[OSX-Users] data storage advice requested

[Leslie Carr]

I’ve just got one of the new macbooks, which is lovely, but the storage is not upgradable and tops out at 512Gb rather than the 750Gb on my current macbook. I have got used to having ALL my data (historic and current, work and personal) on my laptop and now find myself in the position that I don’t have enough room to fit all the material from my current macbook, especially Pictures and Music (300Gb between them). 

I’m looking at the following options:
(a) store media on an external drive with only occasional access (e.g. from office) to avoid dragging an external drive around (and putting it at risk) to and from work and around the world.
(b) store media in cloud (either dropbox, or iCloud, or Google)
(c) store media on a 512Gb or 1Tb USB stick (e.g. the Kingston DataTraveller HyperX Predator) which seems more robust and could happily be carried everywhere.
(d) a combo of the above.

Backups (Time Machine) currently happen on a 2Tb external USB disk which I carry around with me. I can manage the complexity of 1 machine + backup disk, and I hate to think that I might have to go to a mode of working where my stuff is split between multiple locations.

What do you recommend?
—
Les