Backing things up

I have free accounts with Dropbox and Googledrive. They are just like a file on your computer but you have a username and password to access them. This means that they can be accessed using any computer (in the cloud)

It's not difficult to do and you can automate the backup but most people just try and do it once week.

I always think it's worth buying big in computing terms and a 1Terrabyte external hard drive( that will connect to your computer with a usb cable usually) can be found for £50 or sometimes less.

You can have a new hard drive fitted internally to do the same job but it's a lot of faff for not much benefit.

You can also backup to the cloud.

If you use an iPad or iPhone or any apple product that would be the way to go. You create an account and get so much free storage . Then you pay if you need more. It not only stores your pictures but can synch them on your other d vices automatically and can also upload automatically.

If you use a Windows machine or an android phone then you can get a cloud account with OneDrive. Exactly the same process. A certain amount of storage if free then after that you pay.

Each method has benefits and cons. Once you've purchased your hard drive there's nothing more to pay BUT remember it's still technology and could break down or become corrupted and you could lose your precious memories . At least in the cloud they can't be corrupted.

Hope some of this helps.

Ps I have a one terabyte hard drive with about 15,000 pics on it and it's not even a quarter full.

An external hard drive is easy. You plug it into a USB port on your computer and it will appear on your file explorer. They are typically 1tb > 3tb and cost £50>£100. The downside is that they can still fail like any hard drive and can only be easily connected to one PC at a time.

The cloud is the safest way to go, no problem with the system failing. Depending on where you get your broadband etc from, thereis a lot of free Cloud space available. Easy to use and you just save your files as you normally do. Downside, you have to be connected to the internet to use it. An upside if you share documents is that you can access the same document from any PC.

I use both plus DVD's

My important files get backed up to both external drive and cloud.

Try cloud first, it is free. Look at this site for recommendations of free cloud space.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/free-online-storage

Photos get backed up to DVD and Cloud.