When I read this headline, I could only shake my head in dismay:

Windows 11 user has 30 years of ‘irreplaceable photos and work’ locked away in OneDrive – and Microsoft’s silence is deafening. Via TechRadar

My backup suggestion includes a few inexpensive USB portable hard drives, a free open source program called FreeFileSync.

About FreeFileSync

You can see this no-cost program makes backing up easy:

FreeFileSync is a folder comparison and synchronization software that creates and manages backup copies of all your important files.

Instead of copying every file every time, FreeFileSync determines the differences between a source and a target folder and transfers only the minimum amount of data needed.

FreeFileSync is Open Source software, available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

My recommendation is get three or four drives, make a copy of your data to each, then put one drive at the bank in a safety deposit box. Rotate it once a month with a fresh copy, while keeping your other backups up to date.

My data files are a little under 2 terabytes, so my drives are around $60 each, approximately. I prefer Toshiba and Seagate. I also keep track of how old each is and replace a drive when it gets too old (4-5 years).

Of course, I also have a small subset of my data zipped and encrypted in cloud storage…the stuff you absolutely don’t want to lose. I have given collections of photos and family videos to my kids.

Simply, don’t put all your data in one basket, like the guy in the article did.