Most of us work day and night on computers and keep saving our work by simultaneously pressing the Ctrl + S keys. Since we do not want our work or other data to be lost due to sudden power outage, hard drive failure, or virus infection, we continue to save it.
Over a period of time, our computers becomes more like a storage house that has saved documents, screenshots, family photos, videos, banking details, emails, contacts, presentations, and downloads among other things.
The point is that if we care so much about our data then why most of us miss out on backing it up. Why most of us remain in dilemma over regularly backing up our data when our digital life (and also real life) is always at risk of being ruined due to cyber threats, hardware problems, catastrophes like floods, thefts etc.
Since computers are susceptible to these critical situations and problems that may occur and recur during their normal course of operation, data backup is absolutely vital. It will not only keep data safe and intact but also help restore it in the time of need.
Today there are more data backup and storage options including cloud storage available to customers as compared to a few years back when there were only low-capacity floppy disks, tapes, and CDs available in the name of storage devices. Since than storage devices have come a long way. There are now large-capacity hard drives, CDs, thumb drives, and pen drives etc. available for data storage.
Some of the users have been relying on these external storage devices from a long time to back up and restore data. However, with the arrival of cloud storage, external storage devices have taken a back seat. Cloud storage has completely changed the way users backup and restore their data. The solution has given users extra reasons to safely back up data and restore as many times as they want. Let's take a dig at the differences between cloud storage and local storage (external devices):
Cloud Storage vs. Local Storage:
Compared to external storage devices, cloud storage, a.k.a. online storage offers a complete data backup and restore solution to customers. Just like computers, external storage devices are also susceptible to catastrophic damages, hardware problems, and virus infections.
Users have to take utmost care of them to protect them from catastrophic damages, accidents, moist, and unauthorized users. You can't even share your hard drive data with anyone else because there are chances that the person you share it with may have a virus on his computer. If plugged into an infected computer, your hard drive will also get infected and all the date on it will be erased.
Backing up data on hard drive is a major concern today due to aforementioned problems. Moreover, it's cumbersome, time-consuming, and still vulnerable to data loss. Facts collected from miscellaneous sources confirm the at least one out of four hard drives get crashed, causing irrecoverable data loss.
Facts also confirm that users spend around $70,000 on recovering data from hard drives. It is a 1,000 times greater than what is spent on storing your files on a cloud server. Cloud storage subtracts all these possibilities from users' lives. With cloud storage, the data is backed up on a cloud server, which is connected to an online network or a data center.
Unlike external storage devices, you can back up and restore unlimited times and with complete freedom with cloud storage. To back up on external storage device, you will have to connect it to your computer. You will also need to spare a great deal of time regularly to update your database on the hard drive.
However, with cloud storage, you simply have to install an application on your computer and start backing up as much data as you want on the cloud server. Just like you schedule your Outlook emails to be sent later, same way you can schedule automatic backups. The cloud storage application installed on your computer will automatically back up and sync data stored on it without your manual intervention.
Thus you need not regularly spare time for data backups. It's only done once and forever. Cloud storage don't require maintenance like external storage devices. With SSL and FTP encryption technologies, you need not worry about data safety. It's always safe and protected from data thefts, catastrophic damages, and hardware problems.
Even if your computer has crashed, you can safely recover all your data stored on the cloud server to your new computer or mobile phone. Yes, only cloud storage gives you the option to upload and recover your data from your mobile device.
Besides, if you have multiple computer users in your home or office, you can create sub-accounts for them. They all can back up their data in their individual accounts and restore them to their computers or mobile devices. With cloud storage, you have round-the-clock access to your data. In fact your data remains with you forever.
However, you won't find this flexibility with external storage devices. You can't always carry them along. You may even drop them accidentally or forget to pick them up from the place you drop by. However, with cloud storage, you won't have to go through this pain as your data always remains accessible to you.
Cloud storage also allows you to share your data including multiple large-capacity files easily with your friends, family or colleagues. You will never have to sit back and wait for the transfer to complete. Cloud storage is fast and user-friendly. You may need not even send a file to your friends or family, simply send them its link (URL) and you are done.
Compared to local storage, cloud storage is convenient, handy, lightening fast, affordable, secured, and safe. That's why cloud storage is a completed data backup and restore solution as compared to the local storage. It's the best, contemporary data backup and restore method available to users.