Cloud storage vs external drive: where should your photos live?

Phones fill up with photos, and the question comes up sooner or later: pay for cloud storage, or buy an external drive? Each protects against different risks.

Cloud storage

Pros

• Automatic backup from your phone, often in the background
• Access from any device
• Safe from theft, fire or a dropped drive at home

Cons

• A monthly or yearly fee that continues forever
• Uploading large libraries can take a long time on slow internet
• You depend on the provider's policies and your account security

External drive

Pros

• One-time cost for a lot of space
• Fast local copying, no internet needed
• Full control over your files

Cons

• You must remember to back up
• Drives fail, get lost or get damaged — and a drive stored next to your laptop can be stolen with it
• Portable hard drives (HDD) are sensitive to drops; SSDs are sturdier but cost more per gigabyte

The 3-2-1 rule

Professionals follow a simple rule: keep 3 copies of important files, on 2 different types of storage, with 1 copy off-site. For most people that means:

1. The originals on your phone or laptop
2. A copy on an external drive at home
3. A copy in the cloud

Practical setup

• Turn on your phone's cloud photo backup for automatic protection.
• Once a month, copy everything to an external drive as well.
• Protect your cloud account with two-factor authentication.
• Check occasionally that your backups actually open.

The bottom line

Cloud is convenient and safe from local disasters; an external drive is cheap and fast. Use both, and losing your photos becomes very unlikely.