Storage of Pictures

Honestly I have all of mine on my hard drive, and the one's I LOVE I have printed out, but I also have a photobucket account and a kodak account where I have them uploaded so if anything happens to my computer I still have them online, and I have them on some 16gb flash drives.... wow I never really thought about it, but I have my photos backed up in several places! *LAUGH!*

Get an 'external hard drive." To back it up... aside from what you have on your computer itself.
Also, REGULARLY, back up your computer. In case it crashes or something.

I would get a Mac computer.
VERY easy to use, and good for pictures/video etc.

ALWAYS back up your computer.
Or there are online 'storage' back up, services.
Do a Google search on it.
It is then an "offsite" backup of your computer or files you want to back up.
This is how companies, back up their information as well.
It is secure.

But DO get an 'external hard-drive back up" for your computer. It is always good, to back up your computer, via 2 methods.
ie: on your computer itself. AND with an external hard-drive.
Or, you just put all your photos on a CD/DVD, loading it onto that, from your computer.
But CD's/DVD's, can degrade over time.
Thus, it is always good to just back-up your computer always, and also onto an external hard-drive.

I would get a 16GB USB or several 4GB USBs depending on how many pics you have.
You can also put it on an external hard drive like S H suggested, I want to get one as well, they are just kinda pricey.

They also have websites like Photobucket where you can make it private (they have a new share option) and store pictures like that. I have a 16gb USB with 2 1/2 yrs of TONS of pics of my daughter.

I am in the process of developing each "folder" of the USB and putting it in a photo album too, so I have a physical copy of them too :) My USB has her photos and some of me broken down into folders, each folder has a month "May 2011" or her age like 6 months old. I have some folders labeled pregnancy, first time at the fair, etc so it's so much easier to keep track.

The external hard drive is the way to go. CD's or USB's can get lost or damaged, and online storage is not dependable and time-consuming.

We have 2 external hard drives because my husband is in the photo/video business, and they are set to back up automatically so we don't even have to think about it. Some things we don't even put on the pc (more files slow down the computer) we just put them right on the external.

As for cost, do price comparisons online to get the best deal. We've had good luck with tigerdirect. If you get a quote online you can take it into the store for the same price.

My husband is an IT guy and we have an external hard drive. Just plug it in and click. Super easy even my father who is in his late 70's uses one for his pictures. If you are looking for a deal, they usually have them on sale Black Friday, almost anywhere, and you can do that on-line.