@hirondelle09 - so glad you got your Disney family back! I try every generation (once all kids are born and before elders start demising) to save the family to the gallery, just in case the game blows up and I have to start over from a new game!
I do a "save as" every time I save (both a save and save as, so I have two saved versions), and I try to save after every half hour or so, and after every super important event (like finally meeting that someone special or a completing an aspiration or reaching career pinnacle).
I haven't yet copied my save files to an external hard drive--that's probably a great idea! I like a little bit of risk in my life, though... so I usually skip that step and live mildly dangerously!