On Line/Cloud Backup and File Storage

[boomer1025]

The question I keep asking myself is how safe is it. Would you keep documents with personal information like tax returns, medical information and so forth on the cloud.
It seems like every time you turn around you here of something getting hacked. Also the question, is the cloud storage being mined for data.
Do you feel it's safe to store backups an personal files to the cloud ??
I have some non-personal files in the cloud, but would like to hear others opinions before I commit to moving more stuff to the cloud.

 

[/pine]

The question I keep asking myself is how safe is it. Would you keep documents with personal information like tax returns, medical information and so forth on the cloud.
It seems like every time you turn around you here of something getting hacked. Also the question, is the cloud storage being mined for data.
Do you feel it's safe to store backups an personal files to the cloud ??
I have some non-personal files in the cloud, but would like to hear others opinions before I commit to moving more stuff to the cloud.

Personally if I was going to use the cloud for document storage I would keen up on encryption techniques...would also look at some archive compaction software...

 

[dmccarty]

Also the question, is the cloud storage being mined for data.

It could be, it would depend on the service. Read the very fine print.

Do you feel it's safe to store backups an personal files to the cloud ??

Mostly no. You could encrypt the data you stored but you will have to use the latest and greatest encryption code. The older stuff has been found, no surprise, to be lacking with today's systems.

Then look at cost of the service. When I have looked at costs, I could buy my own USB drives for more space for the same or less expense. The advantage of cloud storage is that it is off site but the big disadvantage is cost, security, and cost. Or Internet provider is SLOW so uploading/download is also and issue with us.

Every other year or so, I buy a new USB drive or a drive that will fit my laptop bay, and backup the data again. That way I have multiple drives of various ages holding the data. I do backup to the older drives as well. Cheap and I do keep some data away from home.

Later,
Dan

 

[Handloader109]

No way. I have a few pictures on a couple of sites, but nothing important. USB terabyte drives are cheap.

 

[mddorange]

That is what I use, a WD Ultra, 2 terabyte USB drive and even it has encryption built in. I do not trust the cloud and as long as it is on a USB drive, I do not even have to have internet access to access all my data.

 

[newbury]

With my luck "cloud storage" would turn into "cloud disappearance".

I alternate full backups between a "large" 5.25 inch 2TB USB drive and a small 1TB 3.5 inch USB drive. Plus maintain old SATA drives from prior "desktop" systems for archival stuff.

And WARNING - a backup is only a hope if it's not verified!

 

[mddorange]

Newbury is very right. Most software backup systems do a verify as part of the backup now but make sure yours does.

 

[JimRB]

To expand on Newbury's verified backup. A verified backup is one where you have actually restored files from the backup. Not Joe the tech, not Bob your neighbor, but you, the owner of the backup. Joe and Bob might not be alive or available when you need to restore a file. When I test, I rename a folder and then restore the folder from the backup. If I see all the files and sub-folders, the file count and size match and I can open the files, then I have trust that the backup is ok.

If you encrypt the backup and you forget the encryption key, the backup is useless because you cannot restore or open.

 

[dmccarty]

I don't use backup software anymore. The drives are so cheap, I just copy the directories I want to backup. You be in trouble if the backup software is no longer available....

Later
Dan