tmehrkam Loc: Houston,Tx

Cloud sucks. I know several business that lost everything in the *&%$ cloud.

I went to a Vet the other day. Could not see my sick pup because everything was in the &^% cloud which was down most of the day.

Just say no to the cloud for everyday use. Secondary Backup maybe if you have good security and good local backup. It takes very little to bring the internet down.

wapiti Loc: round rock, texas

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I never use the cloud for routine file usage. Phone/cable do go down sometimes. I never use backups for any routine file usage either.

Most large companies use distributed processing and have local computers/file systems IN the store, which usually get updates on a regular basis throughout the day.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

You should have BOTH. One working (primary copy), one local backup, AND one off-site disaster recovery (DR) copy of your data.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

I use the Apple system so Photos with iCloud storage is, for me, the way to go. though automatic cloud travel is the way they do it, when you remove a photo from Photos it leaves the cloud in 30 days, so unwanted storage is not problem as it might be with differential backup schemes.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I hate to make a career of defending the cloud, BUT, if these businesses lost everything in the cloud (and I’d like to know the details), then they either: used the cloud for their primary storage AND did not have a local backup (which is poor computing practice), and/or used someone other than a MAJOR cloud provider (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, etc.), or they did something dumb in terms of computing practice or administration. The large majority of US business use cloud storage, including the US govt (and that includes the 3-letter intelligence agencies and Social Security). Your critical data such as medical records, credit info., military records, banking and SSN are all in the cloud, so just maybe it should be adequate to keep a disaster recovery copy (notice I didn’t say backup or primary storage) of your data,

dan59019 Loc: Washington Mi

I like a external powered USB drive as a primary backup (8TB) and I find Microsoft OneDrive great as a cloud backup - it is seen as an additional drive on your computer - no learning curve- less expensive for a TB than most

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

I use one drive 1 TB since it comes with my MS Office sub, but think in terms of "tiered" storage - the cloud being intermediate (NOT long term). For long term archive think local...store an archive back up locally (on and off site - two copies). Optical (archival quality M-Disc with appropriate drives) media best - don't use cheap discs - don't use hard drives of any kind (spinning or SSD) for long term backup/archive! Another good archive media is properly stored LTO tape (up to 30 years) - this is what the pros use in the industry (for video assets mainly), but it's expensive and not recommended for enthusiasts unless you have the need and funds for it. Think also generational storage - as technology marches on move towards newer media - this can happen every decade or so. In the LTO industry since the drives can read 2 generations prior, organizations migrate every other new generation. So when LTO7 was introduced, LTO5 tapes are migrated to LTO7....this happens generally every 5-6 years. One LTO8 tape can hold 12 TB uncompressed, 30 TB compressed!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-DISC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_Tape-Open

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

It's not long tern vs. short term, it's local vs. remote.
ALL are long term if one never uses it.
It's insurance, not an investment.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Every file you move to the cloud will have a touch of grey ...

Basil Loc: New Mexico

I back up to an 8TB "MyCloud Mirror", which is a Raid. I also do a second backup to a fireproof iOsafe. As a final failsafe, in case those drives are stolen or destroyed I, like others here, use BackBlaze.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

srt101fan

Only if they're OLD files.....😕

FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

Take the advice of Ken S.