Content Overview

What is Content?

When we refer to “content” at Image Edits, we mean any file type associated with our service, including:

Source images
Output/completed images
Project images
Logos
Profile images
Any future file types we may support

Currently, our systems manage over 100TB of data, with rapid growth expected. To balance cost-effectiveness and long-term storage, we employ various strategies for file storage and retention.

⚠️

Never upload sensitive content to Image Edits. All content is designed to be easily shareable and downloadable. This includes uploads to real estate websites and sharing with photographers, agents, or team members. Avoid storing sensitive information like contracts, personal data, or non-public domain material.

Life Cycle of Content

Initial Storage

Third-Party S3 Storage

All new content is initially uploaded to our S3 storage, hosted by a third-party cloud provider. This ensures:

Extensive backup capabilities
High availability
Global accessibility

We commit to storing all new content in this primary storage for a minimum of 90 days, with aims to extend this period significantly.

Local Backup

Local S3 Storage Network

During the initial storage period, content is backed up to our local S3 storage server network. This solution offers:

Significantly lower costs
Improved performance
Easy expandability

While this storage is more susceptible to outages, it allows us to retain data for extended periods.

Cloud Backup

OneDrive Backup

As an additional safeguard, we back up content to OneDrive, a third-party cloud storage provider. This extra layer of protection is crucial for disaster recovery scenarios.

ℹ️

This backup strategy applies only to content files (images/files) and not to database information, which has its own comprehensive backup procedures.

Future Plans

Long-term Storage Optimization

We’re developing strategies to optimize long-term storage for both source and completed files:

Old Source Data

Target: Large files (e.g., RAW files) older than one year
Action: Convert to DNG format, aiming for ~3MB file size
Result: Original large file is deleted to reduce storage costs

Old Completed Files

Action: Consolidate individual files into a single ZIP archive
Result:
- Previews remain available
- Full-size downloads require accessing the ZIP file
- All files retain their original quality from when the order was completed

These strategies will help us manage costs while maintaining access to historical data.