Nicole Nguyen

It's always a good idea to have a local physical backup.

There are two types, a solid state drive and a hard disk drive.

I recommend solid state drives because there are no moving parts, they're less prone to failure, and they also have very fast data transfer speeds.

I will say though, that if you choose this option, you regularly have to make sure that you're backing up your media because it won't happen automatically.

And you might miss out on some of,

the newfangled features coming to cloud storage providers, especially as it relates to photos.

So like facial recognition search or photo editing in the cloud.

That said, there is software that you can download or use to manage your files locally, like Apple Photos.

So it will save you money in the long run for sure, but it will be more an investment in your time.

Gas-based generators, either diesel, propane, or natural gas, have been the default.

And they work for a lot of people, especially rural areas.

If you're used to multi-day outages, they can power up your whole home automatically.

But they do require maintenance.

You know, you need to add fuel stabilizer and you have to run it regularly and they can be really noisy.

And they also emit toxic fumes, which is why they don't work for people like me who live in multi-residence buildings.

And so these very high capacity batteries, which are like a massive power bank, like the kind for your phone that live inside your house.

and can power up your fridge and your laptop and other large appliances, that's a really good alternative to that traditional gas-based generator.

I'll start with that.

But

They can save you time and upkeep, and they might be your only option if you live in an apartment.