If you find yourself reading this article, there is a high likelihood that you have been struggling to get answers on how best to protect and store your data. The chances of you getting torn apart between the many available ‘cloud' services and external hard drives are very high. The best answer to your numerous questions is quite simple; both are recommendable. This is because either of them has merits and demerits that one ought to consider.
If you choose external drives, you use little time to back up your data. In addition to this, your data remains safe since it is free from hackers. However, the same is susceptible to theft, fire damage, and mechanical failure. On the other hand, you can use cloud services since they are more reliable. Unfortunately, they are slower and vulnerable to hackers.
In this paper, we will overlook the usual arguments on theft, damage, fire, hackers, etc., and focus on other factors such as cost.
External hard disk
Whether you are operating a business or storing personal data, you need a storage that saves you money. Between cloud and external drives, we are likely to choose the latter since it is cheaper. This is because you are not required to pay recurring subscription fees or bandwidth-usage fees which are very frequent in cloud services.
The other determining factor is for security purposes. Your files will remain safe unless someone gets access to your desktop, laptop or hard drive. This means that the owner has complete control over the data. Next is on ease to back up. Although cloud services offer automatic backup, hard drives have software that offers scheduled or one-click backup on anything you mark as an essential file. Besides, you can have the click-free drives, so you don't have to click anywhere when you want to back up your data. Performing offline backup for your files is much faster than online cloud services.
Cloud Storage
In our technological world, we have lots of data that is widely spread across digital devices. External hard drives are known to limit an individual to their computers or desktops. However, with cloud services, you can back up files stored in any device as long as it accesses the internet. In addition to this, you are given the freedom to access these files from any part of the world in the browser; hence the service offers flexibility and accessibility.
The other advantage is on the availability of free storage ranging from 2GB- 25GB. This allows one to try out the service and see if it works well. If your data exceeds the limited storage space, you have a chance to subscribe to premium services for additional space. The next advantage of this service is the ease of sharing. Many of us face the challenge of congestion in our inboxes. With cloud computing, this is made easier since you don't have to send thousands of photos to your friends or colleagues via email. Instead, you can store them in the cloud and send the link to them for easier downloads.
The other merit is on real-time collaboration. This is ideal for students and co-workers who work from different places. The cloud services give them a chance to work on projects together despite their geographical differences. It, therefore, means that a student does not have to keep on sending revisions or draft since everyone can view the progress of the project at any stage.
Which Method is Best?
How you choose your backup type depends on the data you want to store and the methods you are likely to use to access it. If you own a business that deals with customers' sensitive information, external hard disks are the most recommendable for security reasons. In addition to this, they are less costly as compared to cloud services especially if you are dealing with extensive data.
On the other hand, if you value flexibility and convenience, it is advisable to choose cloud backup services. It is the best method if you use multiple devices to have your work done or store the data all over the internet. No matter what method you choose, both work well when it comes to storage and backing up your data. For more information on professional backing up of MYSQL databases and files, visit ottomatik.io.
