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Backup and Storage Solutions
For personal use and small businesses
Losing your files to a dead hard drive, a stolen laptop, or a ransomware attack is one of the most preventable disasters in computing, and yet it still catches almost everyone out at least once. The fix is simple: keep more than one copy of anything you can’t afford to lose, ideally in more than one place. This guide walks through the main hardware and cloud options available today, what they’re good for, and roughly what they cost.
What to think about before you choose
- Security – A backup drive that’s permanently plugged into your computer is just another thing ransomware or a power surge can take out along with your original files. Connect it only when backing up, or use a service with version history so you can roll back an infected file.
- Accessibility – Do you need these files on your phone, on the move, or shared with other people? That points you toward cloud storage rather than a drive sitting on a desk.
- Capacity – Photos and video eat storage fast. Work out roughly how much you generate per year, not just what you have today.
- Portability – Some drives are designed to live in a bag; others are designed to live under a desk.
- The 3-2-1 rule – The standard advice from backup specialists is to keep 3 copies of important data, on 2 different types of media, with 1 copy off-site (e.g. cloud, or a drive at a different location). A cloud sync folder on its own is not a backup if it’s the only copy you have.
External Hard Drives and SSDs
There are two broad categories of external drive, plus a newer option worth knowing about:
Desktop drives (3.5″) are mechanical hard disks that need their own power adapter. They’re bulky, but they’re cheap per terabyte and well-suited to sitting permanently at a desk for large backups or media libraries.
Portable drives (2.5″) are smaller, often powered entirely through the USB cable, and built to travel with a laptop.
Portable SSDs are increasingly the better choice for both categories: they have no moving parts, so they’re more resistant to knocks and drops, they’re significantly faster, and prices have fallen enough that a 1–2TB portable SSD is now affordable for most people. Mechanical drives still win on raw cost per terabyte for very large (4TB+) backups, but SSDs are worth the premium for anything you carry around.
Whichever you choose, look for at least USB 3.0/3.1 for reasonable transfer speeds, and consider one with built-in hardware encryption if the drive will ever leave the house.
Cloud Storage Compared
Cloud storage has matured a lot since “just sync your files”. Most providers now bundle in AI tools, ransomware recovery, and family sharing. Here’s where the three biggest names stand as of 2026 (prices are approximate, vary by region, and are billed in USD/GBP/EUR depending on your country, always check the provider’s site for your local rate).
Google Drive / Google One
Every Google account still comes with 15GB free, shared across Gmail, Drive, and Photos. Beyond that, Google has folded its storage and AI tools into a single set of plans:
- Basic – 100GB for a couple of pounds a month
- AI Plus – around 200GB, with limited Gemini AI access
- AI Pro – 2TB, complete with Gemini access, around £15–20/month (often discounted for the first year)
- AI Ultra – up to 30TB for power users and developers, $200–250/month
Plans range from €19.99/year for 100 GB to $249.99/month for the 30 TB AI Ultra plan, and family sharing across up to six people is included on most paid tiers. Worth knowing: the 2TB plan’s promotional first-year price typically doubles on renewal, so check the small print before committing.
Dropbox
Dropbox’s free tier is now the stingiest of the major players — 2GB, compared with Google Drive’s 15GB and OneDrive’s 5GB, so most people will outgrow it almost immediately. Paid plans, however, are generous on storage:
- Plus – 2TB, roughly $10–12/month, aimed at individual professionals
- Family – 2TB shared across up to 6 people
- Professional/Essentials – 3TB with advanced sharing, file-recovery, and branding tools for freelancers and small teams
- Business plans – pooled storage starting around $15–18 per user/month
Dropbox is widely regarded as having the most reliable sync engine of the big three, and its file-recovery and ransomware-rollback features are a genuine strength, but it’s priced at a premium compared with Google or Microsoft.
OneDrive (Microsoft)
OneDrive is built into Windows and gives a free account 5GB of storage. Where it really earns its keep is when bundled with Microsoft 365:
- Microsoft 365 Personal – 1TB of storage plus the full Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), around $7–10/month
- Microsoft 365 Family – up to 6 people, each with their own 1TB (6TB total), around $10–13/month
- Standalone OneDrive – 100GB for a couple of dollars a month if you don’t need Office apps
- Business plans – 1TB per user bundled into Microsoft 365 Business Basic and above, from around $6/user/month
If you already use Word, Excel, or PowerPoint regularly, OneDrive is effectively free storage — you’d be paying for the Office subscription anyway.
Quick comparison
| Provider | Free tier | Entry paid tier | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | 15GB | 100GB, ~£2/month | Best free allowance; tight Gmail/Photos integration |
| Dropbox | 2GB | 2TB, ~$10/month | Best sync reliability and file recovery |
| OneDrive | 5GB | 100GB standalone, or 1TB bundled with Microsoft 365 | Best value if you use Office apps |
A couple of other names worth a mention if you want to look further: iCloud+ is the natural choice if you’re all-in on Apple devices, and pCloud or Internxt are worth a look if zero-knowledge encryption (where even the provider can’t see your files) matters to you, neither Google, Dropbox, nor Microsoft encrypt your files in a way they can’t access.
Putting it together
For most individuals and small businesses, a sensible setup is:
- An external SSD or hard drive for a fast, local backup of your working files.
- A cloud service (Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive — whichever fits the apps you already use) for off-site backup and access on the move.
- Version history or file recovery turned on, so a single corrupted or ransomware-encrypted file doesn’t take your only backup down with it.
Need help deciding what’s right for your setup? Get in touch.