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Get at least 1 old Google pixel (1-5). Free unlimited uploads. Create 5 accounts. Duplicate all the time.
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get a backblaze account. Dump there.
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Amazon glacier. Cheap store.
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get a MS one drive 1TB (maybe you can get some school discounts)
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learn rclone and run scripts automatically to upload to all these services.
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for all DH- nerds: though I know mom's running Supermicro not everyone has time.
Data Hoarder
We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time (tm) ). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.
So out of touch. A mom of 3 using icloud, and you blab about rclone, amazon glacier and whatever.
Sometimes I feel everybody repeat over and over their nerdy lesson without reading the post, I feel this sub is often useless...
Lesson learned. 3-2-1 backup. 2 backups a the minimum. Cloud is just someone else's computer and anything can happen.
Well, as others said, ideally, follow the 3-2-1 backup rule: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/. An external drive plus some other cloud storage like Backblaze Personal or iDrive.
What do you recommend I do with my new photos and what's left?
Keep local backups.
Buy three hard drives.
One to serve as your main copy, and two more externals. Copy your data to the main drive then repeat that process to ensure each of your three drives has everything stored on it. Go to your safe deposit box and store one of the external hard drives there. While back at home, keep storing your photos on the main drive. Every week or so plug the external in and sync it so it is up to date. You can use something like FreeFileSync for this. In 3 to 6 months, go swap the external with the one in the safe deposit box and sync the drive when you get home. In another 3 to 6 months, go swap externals again. If you have an event where you have lots of precious media you created, consider taking a trip to the safe deposit box sooner. If you go a while without taking any good photos, you can put it off.
Your 3 children can be the biggest threat to your data depending on their age.
Hard drives are fragile and dropping them is bad. Don't give them the opportunity to knock them all over at once, and if age appropriate tell them how important it is to not drop/move/knock them over. If you have a safe at home store your external in there when not in use. If one gets damaged, you'll have two extra copies while you order a replacement.
If you don't have a lot of data (1,000 GB or more) consider using external SSDs since they are drop proof and cheap at those low capacities.