The Best Online Backup For Your Photos and Other Important Files

Acronis, Backblaze, Carbonite, IDrive: four popular, high rated cloud storage services.

39% of Americans never backup their data. That’s not good. Another 19% do this only once per year. No wonder so many people lose important files and photos if they have a hard drive crash.

First, if you do have a hard drive crash, read this article.

This all started when I decided I needed to find an online backup site for my recently created photos. My photos live on a matched set (identical contents) of external hard drives. One of those drives lives in a safe deposit box at the bank. I get it out a couple of times per month, copy all my recent work, and put it back in the bank vault. Some people want to have an online storage option and I have been thinking about that option myself for my most important photos. That would give me access to my most important photos when I am away from home and my external hard drives. After reading a bunch of articles and finding some excellent advice, I decided to pass along the information I found.

This article is about the best options for cloud storage and online backup. I provide links to a number of articles that discuss all of this in detail.

Advice from the Experts

Before getting into cloud storage/backup, here’s some advice from the experts I trust: The cloud should not be your only or primary backup plan. Your primary backup plan should be external hard drives in your possession. The cloud should be your secondary backup.

When you use external drives to backup your photos and other data, use some kind of quality software like FolderMatch (link below) to make sure everything is backed up accurately from one drive to another. Read more about all of this in my article The 3-2-1 Photo and Data Backup Plan. So get some external hard drives and backup your important files and photos.

Storage/Backup in the Cloud

First you need to decided it you want “Cloud Storage” or “Online Backup”. Yes there is a difference and to confuse things, the phrases are often used interchangeably. This article explains the differences so you know which one will best fit your needs.

Cloud Storage vs Online Backup: What’s the Difference?

These review articles will help you find the best cloud storage and/or online backup providers that will work best for you. It will probably come down to the features that are most important to you. Several of these articles are from Cloudwards.net, my favorite source of online storage information.

Best Cloud Storage: Picking the Right Service in 2020

Best Cloud Backup Services 2020

Backblaze vs Carbonite: Who Has the Better Service for 2020

IDrive vs Carbonite: Unlimited Devices or Unlimited Storage?

The best cloud backup services in 2020 – Tom’s Guide

Online backup: we test the best services – from Backblaze to Carbonite, idrive, Mozy, and more – PC World

Article Links

The 3-2-1 Photo and Data Backup Plan

My Hard Drive Crashed! Where Do I Send It To Get My Data Back?

FolderMatch – Excellent file and folder comparison software to keep everything in sync.

Cloud Storage vs Online Backup: What’s the Difference?

Best Cloud Storage: Picking the Right Service in 2020

Best Cloud Backup Services 2020