I have 100,000s of photos on my PC and thousands of songs, docs, videos and other files.
After working in IT for over 25 years I have learnt the hard way about data loss and the misery it can bring. My wife's drive popped in her PC last year and she lost loads of stuff as it had been months since we backed it up.
However the OQ was about linking not backing up but the two things are linked imho..
My preferred solution is cloud backup which means I have access to my files from literally anywhere with an internet connection. Yes the company could go under but I frankly if Microsoft Google and Amazon do down then I would have more to worry about than my files but even then I can just copy them locally.
If you don't have many files then free accounts from the above companies will do. You will have to pay for more storage per month if you want to keep more than a basic amount but prices are reasonable..
USB sticks are fine for transferring files from one place to another but never use them as the primary means of storing files - I have seen dozens of sad faces over the years when I tell them that the USB is FUBAR'd and data is unrecoverable. Using a USB is also a manual process of copying and pasting and unreliable.
The easiest way of accessing files over a network is to either share the files from just one location (you might need help to set that up but it is pretty easy) or to buy a dedicated networking sharing appliance. I prefer the former as it is built in to most PC systems and cost nothing.
What I do now is
My files are shared over the network so I can access them on my laptop or any other PC I have.
I back all my pics up to Amazon and Google - I can access them anywhere via a browser
My files are backed up to my wifes PC and hers to mine.
Every now and then I take a backup (of both mine and OHs' backup) to an external HD and keep elsewhere..
You can look at sharing files on Windows PCs here -
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-share-files-and-printers-without-homegroup-windows-10