"City rules might feel excessive, but trust me, insurance companies can be way worse."
Fair point about insurance companies being tough, but honestly, relying entirely on cloud storage like Google Photos makes me uneasy. What if your account gets hacked or you lose access somehow? I prefer keeping a physical backup—just print stuff out occasionally and toss it in a folder. Might seem old-school, but it’s saved me once or twice when tech decided to go sideways...
I get the hesitation about cloud storage—had a buddy lose access to his entire Google account once, and it was a nightmare getting it back. But honestly, paper backups aren't foolproof either. Had a basement flood a few years ago and lost some irreplaceable photos...talk about tech going sideways, water damage is even worse. Best bet might be mixing both methods—digital copies plus physical backups stored somewhere safe and dry.
Fair points, but isn't relying on cloud or paper still a bit risky either way?
- What about using dedicated offline drives—like SSDs or even USB sticks?
- Easy to store safely, no water issues, and no cloud lockouts.
- Seems simpler overall...
"What about using dedicated offline drives—like SSDs or even USB sticks?"
That's actually what I've been doing for a while now, and honestly, it's worked pretty well. A few years back, I had all my classic car docs stored in a cloud service, thinking it was the safest bet. Then one day, I got locked out due to some weird security glitch—took me days to get access again. After that headache, I switched to USB sticks and a portable SSD.
I keep two copies—one at home in a fireproof safe, another at my brother's place just in case something happens here. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but having a backup off-site gives me peace of mind. Plus, it's budget-friendly compared to monthly cloud subscriptions. I mean, cloud storage isn't exactly expensive, but those small recurring costs do add up over time, right?
The only downside I've noticed is remembering to update both drives regularly. Sometimes I'll make changes or add new documents and forget to sync the second drive for weeks. But overall, it's been pretty hassle-free.
Still, I wonder if there's an even simpler solution out there... Has anyone tried something else that's worked better?
Honestly, offline drives are decent, but they're not foolproof. Had a client whose USB stick randomly corrupted—lost years of scanned docs overnight. Cloud services have improved a lot lately...maybe worth reconsidering as an extra layer of protection? Just my two cents.
