Amazon Cloud, done
Time Machine, done
1TB Samsung T7, done

USB drive, doing that today

I feel so much better now.

Belt, suspenders, duct tape AND staplegun on the way. That should do 'er.

Had a brand new Samsung ssd T7 recently suddenly fail taking 60,000 songs with it. On phone with Samsung tech….the guy said sorry, anything else I can help you with?

Whatever you do, use multiple devices and platforms if it’s that important

USB stick is the worst storage when it comes to durability. SSD is great until it isn't and there is no hope. If you aren't to use durable storage you better have at least 2 backups in different locations.

Thee are several things to try if a hard drive stops working. If you try to access it and it just makes a clicking sound.....you're screwed. Then find a data recovery company and see if they'll grab the files, the cost and how long. NO clicking, put it in the freezer for a while to see if can let you access it. Does it make any noise I.E. disc spinning, ETC? As mentioned, use multiple drives.

I used to tell my students that it is not wise to trust a data backup company as they can be hacked, sell your files, look at your files then call the police!
John

You’re absolutely right

So what is the most 'durable' storage that I can hold in my own two hands?

Vinyl records but that's not practical.

DAT.

I tend to prefer backing up to new platter drives and shelving them whole.

I don't trust CD/DVD for long term because the viability has really more to do with who made the damn thing than the theoretical life of the tech.

Hot swappable RAID5.