Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

The latest buzz word in the technology industry is “the cloud.” It’s been around for several years. Basically, the “cloud” is online storage space on some server. Perhaps you’ve heard of Carbonite or iCloud? You can see a comprehensive list of both top US and Top UK cloud storage companies and pricing at the link. The “cloud” is merely online storage space. Think of it as a separate, external hard drive online. In the “olden” days, we stored our data, our photos, our documents and emails on our personal computers. The “cloud” allows you to store that data on an online server.

There are pros and cons to cloud storage, as you can imagine.

Pros:

• Easy access to all your files online, from any computer.
• You can share your files with others. Most cloud companies allow you to create “approved users,” so you can give Granny permission to access portions of your cloud data, too.
• Cloud storage is a great backup for PC hard drive loss. Personal computer hard drives have become more reliable but the consumer products are much less reliable than the commercial drives that are kept in large, air-conditioned storage rooms.
• Some cloud companies will automate backups for you. You can select the schedule for this process, such as every Monday at 3am. Of course, your computer must be on and connected to the Internet during this time.
• If you have webmail or if you “sync” your web browser bookmarks between two computers, you are already using cloud storage. It can be very convenient!

Cons:

• Most cloud storage costs money. You can go the cheap route, for example, and upload your documents to Gmail which gives users very generous storage space. But you will have to manually do this on a regular basis and attach it to emails, which is very inconvenient.
• There is the possibility that cloud servers can be hacked. Most companies have very rigorous security measures and monitor their servers well, but we all know what a determined hacker can do….
• To access your data, you must have an Internet connection. If you don’t keep any of your photos or documents on your PC but upload everything to the cloud, that data may be unavailable at time if you or your cloud server experiences downtime.
• You can lose all your data from a natural disaster or a company bankruptcy.

The “cons” are rather far-fetched– what is the likelihood of a natural disaster striking YOUR server??– but you just never know. Still, for many people, the pros outweigh the cons, and many consumers seem to like having automated backups of their data and being able to access it anywhere. As a matter of fact, that has become the deciding factor for me.

Before you hop into the cloud fervor, weigh all your alternatives. Check prices and always check the company’s reputation and uptime guarantee.