Is it better to import photos from a server or my hard drive? I am concerned that when my current machine dies that I will lose all of the data that I have inputted to Tropy. I love the program but need some reassurance or a method to save all data so I don’t lose it at some point.
Tropy can load your photos, regardless of the physical location, via the file system (i.e., if you can connect to your server via the file system there is no distinction in the way Tropy treats local or remote files). If you connect to your server by a different protocol, Tropy will handle your remote files differently by always making a local copy so you can work while offline (currently only the http/https protocol is supported). Either approach should work fine.
If you keep your photos on a local drive you can still make regular backups, just as you would with any other local file. Make sure to backup both your project file as well as all the original photos and you should be able to open/restore your project on a different device.