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Why not to rely on "The Cloud"

mikejee

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have always been dubious about relying on storage online, and have tried to always keep my data /photos/etc stored with me. Today's story confirms that I was right to do so:

Mind you I find it difficult to honestly believe that artists would only store their work online without it being available at any other place, and think/hope that this is over-emphasised in the article. However, as these artists are possibly the same people who think it desirable to post photos of their every meal online then perhaps they are as stupid as to do this.
 
i am like you mike,i try and keep my photos,on my h/disk or stick,dont fancy using storage banks.dont trust em.never did before the interweb.and never will
 
This issue reminds me of the problems on BHF when photos were removed, recently, or overprinted with a watermark. That particular company caused much anguish to railway photographers, in the United States and others who took interesting scenic photos. The demands for payment was not well received.
 
our backup routine is this: once a day the entire database and all files are backed up to a HDD and there are 3 days worth at any one point, this is then auto copied to another HDD outside of the server and once a week one of the backups is sent to cloud storage off site.

we also have a UPS attached in case of power loss with automatic graceful shutdown the entire network is plugged into to minimise sudden loss.
 
I never use the cloud, but have two large portable disks on USB 3.0 and four memory sticks. I never store my genealogical databases on Ancestry or FMP. I don't risk losing any important data or risk it falling into wrong hands by using any storage that is not under my direct control.

Maurice
 
I use the Microsoft cloud (OneDrive) every day mainly as a convenient network drive with it's free 5Gb. If I'm editing a pic on my laptop and feel like working on my desktop pc the pic is available on either. I also have the OneDrive app in my iPad so can see what the pic looks like on that. OneDrive looks just like a folder on my computers and iPad. I back up the cloud contents once a week to an external drive. I never use a cloud for sensitive or financial files.

I use Gmail so have access to 15Gb of their cloud but find it clunky compared to OneDrive.
And because I have an iPad and iPhone I have 5Gb of iCloud but it's full with apps etc and I'm not paying for extra.

I suppose we all use our computers differently ... my laptop is on my lap with a wireless mouse on the cushion ... my desktop box is behind a sofa with the monitor on a coffee table , and I sit on the sofa with a wireless keyboard on my lap.
I've never used a desk ... :)
 
I don’t think that there is a completely safe single method of storing data. Even with the best will in the world, technology fails, either by design, theft or accident.

If the data you hold is of value to you, then you should adopt a 3-2-1 Backup Strategy.
 
Would not argue with that. What my original post was commenting on was the statement that people had lost original work that was stored ONLY on that particular site
 
I have a feeling that My Space "lost" all these old files because they could not be bothered to migrate all this old data. This is always a risk with any data stored online or in the cloud.

However JUST having files stored in your house on any media (external hard drives, DVD etc) is at risk due to perhaps a major house fire or flood, or maybe theft (burglary) or technical failure if it is only on one hard drive..

So all backups should be a combination of files stored in your house, ALSO one or more "spare" backups stored in a friends or relatives house, and ALSO data stored in the cloud.

If data is REALLY important to you then it should be stored in multiple places on multiple media as you never know what is going to happen.
 
In the days before computers I used to keep precious family photos in a shoebox under the stairs, birth certificates and other important documents in a metal case.... never thought about backing them up.
:)
I still do and I guess many others do so as well. ;)
I had an email from Emsisoft today. Those interested look it up. It stems from the days when I used M/Soft Windows. Basically it was critical of Google re-directs and was scathing about Word Press. I use neither.
 
I use two external hard drives kept separately but also have a large case of old photos (from my Parents and Grandparents) too heavy to easily move. Keep saying I will scan them but it would take too long. Will have to pick out the important ones - if I can.
 
Never been confident enough to make use of clouds or similar.

I have only half met my original intention to scan every photograph and document and back them up
with external storage.

I intended to then back that up with a further storage drive but have never gotten around to it.

Would be a shame if over twenty years of research were to be lost after so much expense and effort.
 
As previously mentioned I had a go with Google Drive (cloud) some years ago but found it clunky so didn’t use it much.

Today I was surprised to see that I was using 7Gb of the available free 15Gb.

A quick look showed that Google Photos had backed up all the photos, images, and video clips I had in my laptop and desktop computers.

Some people say the ‘Cloud’ is just someone else’s computer.
 
A quick look showed that Google Photos had backed up all the photos, images, and video clips I had in my laptop and desktop computers.

A lot of people don't realise that if you have an Android phone and are logged on to your phone with a Gmail account ALL the photos and videos on your phone are automatically uploaded to Google Photos on the web (depending on settings on your phone).

You can logon to Google Photos on the internet here (just use your usual Gmail account, the same one you use on your phone)

https://www.google.com/photos/about/
.
 
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I've now sorted Google photos and limited the folders it can access. It can sync old street pics and general images but not my family personal photos. At the same time I've reset two factor authentication for when I need it. I'm happy with Google security.

All my Gmails auto-forward to my Apple email where I read them. The only time I need to use Gmail is when I send one. I never use Gmail on my iPhone but have GDrive in my iPad.

I prefer Microsoft's OneDrive as a convenient way of moving files from one device to another particularly from iPad/iPhones to Windows etc. The app is in my iPhone and collects all the pics I take so they are quickly visible on my Windows devices.

I use Clouds as conveniences and not for backups.
 
I'm still using OneDrive (cloud) with it's free 5Gb on Win 10 so it's in my Dell laptop, my Acer Desktop, and Microsoft's free app in my iPad. OneDrive has become my convenient network drive but I never upload important files and data to it.

I can access Onedrive from any device and it looks like a normal folder on Win 10. It is ideal for moving items between computers or phones. With photo editing I use my laptop but other times I use my desktop with it's 24" screen, and sometimes my iPad to see how the photo looks on it.

My 'Then and Now' folder on the 'cloud' as seen on my iPad.
mIMG_1214.jpg
 
The internet speed here is far too low to make use of online (cloud) storage, and I'm quite happy with that. I don't use a mobile phone or a laptop, we're living in an old stone house with 19 inch thick walls 800 feet a.s.l. and nowhere near any watercourses or likely watercourses. We have no live fires, the oil-fired boiler is external to the house, and the village is well proected with storm drains. Serious earthquakes are unlikely and the older part of the house has stood for 200 years without any known problems.

That said, if I was living in an urban situation in the UK or any other country in the civilised world, I would seriously think about storing my stuff in an external online backup.

Maurice :cool:
 
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