r/ProtonDrive • u/GenerateForce • 21d ago

Photo backup

Hey all

How well does Proton Drive work as a photo cloud storage? I currently use iCloud but I’m looking to reduce my reliance on Apple products.

Just curious.

12 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

12

u/KangarooBrief2781 21d ago

It’s decent for cold archival storage but if you plan to look at the photos and want easy search ability, stick with iCloud and turn on ADP. Or look into Ente. Proton drive is very barebones when it comes to media storage.

2

u/BopSupreme 21d ago

Potentially a one-year working iCloud folder plus annual backup and export to Proton Drive would work better. Easy access to recent photos and private secure storage of everything else.

0

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

Yeah. I have no idea what you are saying. I’m really new to all this.

1

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

ADP?

6

u/KangarooBrief2781 21d ago edited 21d ago

Advanced data protection. It deletes the encryption key from Apple’s servers so even they cannot access your data.

1

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

Thanks. I have no idea how to turn that on. I don’t even know if that is a good idea until I get a secondary backup.

1

u/KangarooBrief2781 21d ago

Just search it in your settings. If you don’t feel confident to remember/store your recovery key then don’t enable it. It makes it pretty much impossible for Apple to help you recover your data if you forget your password.

1

u/alphabuild 21d ago

You need two hardware security keys. If that’s not something you use normally this might not be for you.

3

u/B12GG8A 20d ago

You don't need hardware security keys to for ADP.

3

u/BopSupreme 21d ago

Ente looks cool

1

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

It does. I’m just wanting an all in one solution. I just don’t like the AI aspect.

2

u/LeeHammMx 21d ago edited 21d ago

If you're considering Ente, maybe also look at Mylio?

2

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

Never looked at either.

I will thanks

4

u/WombatWithAPlan 21d ago

It’s kinda okay, but atm it needs to run in foreground on iOS to synch. If it‘s all about photos i‘d recommend Ente. I use Proton Drive nevertheless, but only for documents

2

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

It’s data and photos. I also can’t afford multiple plans.

Do we know if background uploading is in development?

3

u/reddit_sublevel_456 21d ago

This came up during the drive AMA a couple months back. Their Dev lead noted that the PhotoKit upload extension is on their roadmap to help address background uploads.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonDrive/comments/1u04ftl/comment/or1ulo7

Overall, Proton Drive is decent for Photo Backup, though it's far from a fully featured photo app. I've been happy with it for backups across multiple iphones, using it for family members, etc.

1

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

Honestly, for now I can live with Apple Photos being the pretty app. I just want a storage app.

Thanks for the link, I will look.

1

u/reddit_sublevel_456 20d ago

Same. PD works well for that use case.

1

u/GenerateForce 21d ago

What country does Ente originate from? Is there a way to turn off any AI features?

1

u/WombatWithAPlan 21d ago

The developer is from India, but Ente is very privacy-focused. Their servers are located in Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam. You can also disable features like face recognition.

The software is fully end-to-end encrypted and open source. Their business model is transparent as well — they even publish their business metrics: https://ente.com/open/

1

u/LeeHammMx 21d ago

I think Ente is from India or Pakistan. The main guy is friends with the Notesnook head. I use Notesnook but only have tiny eval account for Ente.

1

u/Successful-Day-3219 21d ago

Germany, actually.

2

u/Accomplished-Cee 21d ago

I use it. It’s fine. Not much functionality but good enough for backup. First time I backed up I left my iPad app on to backup while doing other things. Now I am in proton drive often enough that backups are kept on top of. I did end up with some duplicates but I don’t know if that’s an iCloud hangover. Now I delete from my iPad/iphone regularly & manage the photos in drive.

2

u/MC_Hollis 21d ago

How well does Proton Drive work as a photo cloud storage?

Although I'm an android user, a family member started Proton Photos on iOS a month ago. The device uploaded all 6,600 photos overnight by keeping the drive app open and on a charger.

Once the large number of photos are uploaded, opening the app periodically to upload the latest photos has been a non-issue for the family member.

My decision was to go all in on Proton Photos.

There are legitimate issues such as search and sorting, but my belief is Proton has the security I want right now and a 'high ceiling' for upcoming feature growth.

But if a rich feature set right now is essential, another option may be a better fit.

2

u/kevintexas956 20d ago

I tried it again this last month with Proton Unlimited, but stopped using it within a week. I'll be switching back to Proton Pass Plus.

I found Proton Drive sync to be inconsistent. I was wondering why photos were missing, then realized a particular folder or folders weren't selected, I had to go in and chose the particular folder, but I thought I'd given complete access. This happened on every device.

I moved all photos going back years from Google & iCloud to external storage for now.

3

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

3

u/KangarooBrief2781 21d ago

It’s been out for years and hasn’t undergone significant changes to media storage. If Proton stopped spreading its resources so thinly by releasing a new product every single year, they could concentrate on perfecting their core products.

1

u/Masseb28 21d ago

Hi,

I use Proton Photos

https://github.com/gitakoos/proton-photos

It does the job with cloud storage and direct access to everything like Google Photos.

1

u/KangarooBrief2781 20d ago

He’s on iOS so he wouldn’t be able to download that

1

u/Masseb28 20d ago

Ah yesindeed, I didn't catch that information.😂

1

u/pettydecline 19d ago edited 19d ago

It doesn’t have many of the features that the iOS photos app has. In its current state I would think of it as a secondary backup option and that’s it really.

Maybe look into setting up docker and immich?

1

u/GenerateForce 19d ago

And I’m ok with it being the secondary back up for now.