Storage backup for my macbook pro?

Question

I've had my macbook pro since 2011, have never updated the software or anything I don't think, so it's still on OS X 10.6.8 and my memory is at 4GB
I really want to download this free OpenToonz animation thing but it requires OS X 10.9; I don't want to update my software and risk all my stuff being deleted. I'm a writer and I have hundreds (perhaps even thousands now) of pages of novels I've written. I also have nearly 9,000 photos in my iPhoto library, around 300 on my photobooth, some family videos on my iMovie (longest is around 30 minutes), hundreds of slides in Powerpoint, and then plenty of other documents and pictures, on top of iTunes music. I've never backed anything up except on USB drives. I would really like to buy some kind of storage device, preferably as cheap as possible of course (I'm a teacher and don't make much). I've read into the stuff about the external hard drive, but one I looked up was a 1TB for $65 but it says things like 200 GB of cloud storage and I don't store anything in the cloud at all and don't really want to either. Don't know if I'm being really old school here but I always thought you could just get CDs to store everything on. I've also read things about the external hard drives dying after a year or so? I am just wanting something to back up all of my documents and pictures and things and then place the storage device in a safe and never touch it unless (God forbid) something happens or when I buy a new computer and switch things over.

Answer 1

Far better to just use an external hard drive. You do NOT have to use ANY cloud storage.

Answer 2

If you haven't made a backup yet of your laptop then you're dicing with electronic death - your hard disc could die at any moment (although I sure hope not) and you could lose everything. You really need to make copies NOW. TWO of them.



As a stop gap measure, buy TWO USB hard disc drives, the biggest you can afford. Onto one of them, copy all your personal files from your user account. Do this first, then at least you'll have a copy of your irreplaceable stuff.



For the second, make into a Time Machine backup so you can rebuild your computer if it fails. Make sure Time Machine runs at least once a day, and at least once a week, copy any changed files to the non Time Machine drive. Time Machine works best if the Time Machine disc is permanently connected and it's allowed to do the update every hour, but this isn't always possible.



Do NOT rely on USB memory sticks. They do go wrong at the drop of a hat and you could lose everything.



The secret to backing up is to make multiple copies and keep them all up to date. Any single disk, or CD, or memory stick can fail, and you don't want it to take your data with it. So MULTIPLE copies on multiple devices is the answer.



CDs (or DVDs) can be used for data storage, but by modern standards they're too small to be considered a viable solution - and they can die, too.



BTW, I have a 2009 MacBook that was delivered with 10.6 and which I've upgraded to 10.9. Each upgrade ran smoothly with no loss of data - but backup anyway.

Answer 3

All hard drives have a pretty high chance of dying, not just external. Only 80% last for 3 years, and the average one only lasts 6. If you do buy an external hard drive, buy from Sandisk or Seagate and make sure to use it frequently. Hard drives can fail just from being unused for too long.