I should have been clearer - it's not unheard of for a cloud provider to vanish or loose data, it's also not unheard of for a PC to be struck down with malware or ransomware or involved in a flood/fire, if it's actually important, then it's actually worth having on-site, on-site cold, off-site and at least one cloud provider, ideally two on unrelated back end's, you could also add off-site cold to that, but that's probably taking it a little far.
To be clear the company you speak of is a competitor, in so much as they move boxes that contain the same stock as OCUK sell, they are commonly regarded as the lowest of the low, the advice they often give is generally of a poor standard (eg 'Buy this £50 HDMI lead because it'll make everything amazing compared to the £1 one that's next door!'), it's generally accepted fact that anyone who's remotely capable of giving decent hardware advice tends to have escaped to something less soul destroying than DSG retail. The reputation you seem to have so much faith in is so badly damaged after years of horror stories from both staff and people who've used them, that it genuinely pains me to cross the threshold except in dire emergency. Would I pay someone who is in effect on commission for buy through services to send a drive off to a data recovery specialist? No, I can send a drive by courier myself. Your situation is highly unfortunate, but you seem to be confusing the advice given (which I agree with) and the subject of the photo's you've lost. Think about why so many people are telling you to look at other options, we're not attacking you or being insensitive, we've trying to suggest that you stand a better chance of getting your data back by using a specialist who is best suited to the job, not a high street store who's sole motivation is to extract cash from you for doing nothing but putting it in a box and sending it off.
