What are you using for file storage?

Kristi Martin

Kristi Martin

Well-known member
I have been thinking lately about all of my digital files, which SO many of them are photos and scrapbook kits.
Currently I have all of my scrapbook related files (kits and layouts) backed up in Microsoft OneDrive along with my photos and other misc. files.
My photos are also backed up to Google Photos, Amazon Photos, and I literally have 1000s of photos on my iPhone.
I am a bit paranoid about losing files as years ago I lost several months worth of photos when a hard drive crashed and I didn't have everything burned onto CDs.

This has gotten me to thinking... burning things on CDs used to the way to save your photos, before that disks, both of which are no longer viable options.
Then I moved to jump drives, which are ok, but not a great and easy option. Now almost EVERYTHING is backed up in a cloud service of some sort, most of which I am paying for extra storage.

So... what happens when the day comes and I feel I can no longer pay for the extra storage? Paying for all of this extra storage can add up and as I near retirement my disposable income is going to be much less and some of my extras will most likely need to be paired down.)
What if the company shuts down? (I used to have my photos organized in Picasa and that is no longer available.) Or even worse case scenario, (yes, I am catastrophizing...), what if the whole cloud service breaks down?
Do you all rely mostly on cloud service for back up or do you have something like an external hard drive?

Another worse case scenario, what happens to all of your digital files when you pass away? Will your family have access to all of that? Do they know where or how to access all of it?
 
I have tons of stuff. At home, I have a Network Attached Storage system, which mirrors itself, so at any time, I have a failsafe system in case of problems. I am not as good about backing up as I should be. My son and I have a goal that we will set up a backup to use each other's NAS. That has not happened yet. In the meantime, I have an external drive that I back up from time to time (and I should do it more often!) to make sure that I have something to restore from.
 
I don't store anything on my computer anymore. I have my photos and digiscrap kits on an EHD, and I back up to carbonite. Hubby and I are thinking of setting up a NAS, as I have gigs and gigs of files and he takes tons of pictures (it is a side-hustle for him).
 
Such a good question. I've been paying for a SmugMug subscription for all my layouts and photos, and have also started putting some photos on the photo storage service through Amazon Prime. But you're right... what happens when technology changes or my financial situation calls for some serious choices? I've also been looking at my WALL of Creative Memories albums that I created 20-30 years ago. They take up SO much space. What do I do with these completed pages? Would anyone in my family want them? Do I donate them to a history museum (lol)? At least my digital pages don't contribute to the clutter in my home.
 
I use 1-terra-byte passports. They are very easy to save to, and access right from my computer. Since I don't want anything on anybody's 'cloud', I like the anonymity I get with the passports (I also back up everything on my computer periodically - about every two months). The passports are easy to disconnect and stick in pockets - if I ever had to evacuate, they are super easy to deal with and I wouldn't lose everything.
 
Alice said:
I use 1-terra-byte passports. They are very easy to save to, and access right from my computer. Since I don't want anything on anybody's 'cloud', I like the anonymity I get with the passports (I also back up everything on my computer periodically - about every two months). The passports are easy to disconnect and stick in pockets - if I ever had to evacuate, they are super easy to deal with and I wouldn't lose everything.
Click to expand...
Will you please explain more about what a Passport is? Is there a name brand? I looked it up on Amazon but all I got was travel passport related items. :)
 
I have a couple of EHDs that stay connected to my laptop all the time, and they are stored in a little sticky pocket I bought on Amazon. I pay for a large amount of storage on Google Drive, but beyond that, I don't have anything else backed up other than physical backups on my EHDs. I paid for Backblaze for years, but when my computer died and I had to get a restore, it was a nightmare. All my stuff was a mess, and for some reason each folder was inside like 10 other folders of the same name, so it was crazy trying to find things. I decided I'm not paying for that stuff anymore - I'd rather buy several drives and just keep it backed up myself! Now, I will say I don't copy things over as often as I probably should..
 
I have a bunch of big external drives that are mostly full. I use the small western digital pocket drives never had a problem but I have one now that is not working i usually back up to two of them but with being sick so much I don't do it like I used to luckily when my laptop died on me the omputer guys were able to get everything I had on there and put it on a pocket drive I have to looked into it to see if there is a way to get the files off the failed pocket drive.
 
I have a few hard drives holding old files and I have printed all my travel books. I posed the question to my son, "what will happen to my scrapbooks when I am gone?" He agreed that he would keep them (I switched to 8x8 books some time ago so I have printed those out for my enjoyment.) My son says since they are small enough he would store them on a shelf in his entertainment room. I am happy with that!

Books that I made for my grandie have already been given to him.

My heritage books are going to my nephew who has agreed to carry on our ancestor journey, this was added to my will some time ago.

My heart is happy!
 
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