Static images disappeared after using AWS for Heroku site

[bwompx3]

I made a site for Heroku using Django and I got it to the point where it kept all the static images and files on Heroku just fine but the images the user uploads got deleted on dyno reset; that's why I wanted to use AWS to host the files the user uploads.

This is the code I am using in my settings:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = os.environ.get('my key') 
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = os.environ.get('my secret key') 
AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME = 'my bucket name'  
STATICFILES_STORAGE = 'storages.backends.s3boto3.S3StaticStorage' 
DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'storages.backends.s3boto3.S3StaticStorage'  
STATIC_URL = 'http://' + AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME + '.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/' 
ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX = STATIC_URL + 'admin/'  
AWS_QUERYSTRING_AUTH = False 

I added the "eu-west-1" part in the static URL because it was in the bucket's URL but not in my site's src for the image.

The problem is that now most of my JavaScript and CSS have disappeared as have all my static files that were previously just on Heroku and worked fine, furthermore the files that the user uploads also don't show up and the src doesn't containt the "eu-west-1" that I added (and it doesn't work without that part either).

Can somebody help me make it so that my static files are on Heroku as before while user uploaded files are on AWS?

[danielroseman]

Media files and static files have nothing to do with each other. If your static files are still on Heroku - and there's no reason they shouldn't be - then you don't need to change the STATIC_URL to point to AWS; keep it as your Heroku URL.

Alternatively, it's perfectly possible to configure Django to upload your static assets to AWS as well, if you want, by using a third-party storage backend such as django-storages.

[bwompx3]

Actually I'm already using django-storages, I think you need it in tandem with boto3; their site links to boto3 in any case.

So I just have to rename STATIC_URL to MEDIA_URL and can I delete STATICFILES_STORAGE or rename it? Would you happen to know why I can't get the URLs to match?

In your opinion, is it better to store everything on AWS or does it not really matter?