Regarding the Photobucket disaster, I had over a thousand pictures hosted there when it was free. When the "disaster" struck, I remained calm and waited patiently. Before the "we're going to delete everything" deadline, I was presented with what I thought was a reasonable compromise. I've been paying $120 a year ($10 a month) for unlimited storage amd bandwidth. I lost not a single image.
I realize that added to a Platinum membership here, that comes to a whopping $15 per month, and I could eat another McDonald's meal a month with that money, but somehow I still haven't starved.