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Whatever program you use, it should have an export to gedcom option. There's no way a gedcom file won't fit on a thumb drive. They make thumbdrives with very large capacities now.
I think you can get a 64 GB flash drive for less than $30 now.
Three ways. Most of my computer work is done on a desktop. Periodically, I dump all files (including genealogy) to an external 500 GB hard drive. I also have a lap top, where I copy files from the external HD so if I'm researching elsewhere I have all the current info. I also subscribe to ancestry, so I have the files on their site, and much of my support is on paper, which I keep in bankers' boxes.
Amazon has a 128 GB flash drive for $30 and a 64 GB for $20. You can also get a 64 GB SD card for $25 (I used SD cards before I went to an external HD). If you have more than 64 GB, you have a lot of info.
My tree is on my computer and on online at Ancestry.com so I guess my back up is the "cloud". Backing up to the cloud in some way is ideal, since online servers will always have professional back ups themselves. Since I have FTM, my tree and all the documents/media sync between FTM and my online "cloud" tree so everything is automatically backed up and I don't have to worry about it.
This is something I worry about sometimes. I have my original paper charts in the file cabinet and most of my original certificates are in either 3 ring binders or leather zip cases. But my actual full trees, notes, and pictures are in Ancestry. I just hope and pray Ancestry keeps them there, in the cloud. One of these days when I think I have done enough, I plan on paying Ancestry to print it all out for me. It looks like they do a really nice job for about $50 last time I checked.
External hard drive. Can't believe how cheap those things have become.
I save just about everything. Pictures of head stones from FindaGrave, census records from ancestry (right click and save to computer), scanned death certificates, obits, news articles about different people... I also do periodic screen prints of trees (something that is a lot easier on Classic ancestry ) whenever I add people to a branch.
Last time I checked, about 15000 records digitally stored.
There are a couple of history museum/genealogy centers who are interested in my collection. Having been born in an area where a limited number of surnames make up the majority of the population, what I have gathered can be split into separate surname files for individual researchers. Most of what one center has is on paper in file cabinets. That is a tenuous and tedious form of storage that a lot of the newbies don't want to deal with. They rather pull it up on a PC or other kind of media viewing device.
External hard drives are crucial, but remember to store a duplicate one off site (like in safe deposit box--good place to put prints if important photos as well).
And I like to send into digital cloud in some mannner-- I email myself anything I absolutely do not want to lose.
I also like prints of photos, photocopy important docs, & print outs on paper to be in off site location. I do not rely solely on digital due to bad experiences in past with changing technology & general breakdown of media.
When traveling for research, I email myself a record of that day's research at quitting time.
Like Chinluv, I have a lot of photos and documents I have scanned, not all of which is linked to the genealogy program yet.
Chadgates, the data in the software program itself is easy to save. All of the supporting stuff is not saved when I back up the genealogy program, though.
Historyfan, I use the email option, too. It makes it easy to save to the genealogy file.
Like Chinluv, I have a lot of photos and documents I have scanned, not all of which is linked to the genealogy program yet.
Oh yeah, all my scanned photos which are attached to my tree are web quality versions - the original print quality versions are backed up to my OneDrive cloud (along with all my other photos). I used to use an external hard drive to back up all my photos but it's too much hassle - plugging it in, moving things over, etc. With the cloud, you just have a folder on your computer that is synced automatically to your cloud so anything you put in that folder gets automatically backed up.
Plus as someone else pointed out, if (God forbid) there was a fire or something, you would lose both your computer and your external drive unless you kept the external somewhere else (which then makes updating it a pain because you have to go get it). I used to always joke that if there was a fire, the first thing I would save would be my external hard drive, lol. Don't have to worry about that anymore, even if it is an unlikely event.
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) whenever I add people to a branch. 
