I feel sorry for the person, but if the photos are truly important and irreplaceable they should have been following the 3-2-1 rule.<p>At least three copies, in at least two physical locations, at least one of which is offline.<p>If you are storing any digital data in one single place, no matter how trustworthy and reliable that single place may seem to be, you're at risk of losing it. Most people learn this lesson the hard way, unfortunately.