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Cloud vs External HD


Keel M.

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Which do you think is more trustworthy when it comes to storing important documents? A cloud-based service, such as Microsoft's One Drive, or is purchasing an external hard drive and storing data on it instead a better way to go?

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1 minute ago, Nonentity said:

Which do you think is more trustworthy when it comes to storing important documents? A cloud-based service, such as Microsoft's One Drive, or is purchasing an external hard drive and storing data on it instead a better way to go?

The latter. I would never, ever store my data/important/private doxs in a cloud, no matter how often the providers assure its safe and claim "your data will be encrypted blah blah blah". And, if you check the terms and conditions of these providers carefully you will always find that their liability in case of data lost/data screening by third parties is: zero, null, nada. Go for an external HD to avoid these kind of problems.

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Cloud services are generally paid for each month if you go over the free limit. The hard drive would be a one time expense.

Solid state drives could be more reliable than the old spinning disks format but are more expensive.

I use free cloud data and keep the folders as small as possible.  I also have an external hard drive and also backup data to DVD-ROM occasionally.

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Also user Toast is correct in that I would not consider cloud data to be entirely confidential.  Best to encrypt sensitive data of any type.

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I wouldn't go so far as to claim this is sensitive data. It's just writing that I'm looking to store, but I want something a bit more stable than a flash drive. And, of course, it's sensitive to me but not necessarily worth encrypting.

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2 minutes ago, Nonentity said:

I wouldn't go so far as to claim this is sensitive data. It's just writing that I'm looking to store, but I want something a bit more stable than a flash drive. And, of course, it's sensitive to me but not necessarily worth encrypting.

Free cloud is your best bet.  I use it for the same purpose that you do.   You can also password protect files such as Excel.

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I see that a 3TB Seagate external HDD sells for $89.99 on Amazon. That's a lot of data space for not much money. Personally, I'd go with that rather than fool around with the Cloud: with on-line storage, you're always potentially exposed.

Edited by PersonFromPorlock
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2 minutes ago, PersonFromPorlock said:

I see that a 3TB Seagate external HDD sells for $89.99 on Amazon. That's a lot of data space for not much money. Personally, I'd go with that rather than fool around with the Cloud: with on-line storage, you're always potentially exposed.

This is actually the one I was looking at earlier: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Portable-External-STEA1000400/dp/B00TKFEEAS/ref=s9_simh_gw_g147_i1_r?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=05V5BFE2K6GQD1MXNJPF&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1cded295-23b4-40b1-8da6-7c1c9eb81d33&pf_rd_i=desktop

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3 hours ago, Nonentity said:

Which do you think is more trustworthy when it comes to storing important documents? A cloud-based service, such as Microsoft's One Drive, or is purchasing an external hard drive and storing data on it instead a better way to go?

How can a third-party proprietary service compete with a personal physical backup?

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I just wasn't sure if the security had improved or anything. Things can happen to a personal physical backup, too. :P

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Just a different perspective.

We recently had catastrophic house fire, and all the data stored at home in our HHDs was lost- family photos, etc.

If only I had used the cloud...

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Exactly. However I will say that mine will be the portable variety so I can carry it along when I travel.

Edited by Nonentity
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13 minutes ago, alibongo said:

Just a different perspective.

We recently had catastrophic house fire, and all the data stored at home in our HHDs was lost- family photos, etc.

If only I had used the cloud...

That's awful to hear Alibongo, and my commiserations. 

I can understand how a "Cloud" storage service may seem attractive for personal material. I wouldn't use it for anything confidential, or business-related, however. I don't trust the storage operators - especially the free ones - not to 'read' the material and parse it for things to sell to advertising companies.

I run a number of websites, and occasionally use them to store stuff, but for important stuff I use USB HDD's, and store them offsite. (or use them as intermediaries to transfer the data to an offsite computer).

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Why not use both if the data isn't of a sensitive nature?

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On ‎22‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 2:16 PM, Nonentity said:

I just wasn't sure if the security had improved or anything. Things can happen to a personal physical backup, too. :P

Yes, but a backup is a backup!

You still have the originals.

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  • 2 weeks later...

External hard drives are cheap get one better then the cloud

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On 2/21/2017 at 5:20 PM, Nonentity said:

Which do you think is more trustworthy when it comes to storing important documents? A cloud-based service, such as Microsoft's One Drive, or is purchasing an external hard drive and storing data on it instead a better way to go?

I would use both especially given how cheap external drives have become.  Also you can encrypt the data on the external drive as well just don't forget that password.

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  • 1 month later...

Reviving this thread because I'm now actively looking at portable external hard drives and I'm a little confused...

Please explain to me the lines marked by the red boxes. :)

34170790181_ff493dd061_o.jpg

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I think its 'Wired' or 'usb' that should be the main priority here as the prices aren't really that far apart, that would depend on the ports available on the puter being available or not ... I'm using USB and its not quite that convenient ... 

terabyte as opposed to gigabyte link

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Quote

 

What is terabyte (TB)? - Definition from WhatIs.com - SearchStorage

searchstorage.techtarget.com › ... › Computing fundamentals

May 13, 2015 - A terabyte (TB) is a measure of computer storage capacity that is 2 to the 40th power, or approximately a trillion bytes. A terabyte is more precisely defined as 1,024 gigabytes (GB). The prefix tera is derived from the Greek word for monster.


 

 

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Not quite sure but Terabytes on USB might seem to be a bit slow even with USB 3.0 ... not sure if that's the case if its partitioned into smaller sections though ...

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recommendations ..
 

Quote


Build Your Own External SSD For Cheaper, Faster Storage

Case in point: My photo and video library is about 200GB, and my MacBook Pro’s SSD is only 256GB, so naturally, I bought myself an external hard drive to hold the library. Unfortunately (if not surprisingly) reading over 30,000 files off a 5400 RPM USB hard drive brought the Apple Photos app to a screeching halt any time I searched, edited, or even scrolled, so I set out to find a faster solution.

 

  • gear lifehacker link

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29 minutes ago, Nonentity said:

Reviving this thread because I'm now actively looking at portable external hard drives and I'm a little confused...

Please explain to me the lines marked by the red boxes. :)

34170790181_ff493dd061_o.jpg

- All of these drives are the same size and connect the same way, USB 3.0.  Disregard the wired/USB it is the same in this case.  USB 3.0 is much faster than USB 2.0 but if your computer doesn't have a USB 3.0 connection you won't benefit from it but it will still work (backward compatible to 2.0)  USB 3.0 usually has blue plastic inside the connector vise black. 

- 1,000GB = 1TB.  They are all the same size.

- get a 2015 or 2016 model

 

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On Monday, March 06, 2017 at 2:46 PM, Merc14 said:

I would use both especially given how cheap external drives have become.  Also you can encrypt the data on the external drive as well just don't forget that password.

Exactly.  I use both.  I have lost pictures in the past due to storage units being mass produced as cheaply as possible.  If you use both a cloud and a external drive, you will have better chance of not having a loss of data.  Also, consider a safety deposit box for the external drive if it is important data you do not want to lose.  The insulation on the vaults that house safety deposit boxes survive fires.  The whole bank can burn down, but the contents are safe in the vault.  And with how small external drives are, you only need a small sdb.

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Just to add a few points...

The reason you often see 1,000GB instead of 1TB (1,024GB) is because there was a big fuss a few years back over the amount of space advertised on storage devices, compared to what customers were receiving.

third_eye covered it above, but basically the bigger devices have become over the years, the bigger the disparity, e.g. losing 24GB on a drive advertised as a terabyte, whereas in the past you might have lost 24MB on a gigabyte drive.

Just bears repeating what others have already said too, regarding having at least two copies of important files. It's pointless just having one copy on an external drive, particularly as, in my experience, enclosed external drives are often less reliable than internal drives.

Personally, I use something similar to this. It allows you use internal drives as external drives, and replace them yourself as needed. You also get the choice of USB 3.0 or eSATA connections. USB 3.0 is theoretically faster, but in practice I find eSATA better. Plus the bay has its own fan if the drives have heavy use, etc.

As others have also said, there will always be the issue of extreme circumstances, such as fire, if your backup device is in the same physical location as your main device. As well as what glorybebe stated above, you can also get fireproof boxes for your own home if the data is important enough.

From what you've said though, Nonentity, if you're mainly looking to back up small files such as your writings, your best solution might simply be multiple USB drives. They're cheap, and if you have two or three copies, the chances of losing them all at the same time are negligible.

You could also use cloud storage/file hosting, and encrypt the files yourself before uploading them. I'm not up to date on encryption software, but TrueCrypt is still a solid option.

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Thanks for your input glorybebe and LV-426. Since the time of the original posting, I've decided to downsize to a smaller notebook PC and there are photos I want to keep in addition to my writing. Many of my photos are on a cloud server, but there are many more that aren't. Those I'd like to store on an external drive. 

I guess my follow up question earlier today should've been clearer. I don't understand why on the third device in that list shows a Size of 1TB yet a Memory Storage Capacity and Hard-Drive size to be in GB. What's the difference between Size, Memory Storage Capacity and Hard-Drive size?

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