<p>About a year ago, I lost hundreds of photos and videos when my computer was stolen. I'm determined not to lose my picture files again.</p><p>I've already backed everything up to an external hard drive, and have been looking at online photo storage services as an additional option.</p><p>Unlike external hard drives, online photo services protect your collection from physical theft and disasters such as fires. And unlike general online backup or storage services, photo sites typically offer features specifically for photos or videos, such as the ability to create galleries, easily share them in apps or on social networking sites, and make prints or books of them.</p><p>A screenshot of Yahoo's Flickr photo service.</p><p><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton/ci_24934589/wolverton-photo-cloud-flickr-shutterfly-google-plus">Keep reading...</a></p>