Suggestions, please

[Pixilated]

1) Anybody got a particular version of "the Cloud" that they would recommend? My last two or three 'puters, I have lost everything when the HD died. Luckily there was nothing of any real importance but it's still aggravating. Would like to upload stuff to a cloud so when this HD dies (hopefully a long time from now) I don't find myself sitting there going "Well, fuck" yet again.

2) I am looking for a word processing program (I guess that's what it's called?) I was thinking of Microsoft Office but I'm hearing some not-great things about current versions and also I have no need at all for Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive (I don't even know what those are). And ... Microsoft Teams? WTF?
And Microsoft Word, all on its own, is somewhere around $160.

I have a Mac Mini, if that matters in either of these cases. MacOS Monterey, version 12.7.4.

[dalesys]

LibreOffice - $0. Choose the appropriate macOS version (Intel/Apple) and go.

[Pixilated]

LibreOffice - $0. Choose the appropriate macOS version (Intel/Apple) and go.

Thank you.

[csquared]

Da Googles.
Google Drive offer storage space and apps for documents, spreadsheets etc. Microsoft compatible formats. The files are stored in Googles cloud. No more worrying about dead drive. Accessable from any device.
Downside, if you ain't on the internet, you ain't getting your files. They may have a sync function to allow you to store locally and auto backup.

If you would prefer to not work in the cloud, look for an auto-backup app. Most will give you the choice of AWS, Azure and Google. As my employer uses AWS, I know that S3 has options for as little as $0.0125 /GB/Month.

And I use LibreOffice at home. Good stuff.

[dalesys]

The only Apple/MS applications I wish I could afford are Visio & FileMaker... I keep a Vista PC running just for my ancient copy of FMPro...

[RealUnimportant]

OneDrive from Microsoft is a Cloud, just like you're looking for. But, as you have the Apples, there's also iCloud+; you may already have and use the free iCloud quota which is a fair bit smaller than other companies' freebie allowances, but as you're looking to back up the whole drive then it then becomes a cost effective solution especially as it's designed specifically to work with what you've got already. You could also get an external backup drive and use Time Machine on it to have a perpetual onsite replacement; cheap and reliable external devices are getting more reasonably priced all the time.