Electronics

[GingerPeach]

What's everyone's favorite way to back up files on your PC?

I could use Dropbox, or flash drives, or Microsoft or other sites offering storage.

Any favorites or pros and cons?

(I regret to say I haven't done it sooner.)

[Caffeina]

I prefer using my own external drives. I don't want my files on the internet.

[Foxxee]

I use an external drive.  I don't trust online storage.  

[Mz iMac]

Agree 110% regarding external drives.

I also use Time Machine (included w/Macs), CDs & DVDs.

EDIT:  I also use Dropbox which is backed up by Time Machine.

[Nuttmeg]

I have Carbonite. 

[SilleeMee]

External drive for me also.

[gardenman]

I use Microsoft's One Drive (part of my Microsoft 365 subscription,) Amazon's cloud (part of my Prime membership), and Google Drive ($1.99 a month) and I've also got a 1TB portable hard drive. Suffice to say, I'm unlikely to permanently lose anything. All three back up all of my photos automatically. Microsoft's One Drive backs up all of the Word documents and Office stuff automatically. I use the others to back up important stuff also, but they don't always do it on their own.

The issue with only using one thing, like a portable hard drive, is if something bad happens (fire, flood, tornado, etc.) to your house, you lose your backups. And fires, floods, tornados can happen. If you keep the hard drive plugged in all the time and a bad power surge fries your PC, it can fry your hard drive also. 

More backups are better than fewer backups. Cloud storage is safe, affordable (in many cases free,) and gives you access to your stuff no matter where you are as long as you have Internet access. 

[hckynutjohn]

@GingerPeach 

I have used external drives for years to back up my contents. Even use 1 to be able to store special shows from Dish Network.

Like others, I trust these drives more than having it on the cloud or other places more accessible to others.

hckynut 🏒

[GingerPeach]

Excellent points made by everyone,

Thank you @gardenman @SilleeMee @Nuttmeg @Mz iMac @Foxxee @Caffeina Much appreciated. And @hckynutjohn 

I've ordered a few different sizes of flash drives and will look further into online storage.

[SilleeMee]

@GingerPeach 

Check out Toshiba Canvio Basics.  Comes in different TB sizes. Top-rated, easy to use as the name implies..."basic"....no extra fluff which most people don't use anyway b/c it's hard to understand how to use most of it.