Google Drive is cloud storage.

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service created by Google. It allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, an office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Drive

Also,

What Is Cloud Computing?
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372163,00.asp

Google Drive is a storage place for "pictures and other stuff" that is elsewhere and not on her computer. You can upload to/download from that place as needed. Is that simple enough? If you want the non-simple version...read this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Drive

Is this the first of it's kind or what was it's predecessor?

Is it a good thing for everyone or just those with too much stuff on their computer like my daughter?

I was leery about The Cloud when I first heard about it but it seems like it's getting more and more popular and recommended.

Thanks for all your ideas; I will read them.

If you are unconfortable, look into buying an external harddrive for storage.

Many people store their photos on their hard drive only. Then, when the drive crashes -- as frequently happens -- and they lose all their pictures, they are shocked. As the saying goes: it's not if your hard drive will crash, but when. Often you can have a data recovery company salvage most or all of your photos, but the cost would be hundreds of dollars. Using the cloud, with its layers of protection and backup, is a way to avoid this problem. The pictures are not on your computer, but can be easily accessed and retrieved using the internet. That also means you don't have to be at your home computer to view them as they can typically be accessed from anywhere in the world using your phone, a tablet, a laptop, an Internet cafe, etc.

Thank you all for helping me understand this; it's beginning to make sense. My friends at GardenWeb have always been the great source for answers to computer questions, cooking questions, repairs - everything and I am so appreciative!

I doubt your dau. will ever fill a 2T HD well maybe in about 10/15 yrs. or more? LOL

I have loads of pics. and video clips I made and other files, I always put them on flash drives plus online storage for back up. I have a 1T HD not close to being full, or used up space.

My daughter's family has a Plex desktop which consists of three 4TB drives and the third one is almost full.

Google drive is 15gb free.

$9.99 per month for 1.tb or $100 per year.

Microsoft has the same basic thing with OneDrive and for a single user maybe a bit less costly... 6.99 monthly which includes a subscription to the version of online Office365.

Amazon Prime members have unlimited free online photo storage.

If computer files are personally or business like priceless, you should at least save a copy online or to some other offsite location. I watched my next door neighbors concrete block home burn completely in probably about 30 minutes one windy night. Cost me a $250 water bill that month mostly in garden hose water to keep my house cool.. watched my fence and some bushes spontaneously combust - now you seem them, poof, now you don't.

Brushworks-

What are they storing? Surely not family photos only. If the average picture is 3-4 MB, and there are 1 million MB in a terabyte, one terabyte alone would hold about 250,000-330,000 pictures...and you say they have filled up nearly 12 TB? Maybe they have all the Wikileaks files?

Here is an interesting chart that shows the approximate capacity of different media -- music, video, photos, or movies -- on hard drives of various sizes: Hard drive capacity

I guess if one has a professional or serious amateur photographer with high end DSLR and is shooting in RAW, then one might fill a terabyte drive a little quicker but for most of us that's about 300,000 pictures. If one takes 3 seconds to look at each picture, that's about 6 normal work weeks to look at every one. That's a lot of selfies. <lol>

Taking lots of pictures of her friends started when my daughter was in high school. With today's digital cameras taking tons of pictures is easy. She/we must develop the habit of saving only a few pictures rather than all that were taken at a particular time. Hopefully she has learned that, and myself as well.

Here is a question to ask oneself: how many of those pictures do I look at again after the first time? I'm not perfect, but I have forced myself to ruthlessly delete photos the first time I look at the latest bunch.