Updated September 2026: in 2021 I wrote about leaving Google Photos after it ended unlimited free storage, and about the risk of relying on ageing hard disks and physical copies. I have rewritten it into a practical backup plan for family photos and documents, using the 3-2-1 rule.
Two things pushed me to rethink storage. Google stopped unlimited free photo storage, so photos counted against account limits. And keeping important photos and documents on old hard disks or in physical form felt increasingly risky, since ageing drives fail and devices get damaged.
What is the 3-2-1 backup rule?
Keep three copies of important data, on two different types of storage, with one copy offsite. For a family, that might mean the original on your phone or computer, a copy on an external drive, and a copy in a cloud service.
Why is one cloud service not enough?
Accounts can be locked, services change their terms, as Google did, and files deleted by mistake can be deleted everywhere by sync. A second, independent copy protects against all of these.
How often do hard disks fail?
Any drive can fail, and the risk rises with age. External drives are also easy to drop or lose. Treat any single drive as temporary, and replace old ones every few years.
How do you set up a simple family plan?
- Turn on automatic photo backup to one cloud service on every phone.
- Copy the full library to an external drive every few months.
- Keep that drive somewhere other than your computer, ideally another home.
- Scan important paper documents and include them in the backup.
How do you know backups work?
Restore a few files once or twice a year. A backup you have never tested is only a hope.
How much does a sensible backup setup cost?
Less than people expect. A mid-sized cloud plan shared by the family and one external drive of a few terabytes cover most households. Spread over several years, that is a small price for protecting photos that cannot be replaced.
What about old prints and albums?
Scan the ones that matter most, or photograph them carefully in good light, and add them to the same backup. Physical albums are the easiest memories to lose to damp or fire, and the hardest to replace.
What about privacy?
Use strong passwords and two-step verification on cloud accounts, and encrypt external drives that hold sensitive documents.
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