Need computer file storage/usage advice

[Claudia1]

I'm 68+ years old and have been computing since the original Commodore 64 days... 'way back in the dark ages... on dial up. I consider myself fairly computer literate and use it daily for emails, document creation/storage, picture storage/Photoshop, and all things on the internet. I've been using Open Office for several years and literally have over 2,500 files and 3,000 photos saved that I don't want to lose. I do a lot of programs for church and writings that I may eventually refer to or use again. I'm a computer pack rat.

Recently, I had a file get corrupted for unknown reasons and I discovered that the file history on my computer had been deactivated when I tried to retrieve a past copy. Also, I was not using cloud storage as a back-up. (I know... I know... lessons learned the hard way.) So it's gone. Now I want to learn from my negligence and adapt a better system. I'm switching all of my documents over to Microsoft Word so that I can access all of my files on both my PC and Surface tablet. I have an active, paid Microsoft account.

Can someone help me understand the applications of Microsoft Word and One Drive? I know they are in the same "family" but if I save a file to Word, is that in the cloud or is OneDrive the only cloud application? Do I need to duplicate every saved file or photo in both Word and OneDrive? And how sure are we that OneDrive will be around and usable in the next 10 years? I have files that are over 20 years old that I don't want to lose. (I'm a creature of habit.) I don't have personal info in my documents that would be a security risk although I know I still need to be security aware.

So, here is what I need: a long-term secured place to store/manipulate documents & photos where I can access the original (not a copy) of the file on both my PC and Surface tablet so that whatever I do on one device can be retrieved on the other.

I hope this makes sense. I'm not a techie.

 

[sam_gordon]

As I understand it... OneDrive is online storage. I don't remember how I set it up, but my work PC (we get OD from work) has a "OneDrive" show up in my file browser just like any other computer hard drive. When I'm working in a local program (Word, Excel, Photoshop, etc), when I do a "Save As... ", I point it to the OneDrive and the appropriate folder. Then, wherever I log into OneDrive, I can access that file. It shows up like any other hard drive/folder.

So I can type a document in Word, and save it to the Cloud. I can type the same document in Word, and save it locally (to the C: drive for example). If I do that, it's only accessible on that computer.

 

[longboard55]

Its been a while but last time I used one drive you could only upload one file at a time. I use Google drive so you can upload the entire folder at once, like all your pictures. There is so much storage you just have multiple copies. Its very cheap.

 

[_19disnA]

Microsoft Word is a documents program for things like letters or recipes. Files usually end in .doc......You wouldn't store pictures in a Word file. Pictures could be stored as .jpg or one of many other picture file formats. Each picture is typically a separate file. Microsoft Office is typically Word (letters), Powerpoint (for presentations) and Excel (spreadsheets).

Storing in a server somewhere (i.e. cloud) allows you to access those files from different computers. Also serves as a form of 'off-site' storage or backup separate from your computer. You should always have back-ups of any important files in the event of an issue on the computer where you create these files. Whether for home use or as part of running a business/church/etc., having back-ups of any files you created is considered good computing practice.

OneDrive is the name of a specific cloud storage product offered by Microsoft but there are many other comparable products that do the same thing. As someone else mentioned, when you create a new Word file, you decide where it gets stored when you do file/save/as...........you can also set the default storage location within most software products.

There are various programs you can run to try and 'fix' any corrupt files your computer might have. Over time, things wear out and a certain file may no longer accessible.

 

[NotUrsula]

Personally I'd suggest that you go belt and suspenders; with OneDrive (or another major cloud storage platform like it), and also a good solid-state wireless personal hard-drive that you keep in a fireproof box and back up from the cloud periodically. (Best to get one with a hard port, too, so that you can use a cable to connect it for speed when necessary.) That way you are protected from natural disasters AND arbitrary business decisions. You can set One Drive to be your default file storage space.

Always store archival files in the most universal format possible, not a program's proprietary format if you can help it. A thirty-year old file that you created in a database program that no longer exists may not be accessible with modern software unless you can extract it out as something like a CSV or TSV file and re-convert it.

 

[RamblingMad]

I use One Drive at work. It's cloud storage. And probably the most straight forward to use.

 

[mom2rtk]

I have an insane number of photos on 5TB external drives. I keep several copies as backups, figuring that while one or even two might malfunction, odds are that several won't all at once. One hard drive is kept in a fireproof safe.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Thanks for all you do for your church. Claudia--I PM-ed you more personally. I also use a flash drive for Word documents. I did learn the hard way a few years ago, the importance of opening a saved-on flash drive file every so often because otherwise it can become corrupted and only open into gibberish.

Related question: Somehow earlier in the year, I did something to change my settings to where now any PDF document automatically saves and opens into gibberish! I had tried at that time to convert a PDF to Word for editing and that apparently backfired! Is there a way to fix this?

Have a good night, everyone

 

[GreatLakes]

When you say you have a "paid Microsoft account" do you mean an Office/Microsoft 365 subscription?

If you do you can sync files automatically with the cloud pretty easily. Here is the Microsoft article on it but you can also find quite a few easy to understand YouTube tutorials.

To answer you question about the applications Word is a word processing application while OneDrive is cloud storage. You can also do real-time document collaboration using OneDrive and the hosted Word program if you have other people at your church that need to work on documents with you provided they also have their own subscription.

 

[Claudia1]

When you say you have a "paid Microsoft account" do you mean an Office/Microsoft 365 subscription?

Yes, a subscription. Thanks for the clarification and info.

 

[_19disnA]

A flash drive is an example of a portable/removable storage device where you can save files. Good article here. I am not aware of any need to periodically access the device to prolong the storage life of what you have saved.

https://www.flashbay.com/blog/usb-life-expectancy

 

[Imzadi]

Its been a while but last time I used one drive you could only upload one file at a time. I use Google drive so you can upload the entire folder at once, like all your pictures. There is so much storage you just have multiple copies. Its very cheap.

No, that changed a long while ago. Now, One Drive is a drag & drop system, where one can copy multiple files at once, then come back when the files are all done.

Yes, a subscription. Thanks for the clarification and info.

Just be aware, that if you forget to renew your subscription, all your files will go "poof!" I don;t know where you live, but if you in the middle of a flash flood, a blizzard and the power goes down, etc., where other things take your focus, you'd better make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to renew your subscription, so you don't remember after it's too late.

That actually happened to me. Microsoft suddenly cut DOWN our free storage amount. And they deleted some accounts of people they didn't think were using their accounts. And I didn't find out in time. I didn't access those files a lot, so Microsoft thought my ARCHIVED files had been abandoned. So they canceled my account and deleted all my files, and I didn't know. I got my account back when I finally went in, but all the old files were GONE.

Luckily I had a second back up, which I should have had all along.

Here is an old article, but it's a great one about the Rule of Three back-ups and types of back up formats. One cloud storage back up isn't enough. What if you are in a flood or your place of storage goes up in a fire? Or, as you said, what if Microsoft stocks suddenly drop and they go out of business years from now?

https://www.hanselman.com/blog/the-computer-backup-rule-of-three

Or what if Microsoft raises their subscription prices exorbitantly to make up profits? And you can't move all your files in a timely fashion, on their time line?

Photobucket. com taught us all the dangers of relying on one company for our online photo storage. They were free photo storage and photo sharing online for so many years. Then suddenly, they wanted a monthly membership fee from everyone. There were so many "X"ed out photos and photos blacked out with Photobucket's logo in place of the photos, spamming the Internet by those who wouldn't/couldn't pay, that the European Union had to make laws to stop Photobucket and other like companies from spamming the web they way they were doing.

So, I don't trust Microsoft or paid membership services much.

 

[Imzadi]

I use Google drive so you can upload the entire folder at once, like all your pictures. There is so much storage you just have multiple copies. Its very cheap.

I also use Google Drive as my remote cloud backup for free. Google Drive/Gmail gives 15GB of free storage per Gmail/Drive account. Google allows 5 accounts per phone number.

I use all 5 accounts. It started out innocently at first as a way to organize. Gmail started way before Drive was invented. I have a separate account for my private emails, and a different account for my business emails. Then I got a third for online shopping. If they spam that email with sales & coupons, that's all right. Then I got a Drive account just for photos. Another one for my eBooks.

Claudia, you can also do 5 accounts (or more - since you are doing Church business and they are a separate entity,) to organize your files. Claudia1 for personal files. Claudia2Church for older church files, Claudia3Church etc. . . .

I also have an external hard drive. And I have my previous computer that I have to reformat and will have not only as a back up computer, but as a back up storage drive for my files.

 

[longboard55]

I pay for google drive because I use it for business as well, $10 a month is 2TB of strorage which is an amazing huge amount. I have had issues with old portable drives. I will just back up everything and let it run overnight and keep every copy