External hard drive, storage options etc???

[bibi_sym]

Hello everyone!
It's sad to say but my laptop is now over 4 years old and i'm really afraid for its health conditions. I feel like it could die out anytime soon now, so I'm looking for storage methods to save all the very very important data I have accumulated!
I just need someplace to put my stuff on, and open it every 2 months or so when i need it, so i won't be using it frequently.

I've looked into purchasing external hard drives but reviews scare me a lot, saying how they only last a few months etc..; is this true? I just need like a larger capacity USB stick, that you can stuff under your bed and dust it a year later and it would still work
Is there any brand that is super durable?

Other than that do you know of any other offline storage options?
I have tried a few cloud storage sites online but I'm not very reassured not having a "physical" copy of it

 

[carnageX]

External HDD would be fine. Store it in a fireproof safe that doens't get banged around. Or discs - but those have to be kept in the right environment so data rot doesn't happen. Large capacity flash drives would be alright as well, but data rot still occurs on those over prolonged periods of time (all flash storage suffers from this).

Ideally, go with both offline and online storage. That way you have a physical / local copy if something happens to the cloud storage (or if you need to transfer a lot of data quickly). And if something happens to your physical storage, then you'll have an online backup.

Best route for offline external HDD would be to buy an HDD from a reputable brand, and then buy a separate HDD enclosure that's also a good brand. That way you have warranty separate on both components and it seems like pre-made external HDD's don't last quite as long (IMO).