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Keeping your files safe is important, you don’t want to lose important documents and precious memories. This means you need to back them up somewhere. A common thing you will hear is to store files ‘in the cloud’ but where is that and is it safe?

What is Cloud Storage?

Cloud storage is essentially huge storage computers owned by big companies. You can think of it as a backup of your physical file but then the ‘cloud’ file has its own backup to. So it is a very safe way to actually store your files in terms of not losing them.

Advantages of cloud storage

You can buy external hard drives to backup your files but this requires additional hardware and admin to your day to day computer admin. Cloud storage really seeks to take all the hassle away from backing up data and just lets it get on in the background seamlessly while you can just go on with your day to day business.

Cloud storage can be very useful with modern smart devices because they only have small amounts of storage and very few come with additional storage card slots. HD and 4K video alongside high resolution photos can eat up a lot of space on a device very quickly.  Apps tend to take up the majority of space on our smart devices and while we can’t store apps in the cloud we can store our photos and videos there.

All cloud services are slightly different but the majority come with relatively cheap starter plans and have a nice user friendly way to navigate and share files, usually through an app and or website.

Drawbacks of cloud storage

Now nobody has time to read the small print nowadays but you should be aware that often companies will scan through your documents for keywords, geo information and more to gather valuable marketing information about you. This in turn is sold to advertising companies to target relevant ads to you and potentially other 3rd parties.

Another drawback of cloud storage can be transfer speeds. This is much more noticeable for those of us that have lots of large photos and video. You really need to be doing it over Wi-Fi or you could be using up a lot of your phones data plan.

If you decide to use cloud storage then one important thing to bear in mind is that your data is only as secure as your password. If somebody gains access to your account they have access to all your files stored there, so make sure you pick a good strong password for that account.

Cost can be a deciding factor in using cloud services and once you have hundreds of files in one service and get used to using it then its a hassle to change to a new one. You have to be prepared for price rises in the service and how that will affect your monthly finances.

And thats it! Cloud without a doubt is the future, the space you can buy is so cheap and the services are so useful for accessing and storing all your files. In terms of phones, tablets and some computers it is almost essential with modern storage being so small.

Cloud Storage Providers

Dropbox
iCloud
Google Drive
OneDrive
AmazonCloud