The Cloud

Ask a Toddler - Cloud

The other day I was burning a data DVD and my other half asked a valid question: Why are we still using these things? The answer went something along the lines of ‘most of the time we don’t but sometimes we have to’.

Cloud computing has allowed us to make significant advancements in dealing with large amounts of data in a way that we’ve never been able to in the past. Data we put in the cloud is now available to us anywhere and anytime we’ve got an internet connection. Most of the time it works an absolute treat but sometimes it won’t replace storing data ourselves…on a local hard drive…perhaps backed up on a physical DVD.

The reason is because although the cloud has effectively outsourced our storage needs it does exactly that, outsource. And when we outsource we lose a level of control. To most that’s fine and the convenience the cloud offers far outweighs the cost and loss of control.

Any serious strategy in backing-up data should probably include the cloud on some level but anything worth protecting and truly backing up should [also] be locally etched. After-all, clouds do dissipate.