Is there any reason not to move my data to the cloud?

[qwerty3656]

Amazon has unlimited photo storage if your a prime user (photos are by far our largest data hog).

 

[turbo89]

Another vote against using “the cloud”. The last thing I personally want to do is put more of
my personal information into a system I know nothing about.

Disk space is cheap… buy a NAS with redundant hard drives and setup a local network. We have one at home, and use it to access files anywhere in our house.

Synology also has an app, enabling access anywhere in the world. I personally wouldn’t enable that, but I know plenty of folks that have.

A benefit of this approach is no monthly bills for cloud access.

 

[Dalmore]

While I do keep some things in the cloud, anything with sensitive/personal data in it, I encrypt first using VeraCrypt. My thought process is this: if the service is free, they have to make money somewhere, and that is by data mining the files I upload to them. They already know too much about me as it is, why give them more.

 

[teetee]

You can also learn more about personal cloud and VPN so that when you set the nas up with a router, you can access your data from anywhere on the Internet while keeping the security intact.

But again, it is not a backup solution.

 

[jim584672]

Unless you are encrypting your data before it goes up the cloud Provider will be scanning your data. Something to consider.

 

[Qs Laptop]

That’s reassuring. I have two subfolders with my sensitive info that I won’t upload, but everything else can go on the cloud. When I really stop and think about it, most of my files aren’t going to help anyone or harm me…might as well use OneDrive since it’s included in our Microsoft 365 subscription.

Yes, this is sensible.

I asked this in another thread and I'll ask it again, since I never got an answer in that thread--If you don't store banking information in the cloud exactly what is it that people are worried about getting hacked? Your Christmas card list? Your pictures of your grandkids birthday parties? What?

 

[Freedom56]

I can't understand why anyone would want to keep financial and tax information in cloud storage. Centralized computing is a throwback to the 70's during the days of mainframe computers. What if the server is hacked? Even photos and videos of yourself and family members can be used by scammers to create fake profiles on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. High capacity storage is inexpensive and easy to use and much more secure.

 

[OldShooter]

... Centralized computing is a throwback to the 70's during the days of mainframe computers. ...

Well, ... sort of. The pendulum has swung a number of times in the intervening years. Back then it was called "time sharing" and the terminals might be mechanical teletype machines. All processing and storage was on the central machine. As technical capabilities of have grown, the debate morphed slightly into "dumb terminals vs smart terminals." Now that our terminals are pretty darn smart, the debate still rages with the terminology morphed again to "cloud" as in "cloud storage" and "cloud processing." But the terms of the debate are still about the same: What work and what storage should occur on each end of the wire? Having lived through all of that, my conclusion is that there is no universal answer.

For DW and me my answer is to be as self sufficient as possible, with all processing and storage kept local. "Cloud" resource availability can be fickle, as Facebook users recently found. Also, cloud storage and cloud processing involve relying on possibly-unreliable third parties whose agenda is profit-maximization. AFIK Mother Teresa is not running a cloud company. (Wait, wait, ... maybe she is now that she's in the clouds too. )

So the answer is always the same; local versus centralized, make your choice based on your own circumstances.

 

[Freedom56]

Now that our terminals are pretty darn smart, the debate still rages with the terminology morphed again to "cloud" as in "cloud storage" and "cloud processing."

Meanwhile Google has been pushing Chromebooks which are low end inexpensive laptops where most of the Apps run on their servers. These are Trojan horses that gather information about you and your habits to sell to third parties.

The only thing I use cloud storage for is passing large files that are too big for email to a another party. I never upload sensitive financial or personal information to the cloud and never send it by email. Cybercrimes are exploding with these criminals targeting the elderly and younger careless generation. I have seen these attempts happen on a regular basis with my parents and in-laws who are in their mid 80's.

 

[OldShooter]

... These are Trojan horses that gather information about you and your habits to sell to third parties. ...

Occam's razor leads me to the conclusion that they are primarily a low-priced tool to attack Apple's dominance in the public education space. That's simpler to me than a conspiracy theory.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I have used Dropbox for many years, probably since they were very new. It has been seemless and any time I get a new computer it i svery easy to transition. There is probably some risk but I like the convenience.

I have Microsoft Office 365 personally but do not really use Onedrive only because Dropbox meets my needs. My work switched to MSO 365 about a year ago and I have noticed some "leakage" that I do not like, basically work files showing up at home and even some of my colleagues files being visible to me at home. I'm not saying 365 has security issues and it may not be a problem for most people here. But if your workplace also uses 365 you must be very careful if you do not want to share personal stuff.

I just bought a 4TB drive to do my own backups as well ($89) and recently bought a 1 TB USB drive as a travel backup.

I truly think the cost of backup these days is not the important factor. Just set up a system you will actually use and stick with reliably. Dropbox works for me because it is automatic and seemless.