Photo/File Storage - recommendations?

[Kitsune]

I need recommendations for photo/file storage, ideally offsite. AKA: I am a parent, and have... a lot... of pictures of my kid (soon to be kids). These matter to me in a way that a lot of physical items don't, and if my house burned down they'd be what would matter to me, so having everything backed up on a hard drive isn't necessarily the best.

I'd like a recommendation for cloud-based storage. I currently use Dropbox but would need to pay for enough storage space to actually back up our wedding/newborn/kid photos, and was wondering if there was a better/cheaper/different option that people here would recommend.

I'd ALSO like this to be secure enough that I could store important documents (say, scanned insurance information for our homeowner's insurance, which seems handy if something happens to the house it's in...), so... any suggestions?

To be clear: I'm willing to throw a few dollars a month at a reasonable solution that provides peace of mind. I'm not willing to throw lots of money, complicated 'solutions', or lots of work at it. I need something that backs up what I need backed up so that I know it will remain accessible even if something happens to our computer, basically.

Suggestions? Mustachians tend to lean towards the tech-oriented and finance-oriented, I figure you guys have gotta have something decent to suggest... ;)

[RetiredAt63]

I have 2 big memory sticks that have all my backed up files. One lives in my safety deposit box.  Every so often I do a fresh backup on the one in the house, take it to the bank and trade sticks so the fresh update is in the safety deposit box.  Then the one with old files goes home and gets updated, just in case something happens to the computer.  So at that point I have 2 fully updated memory sticks.  Then a month or so later (depending on how much new stuff there is) I go through the whole routine again.  Total investment, 2 high-capacity memory sticks and some time.

[Kitsune]

I have 2 big memory sticks that have all my backed up files. One lives in my safety deposit box.  Every so often I do a fresh backup on the one in the house, take it to the bank and trade sticks so the fresh update is in the safety deposit box.  Then the one with old files goes home and gets updated, just in case something happens to the computer.  So at that point I have 2 fully updated memory sticks.  Then a month or so later (depending on how much new stuff there is) I go through the whole routine again.  Total investment, 2 high-capacity memory sticks and some time.

.... and the fee for a safety deposit box, which I don't have. I considered it, but it seemed like the most expensive option compared to cloud storage.

(And I don't have enough jewelry/important hard-copy stuff to really justify the fees associated with a safety deposit box...)

[Syonyk]

Google Photos for photo backup. Drive for documents.

[ketchup]

Depending on the quantity of files, something pretty hands-off like Backblaze or Crashplan could do the trick.  I'd stay away from any photo-specific solution, as they very well could be compressing or otherwise messing with your data.

If it's a truly massive amount of data, and being added to often, your best bet is probably an external hard drive at a friend's house or in your office at work that you swap once a month (or whatever's appropriate) with an identical one at home that's mirrored to whatever your main storage is.  Replace the drives with new ones every few years.

[Proud Foot]

Google Photos for photo backup. Drive for documents.

Second this.  Especially for the photos.  I can't remember the upload setting at the moment but there is a upload setting which will allow you to have unlimited storage space for photos.  I like it because I can easily back up all my photos to the same place easily whether its from my phone or computer. I no longer need to transfer my photos to my computer and then somewhere else to back them up.

[BigRed]

No one has any concerns about what Google is doing with the ever more complex information they are able to generate from your store of photos?

[fatcow240]

I used Amazon Prime photos for a while.  I had to upgrade due to the 5GB limit on videos and non-pictures.  I pay $60/year.  I now keep my most important items on my network drive and Amazon.  I can accept the risk that my drive and Amazon will fail at the same time.

[RetiredAt63]

I have 2 big memory sticks that have all my backed up files. One lives in my safety deposit box.  Every so often I do a fresh backup on the one in the house, take it to the bank and trade sticks so the fresh update is in the safety deposit box.  Then the one with old files goes home and gets updated, just in case something happens to the computer.  So at that point I have 2 fully updated memory sticks.  Then a month or so later (depending on how much new stuff there is) I go through the whole routine again.  Total investment, 2 high-capacity memory sticks and some time.

.... and the fee for a safety deposit box, which I don't have. I considered it, but it seemed like the most expensive option compared to cloud storage.

(And I don't have enough jewelry/important hard-copy stuff to really justify the fees associated with a safety deposit box...)

I don't have any jewelry in my safe deposit box, it has wills and things, it is the smallest size and they just fit.  Good thing a memory stick is so small.  Documents to make life easier for my executor.  My most expensive jewelry is my wedding and engagement rings, and if anyone wanted to steal them it would take care of the "what do I do with them?" problem.  ;-)

Since I had the safety deposit box anyway, I use it for this as well.  If I were still working, I would have it in the back of a drawer at work.  Not all workplaces would be suitable for this, though, I realize.

[nobody123]

My wife and I pay like $40/year for SmugMug for our photos.  You can pay a little more to let you store your other documents in whatever format you want.  It's essentially a nice front end for Amazon S3.  I use Dropbox for my documents.

[Syonyk]

No one has any concerns about what Google is doing with the ever more complex information they are able to generate from your store of photos?

Not that outweighs the benefits.  Though I wish they'd learn the difference between a cat and a ferret.

Google takes personal data security quite seriously.

[GoBigRed]

I use Amazon for photo storage.  Had to upgrade for videos.  But now that they have a photo printing service (with free shipping for Prime Members), it saves us a ton of time.  I use Google for files though.

[Dave1442397]

I use Hewlett Packard's Autonomy backup product - http://www8.hp.com/us/en/software-solutions/backup-governance-solutions.html

I pay around $60/year and they back up my data every night, and there's no limit to how many files or how much data I can store. I've been using it for five years now with no issues.

[nereo]

another vote for Google Photos and Drive. 
FWIW I've worked as a freelance photographer off and on, and I have ~40,000 photos archived from over a hundred jobs (and that's after culling). Occasionally one calls me up because they need some photos for a wedding/graduation/anniversary/funeral.

I also backup on USB flash drives (one per project) so I still have physical (so to speak) copies in my home, and I keep high-res thumbnails (suitable for screen viewing) on my main computer so I can quickly sort through them.

[Kitsune]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll check out Google photos first, I think, because that seems like the easiest option. :)