Make sure you have a local copy of your most valued images and documents in addition to saving them with a third party such as Google.
Cloud storage has revolutionized how we hold on to digital files and memories, letting us access our files from any device. But trusting a third party as the only keeper of years of emails, photos and documents is risky. A company can be bought or go under, change its rules, start charging for space, or lock you out of an account for any number of reasons, like violating the terms of service or a hack.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use cloud services — just make sure you have a plan B in place and files saved somewhere you are completely in control, such as a computer or hard drive you own. Even having a copy saved to another company’s cloud storage is better than nothing.