To the best of my understanding your uploaded photos on Photobucket are safe and not being "held hostage". PB just no longer allows you to link your images elswhere online if you're using their free account. If you wish to retrieve your images from PB they are available for download to your desktop by following the instructions below. Instead of downloading each image individually it appears that you can download entire albums at one time. It's a little time consuming but it involves the contents of the album being converted to a compressed Zip file first and then downloading the Zip file to your computer. You will need a bit of software to expand the Zip file and convert the contents into more standard image files like jpegs, but most computers already have some form of Zip software already installed. If needed you can download a free copy of 7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org/) or something similar. As stated on the Photobucket website: 4. Are my pictures still safe? Yes! All your photos are still available by logging into yourPhotobucket Account. Photobucket has only restricted the ability to view your photos on 3rd party sites. 5. Can I download my Photos? Absolutely, at any time. It is an easy four step process: Step 1. Login to your Photobucket Account Step 2. Navigate to your library page Step 3. View a photo and click the download button Step 4. The picture will be saved to your computer (Alternate Step 3: Select the album of your choice then scroll down the page to the "Actions" menu on the right and click on "Download Album".) Finally... If you have truly irreplaceable photos, do not depend on a free image hosting service as your only back-up storage. Plus you or the image hosting service will probably downsize your images to save storage space and make them upload and download quicker. As a result, these images are not the best quality for making prints, especially in larger sizes. Your best bet is to maintain your own copies of the full sized image files. You can burn them to CDs or DVDs or copy them to an external hard drive. For that matter, depending on how many images you need to save, you could store a surprising amount of images on an 8gb or 16gb thumb drive pretty cheaply. And as an extra safety measure consider storing any storage hard drives or discs away from your computer. Maybe place them in a detached garage, your place of business or a safe deposit box. If something tragic happens to your home you don't want to lose both the files stored on your computer as well as your back-up copies.
Good news. I don't use that kind of service, I post pix directly from my computer. So, I wonder what will happen to the HAMB threads where the OPs are not award of what is going on? Or don't revisit their old threads enough to realize how many of their images are no longer viewable? That their stories are far less complete now. Gary
I downloaded all my photos I had on PukeBucket to a folder on my PC, then uploaded a COPY of them to Flickr. When I was sure everything was OK, I deleted my PB account. Won't get caught like that again !
Photobucket did nothing "wrong", but people will hate them the rest of their life for what they did. One of the worst PR moves in history. -Abone.
So.... they embarrass you by leaving their calling card everywhere you used them to post pictures and most forums don't allow editing of older posts. But they did nothing wrong. It will take days to clean up most of the mess but probably will never all be cleaned up. I have deleted my account, but it is still there. I will never use another cloud type account.
I recently attempted to close out my meager PB account but my password wasn't accepted. I tried a password change but PB wouldn't accept the code that they sent me. Fortunately, I don't have a large amount of photos on Photobucket and what is there I have backed up on cds. I just wanted to get away from PB, I no longer do anything with that account. If there is still the rare site that requires I post from a third party site, I simply don't post.
Screw Photosucket. I quit them back when they pulled that stunt and deleted my account. I wouldn't use them again even if everything went back to the way they originally were.
the only photos I had on photobucket were the ones I posted here. I have duplicates on my computer and on CD
I used PB long before Ryan provided us with albums here on the Hamb, what I had on my PC I uploaded them to my album here. I tried to download the images that were on photobucket but I was blocked. HRP
"…what is there I have backed up on cds…." Hey Q, Photobucket is a sham and a lot of people got taken. But there are ways to do the same and you have control of the whole collection of things. Our cd collection of backup stuff was taking up too much space in the albums. As flat as a CD/DVD album is, there were plenty of them and they took up valuable office space. Plus, if we had to evacuate in an emergency, that collection is just another something to grab and take. So, the last thing we did was to get two 4 TB fast transferring hard drives that can fit in a small emergency grab bag. If necessary, they fit in my wife’s purse. Several years ago, there was a huge fire in the valley and hillsides behind us. Our granddaughter was visiting that night and mentioned a flickering in the night sky. When we went outside, we could see the flames and it seemed like it was right there within a block or two. Other people had their cars out and were doing their thing. We gathered the grab bag with those two external hard drives and our car keys, the dog and our granddaughter to get ready to leave at a moment’s notice. We kept an eye on the fire and within a few minutes, the multiple fire trucks on the service road was able to keep the burn level down until morning. The main reason we started the two external hard drives was that our son requested that we grab his family photo albums and our granddaughter if we had to leave his house in an emergency. They had 12-15 photo albums. There was no way that we were going to do that, so we told him. Then he mentioned scanning all valuable photos and papers onto an external hard drive and that would be the only thing necessary to take out in an emergency. Jnaki My wife and I are several steps ahead of his idea. We are on our 2nd set of external hard drives with more capacity, as the new stuff keeps piling up. 7 years of tax papers, expanding family photos, new big purchases, car registrations, our old collection of photos and papers, etc. it is a lot of stuff that 4 TB will easily handle and the external hard drives are in one place ready to do their emergency job. When the 4 TB gets somewhat full, then we will get a couple of 6 TB external hard drives. We are gathering a collection of external hard drives to give to our families and friends, as they are empty and our stuff is on the new bigger capacity hard drives. What became of our CDs that once held photos, music, and copied papers? They break just like old LP ALBUMS and don’t have a very long, useful life before fading into obscurity. Plus, we were not going to carry out a stack or suitcase full of them. They should last a long time, but will eventually degrade. Plus, how are you going to carry out a suitcase full of a CD/DVD collection? Useful is the key… a lot of laptops and tablets have no ability to play a CD/DVD unless an external one is added. The choice is yours, but there are other simple options to make any emergency exit fast and efficient. Everything is replaceable, except for old family photos and necessary household papers. Of course, the order is granddaughter, dog, wife and then me. There are reputable companies that have off site backup, Apple being one and Google being another. There is a charge for each service and may be the answer for some people. They have their own problems, but the choice is a different way to keep things.
I have close to 30,000 images stored in my "cheesy" cell phone.... I don't need no stinking photo bucket....
only 250 free. Others hostage Luckily I have my images on flash drives, but links are busted Similar to picasa when they went away
Until that cheesy cell phone dies and you have no way to get them off. That’s one thing I like about my Android phone, my pics are automatically backed up to Google and are accessible from any device from my google account. The pics I make with my Digital slr camera are uploaded to my computer, then I manually upload a copy to google. I also try to load a copy to an external hard drive if I want an extra copy. I also use Flickr for pics I want to post on boards, but I keep the original copies on my computer. If they go the photo bucket route, I’m still protected.
Jnaki, I appreciate you jumping into this and you bring up interesting points. I certainly wish I was as computer savvy as many. I take my photos very seriously. I don't want to lose them or watch them deteriorate. All my digital shots go onto cds yearly. I was able to scan my slides from the old days successfully and had pretty good luck doing the same with negatives. But even compacting things as I have, I have binders and cd jewel cases beyond the belief of many. I don't help myself by constantly reediting images to make them as pleasing as possible. So the collection keeps growing. I hadn't thought of external hard drives and after reading your experiences they are certainly to be considered. Thanks for your input. Keep smiling.
Hey B, I just read an article on Google photos. If you have a Pixel phone, you are exempt from any fees. But, there are a zillion Android phones. As much as photos are valuable, they do take up space, even more so if you do not "ZIP" them before uploading them. So, read this story and see if it affects your situation. https://www.engadget.com/google-photos-15gb-storage-cap-185527508.html Jnaki The idea of a an external hard drive is just so everyone has an alterative means of storing photos and family papers. It is also way of securing them for emergencies. Yes, a phone goes in the pocket, but what else do you need out of your house and office? We were in a similar CD/DVD situation as @quick85 and those CD/DVDs were growing like wild fire...pun intended. So, those items were like miniature family photo albums to have to lug around and carry to safety. What else goes in an emergency? We all can't move every living thing we would like to save... just the important stuff. Old photos, films and family stuff that can't be replaced. Everything else, although it will be a hassle, can be replaced. By the way, from your laptop, home desktop computer and digital files from modern cameras can be automatically send to the TB size external hard drives through various means, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, direct connection, etc. if that is what you do to simplify things. With the advent of the winter season sales, those external hard drives are getting lower in price for the bigger TB size items. 1TB will take a long time of stuffing it with photos and papers. 2TB should keep most for a couple of years. 4TB is so much space that it might be the last one we all need to buy. when one gets close to full, transfer it all to the larger size. thoroughly clean and empty your old TB drive and give it to a close friend for his backup/emergency files These small external drives will easily fit in most Hot Rod and Custom Car glove boxes, too. We have a small size 2tb drive in our tiny bank safe deposit box with backed up important files. No need for a huge box overflowing with tons of paper work and stuff. Good luck to all and all of your choices...
That's the problem. That's how they broke the internet. Millions of hours, nearly infinite quantities of experience, wisdom, and creativity have gone into creating photo dependent internet posts to inform and educate us on all the things we find interesting. Now so many of them are ruined because the photos can not be edited in from a different server, and most folks won't pay the fees to photosuckit.