries

1. Check the maximum size limit for attachments - you´ll make a lot of emails.
2. Check the possible upload speeds - I think you are in for a nasty surprise. Try it at a netcafe in your hometown if possible , to get a baseline on what´s possible.

ya i think hotmail is going to be a wash.

burns cds? memory cards? and usb stick? and Cloud storage?

is that overkill?

hotmail sucks for uploading pics

How large are the files for each image? How many photo's do you take on an average day? Do a quick bit of maths and you'll find out how many cards you'll need. It may work out that a portable hdd makes more sense than buying a succession of sd cards, but the spinning disks are a liability and SSD's are expensive and still offer no guarantee that they won't fail. A large usb drive would probably be my suggestion for flash media, but make sure to buy a named brand from a reputable supplier - there are far too many knock-off's on ebay etc.

Personally I use my netbook, back the pics up onto there, and onto a cheaper, slower card and then burn 2 dvd's, mailing one home. Only when the dvd has been checked and the pics transferred onto my pc at home am I happy.

Keeping the pics on portable media with you is all well and good but what happens if you're bag gets drenched and the data's corrupted or, heaven forbid, someone relieves you of your possessions?

In theory, cloud storage is a fantastic idea for those on the mood. In practice, from my experience it's a no-go. If you had your own computer and were regularly staying in places with a decent wifi connection you could let it upload some each night but without that option are you really willing to spend hour upon hour sat in internet cafes with pathetic upload speeds seeing your photo's slowly, slowly, slowly but surely pop off one by one?

There's no right answer but when it comes to backing up photo's from a once in a lifetime trip, there's no such thing as overkill.

The OP says that s/he is not taking a laptop on the trip, just camera with SD cards.
So some options are:
- use internet cafe or borrow someone's PC/laptop to copy content of SD cards to USB stick (cheap) and mail it home. Helps to take a SD/multi card reader with you.
OR
- cloud storage but also requires decent internet upload speed
OR
invest in a cheap netbook to transfer pics to USB stick and send home.

No right or wrong or best answer - just whatever suits BUT for most flexibility I would get a cheap (even 2nd hand) netbook as these can be purchased for less than AUD $100 (2nd hand), usually has wifi (g), has 1 SD reader (make sure it reads SDHC cards) and 2 or 3 USB ports.

Good luck!

it is a 12 megapixel canon s100 digital camera.

It seems like a hassel to travel around south america carrying a laptop no?

I think i will get the cloud storage for really important pictures? Machu Pichu /amazon/patagonia/ lake titicaca etc. As long as i can get the really important ones right? I have a friend in Buenos Aires who can help me there but after that in bolivia Peru and Ecuador im not sure what to do

cds, usb sticks, cloud storage, and facebook are my only options i guess?

thanks for the help i will let you guys know how it goes... i dont think i can bare not having a picture at machu pichu!

Not laptop - get a netbook. it is small (10" screen or smaller) & lightweight.
I have traveled with a netbook for 4 years. it's 10" screen and fits in my shoulder bag.

I see.! can you recommend one? i will be staying in Hostels im going to say 90 % of the time.

will i really be that much better off? it will be another expensive electronic to charge and look after.?

Edited by: Yumaviaja

If using public computers be careful for viruses and other nasties on your cards/pendrives. A friend lost all his snaps this way.
Uploading takes time, many internet service companies have slower upload speeds.
One advantage of saving your stuff online is that in the event your gear is stolen you'll still have your pics.

Yuma there's heaps out there..just google it.
Dell, Acer, Toshiba, IBM, HP. Just find one that's in your price bracket. Just make sure it is Win 7 and has wifi, 3 or 4 USB poots and a built in SD card reader.

If using public computers be careful for viruses and other nasties on your cards/pendrives. A friend lost all his snaps this way.

The Locks on the memory card didn't work????

Uploading takes time, many internet service companies have slower upload speeds.
One advantage of saving your stuff online is that in the event your gear is stolen you'll still have your pics.

I understand but if i have to spend an hour a day uploading pics i will do it to make sure they are safe right?

Yeah. It is overkill. Do the math, what is the size of your average photo? How many shots can you carry on the two 16GB cards you already have? Have you ever filled even one of your 16GB cards? Are you going to store so many photos that your worthwhile shots will be lost in the avalanche of captured memories?

I just store on my SDHD, keep them in their plastic case and seal in a baggie. They are small and light and not as prone to damage as a cd/dvd.

Absent the risk of theft, flood or fire, of course.

Edited by: TravelinTom

Thanks Tom. 12 megapixel camera. I dont think I will be taking pictures non stop all day? I have 3 battries a charger , usb cable, and 2 16 gb extreme pro sandisk memory cards with locks. I will be getting a year of storage with www.idrive.com , burning cds whenever possible. and uploading to Facebook and hotmail. anything else i can think of will do to! i will invest in a flash drive when i get to South america probably in Ushuaia TAX FREE!!!!

My friend isn't very tech savvy so no idea about the read-only switch, my guess is he didn't even know there was one. It was five years ago. My point is be careful, people will tell you it isn't possible for memory cards/pen drives to get viruses, which is total nonsense. If your camera has internal (non-removable) storage I would be wary of connecting it to a computer I wasn't sure about. I just picked up a Lumix point-and-shoot (LS5) and it has a small amount of built-in memory, barely enough for one pic. I'll do some research into what this area is about and accessing it when I have some time.

If your uploads take a long a time it may not be practical to, let's say, hang around an internet place for four hours while the upload runs. However, if you had your own notebook and you were staying in a place with wifi you could just let it run overnight.

I visited a duty-free zone in the north of Chile once (I think it was Iquique) and wasn't too impressed with the price of things, didn't by anything. Later, when traveling south and well out of town there was an inspection point, they were asking what things we bought in the duty-free zone. I've done a lot of overland travel over the decades, and this inspection was one of the most rigorous I experienced, and this wasn't even a border crossing! A lot of us were getting our bags emptied and scrutinized, long tables right there on the side of the road. The question was more "where did you get this?" as opposed to "what do you have?" This was just a regular Chilean bus between towns. Made me wonder what the attraction of the zone was. Anyway, I have no idea what Ushuia is about, and have never been much of a duty-free shopper (got a bunch of Milky Ways on the ferry out of Argentina once :^) but I figure I'd mention this.

I'm currently in SE Asia, the going rate for pen drives is about US$8 for 8Gb and US$15 for 16Gb, full-sized SD cards are app. same prices, maybe a little cheaper depending on brand name. I looked on amazon.com and it's roughly the same prices. My guess is the prices won't be much better in a S. American duty-free zone. You might consider stocking up before you go.

Ok thanks for the tips i just figured they would be cheaper over there.

the only problem with uploading my pics overnight
would be that i am staying in Hostels 90% of time i could easily wake up with no camera or notebook. so spending 4 hours in a internet cafe is worth it even if im just uploading Important Pictures and risk losing the not so important right?

i dont know where your from? but here in California

16gb memory card cost me 70 dollars so compare that to 15$? and its next to free!

Glad I could help.
Shop around for the cards online for deals (I briefly checked amazon while writing my previous msg). I don't know about the latest in memory speeds etc, but I notice that even here in SEA the price can vary up to 4 times the cost of the cheapest ones, which I think are the brand Transcend. They threw in a 2Gb one of these when I bought my Lumix, it's ok so far, but then again I never saved more than a few hundred Mb at a time before copying out and reformatting.

When it's all over be sure to tell us what strategy you used and how it went.

I will thanks a Lot bendejo and everyone else who gave advice. 10 days left before i fly to buenos aires!!!!

By far the easiest and cheapest is get 6-7 16gig flash cards for the camera. I think they will be much cheaper in California than anywhere “tax free” in Argentina. 16 gig cards run as low as $19.00 each $100 worth will give you 80gigs of photos more than you will ever look at. Shoot the card full and put it in your passport case which of course you will never lose.

Backing up to CD or DVDs takes a computer which may add viruses to your flash card. Using a USB flash drive requires a computer that may corrupt the USB drive.

More cards for you camera is the best way to go.

ok that sounds good. but they are not cheap in california at all!!!! 70 dollars for sandisk extreme pro 16gb im taking 2 for now. I can buy them down there right? dont have time to order them online!!!!

Do you live in Cali? if you do and you know where to get them that cheap please tell!!!!!

everything in California is expensive cant be more expensive in argentina or bolivia or peru thats nonsense

Edited by: Yumaviaja

Argentina has ok internet but uploading photos will take forever, so forget cloud storage.
every hostel i went to people were using laptops, netbooks, iPads etc etc. Most hostels have free wifi also and never enough PC's

so either get enough cards to cover your needs or a cheap netbook to use as a backup and device to do bookings etc on the internet.

know of any place to get a cheap one? where am i going to keep it? i dont wanna be walking around with a netbook everywhere i go

what about buying a netbook in South America?

Jeepers, Yuma! You say you have two 16GB cards already. Check your "Getting Started" booklet or the online Canon camera manual. Each card will hold about 3,500 large format JPEG images, 7,000 total. Easier, just insert a blank, formatted card in your S100 and it will tell you exactly how many shots are available at the format size, JPEG v RAW, and aspect ratio you expect to shoot at.

haha ya Travelin Tom i just purchased this too http://www.corsair.com/usb-drive/flash-survivor-usb-drives/flash-survivor-usb-3-32gb-usb-flash-drive.html

and i also bought a Memory card reader to take with me as well i hope to bring back my images on flash drive/memorycards/a bit of internet/as well as burned cd's I hope it goes great im leaving this friday!!!!!

If you're still thinking about your storage situation while in BsAs, check out Galeria Jardin in Microcentro. It's a mall with lots of shops selling computer stuff. Prices will vary from place to place. All in all, SA is not the best place to shop for tech stuff.
Also, in that area, be careful of pickpockets, birdshit scammers, etc (see SA branch if you don't know what this means). That pedestrian promenade attracts all sorts...

i read about the birdshit scammers and i know about pickpockets to a certain point. what do you recommend im taking a Survivor flash card is 32gb and water proof to 200meters / Memory card reader , and a couple of 16gb memory cards.

should work? hope to come home with pictures!!!

what South america Forum are you talking about? when it comes to scams pickpockets etc?

Edited by: Yumaviaja

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=22

"a Survivor flash card is 32gb and water proof to 200meters.."

My iPod Shuffle is nearly waterproof : have gone thru the washing machine ..twice. Works fine after drying.

( # 38 : ??South America branch link ???)

ipod shuffle? what does that have to do with photo storage im not taking an mp3 player to south america. ???

thanks for the link read tips and articles?

it doesnt really matter now. i ended up losing a good portion of my pics got mugged in santiago chile

Bad news - sorry to hear that.

Ya i know I uploaded a lot of pics to my flash card. and onto facebook.

i wish i would have done it more often. i think a netbook would have came in handy for this as the computer in hostels is terrible.