I’ve been using Google services for basically everything for about two decades now. My main concerns are Gmail, Google Photos, Drive, and Keep Notes since they contain all my important stuff. I have a Google One subscription that I share with my family and use for my small business email too.
What really scares me is the possibility of losing access to my Google account completely. All my photos and documents from the past 20+ years would be gone forever. I’ve been trying to learn about security but it’s pretty confusing.
I’m thinking about setting up a fresh primary email since my current one is so old. Should I also make separate email addresses for important sites like my bank or social media accounts? Or is one new email enough?
I’m also wondering about backing up my Photos and Drive content somewhere else in case something happens to my main account. The problem is I have way too much data to fit on free storage plans and I need something with decent space like my current 2TB plan.
Can someone explain in simple terms what steps I should take to better protect my data? Most guides I’ve found are too technical for me to understand.
Having dealt with similar concerns myself, I’d recommend starting with Google Takeout to create regular backups of your data. You can download everything from Photos, Drive, Gmail, and Keep Notes in manageable chunks. For storage, consider getting an external hard drive or two - much cheaper than paying for multiple cloud services long-term. Regarding the email question, I wouldn’t rush into creating a completely new primary email after 20 years. Instead, focus on securing your existing account first with two-factor authentication and recovery options. You could create one additional email specifically for financial accounts if that makes you feel safer, but managing too many emails becomes its own problem. One thing that helped me sleep better was setting up account recovery information properly - make sure Google has your current phone number and a backup email that isn’t another Google account. Also check your account activity regularly through the security checkup feature. The scariest scenarios usually happen to people who ignore their accounts for months, not those actively monitoring them.
After losing partial access to an old account years ago, I learned some hard lessons about Google account security. The most important step is enabling two-factor authentication immediately if you haven’t already - use an authenticator app rather than SMS when possible. For your backup concerns, I found that services like pCloud or Dropbox often have better pricing for large storage amounts when you pay annually. You might also consider a hybrid approach where you keep your most critical files in two different cloud services. Regarding the email situation, creating a completely new primary email after twenty years seems drastic and could create more problems. Instead, I’d suggest cleaning up your current account security settings and perhaps creating one dedicated email just for banking and other financial services. Make sure to update your account recovery information and consider adding a trusted family member as a recovery contact. Google’s inactive account manager is also worth setting up - it lets you specify what happens to your data if your account becomes inactive for a certain period.
honestly after 20 years with google your biggest risk is probably just forgetting recovery info or letting 2fa break. i’d focus on updating your backup phone numbers and making sure you have access to recovery codes stored somewhere safe offline. for the data backup thing, maybe try syncing your most important photos/docs to onedrive or icloud since you probably already pay for those anyway? creating new emails sounds like a hassle that might cause more problems than it solves tbh.