u/TechInventorHi

I have around 1 TB of vacation photos and videos spread across my laptop and phones. All of my devices are now running out of storage, so I need to move this data somewhere else and then free up space on my devices.

I was initially considering buying external hard drives, but I keep reading that hard drives may only be reliable for around 5–10 years and would eventually need to be replaced or copied to new drives. Since these are mostly vacation photos and videos, I expect very little day-to-day usage—I mainly want to store them safely and access them occasionally.

My main concern is long-term preservation. Ideally, I’d like a solution that can keep my data safe for at least 60 years.

I’m reluctant to use cloud storage because of the ongoing subscription costs, but I’m also wondering whether cloud storage is actually the safer option since I wouldn’t have to worry about a physical hard drive being lost, damaged, or failing.

Given my situation, what would be the best storage strategy? Should I use external hard drives, cloud storage, or something else? I’d really appreciate any advice on the safest and most practical approach for preserving these photos and videos for decades.

A friend was travelling on domestic route by Air India and told me that the person who sits at the check in desk said that trackers like airtags aren’t allowed in check in luggage. Has anyone faced a similar issue? I’m travelling abroad by Air India and I plan to put the airtag in my check in bag. Has anyone flown abroad in an Air India flight with the AirTag in their luggage?