Cloud storage - dummies guide required
Discussion
Hi,
I'm just about to leave my job after years of being supported on the IT front (also separate thread running about buying my own laptop)
I've always stored my docs using the work setup, where it's all backed up in the cloud etc. But I'm completely clueless on how all this works.
I have a Google account which gives me Google Drive and I'll have MS Office on my laptop.
How should I store my importan docs, files, pics etc to avoid losing anythng?
Cheers
I'm just about to leave my job after years of being supported on the IT front (also separate thread running about buying my own laptop)
I've always stored my docs using the work setup, where it's all backed up in the cloud etc. But I'm completely clueless on how all this works.
I have a Google account which gives me Google Drive and I'll have MS Office on my laptop.
How should I store my importan docs, files, pics etc to avoid losing anythng?
Cheers
https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2374987?hl...
If you download that, it will auto sync between your machine and google drive. All you'd need to do is select the folders you want it to sync.
If you download that, it will auto sync between your machine and google drive. All you'd need to do is select the folders you want it to sync.
If you're running Windows, the integration with OneDrive is pretty much seamless.
Store everything under OneDrive, including ensuring your Documents folder sits under OneDrive (IIRC it does by default on Windows 10) and there will be a local copy on your laptop cached on your laptop and the files will sync to the cloud. You can right click on any file or folder, or the entire OneDrive, and select "Always keep on this device" to always store a local copy, but the caching is generally smart enough that anything you've accessed recently is available anyway.
I would periodically copy from OneDrive to Google Drive anything that was really important.
Store everything under OneDrive, including ensuring your Documents folder sits under OneDrive (IIRC it does by default on Windows 10) and there will be a local copy on your laptop cached on your laptop and the files will sync to the cloud. You can right click on any file or folder, or the entire OneDrive, and select "Always keep on this device" to always store a local copy, but the caching is generally smart enough that anything you've accessed recently is available anyway.
I would periodically copy from OneDrive to Google Drive anything that was really important.
quinny100 said:
If you're running Windows, the integration with OneDrive is pretty much seamless.
Store everything under OneDrive, including ensuring your Documents folder sits under OneDrive (IIRC it does by default on Windows 10) and there will be a local copy on your laptop cached on your laptop and the files will sync to the cloud. You can right click on any file or folder, or the entire OneDrive, and select "Always keep on this device" to always store a local copy, but the caching is generally smart enough that anything you've accessed recently is available anyway.
I would periodically copy from OneDrive to Google Drive anything that was really important.
ThanksStore everything under OneDrive, including ensuring your Documents folder sits under OneDrive (IIRC it does by default on Windows 10) and there will be a local copy on your laptop cached on your laptop and the files will sync to the cloud. You can right click on any file or folder, or the entire OneDrive, and select "Always keep on this device" to always store a local copy, but the caching is generally smart enough that anything you've accessed recently is available anyway.
I would periodically copy from OneDrive to Google Drive anything that was really important.
Can I create a personal OneDrive account and transfer my personal docs to it before handing back my company laptop? And then use that OneDrive acount once I've bought my own laptop and Windows licence?
Ronstein said:
The golden rule with cloud storage is 'don't put it in the cloud unless you can afford to lose it'. If you have anything that you place value on, I suggest that you back up to a local external hard drive (SSD).
I thought the 'golden rule' was to always have more backups than you think you'll need 
Depends how much of your own/clients' data you can afford to lose.
So, it could be as simple as...
- Local (synced as you go along with a single cloud service)
- Main hourly/daily/weekly onsite back-up (1st external HDD)
In my case it's more like...
- Local (synced as you go along with single cloud service)
- Secondary cloud provider (sync done once a day)
- Main onsite incremental hourly/daily/weekly back-up (1st external HDD)
- Secondary onsite weekly full back-up (to an external device which is only powered up for the backup)
- Onsite long-term back-up (blu-ray archival) for older client material that I haven't worked on in over a year
- DVD/Blu-Ray copies of client work sent to clients for them to store
But I also don't keep working documents on the boot drive...my local documents are held on a secondary SSD or HDD...the boot drive is just for the OS and Programs...so if the system crashes I can be up and running quite quickly, or access them from a 2nd/3rd/4th machine.
Is it for personal or business use?
How valuable is the data to you?
Can any of the data be re-created?
How much do you want to spend?
Depending on the answers to the above you have options.
The first thing is that syncing to the “cloud” be that one-drive, Google drive, Dropbox etc is not really a backup.
When you set up any of these cloud options you can choose to keep all the documents in the cloud or on your local machine and on the cloud, the latter is preferable in case the cloud goes offline for any reason.
Syncing to the cloud is not a backup because if your machine becomes infected with a virus / malware that corrupts or locks your data and that’s automatically syncing to the “cloud” your data there can be compromised, or say you accidentally delete all those photos of the first grandchild’s bar mitzvah and don’t notice then again they could also be deleted from the cloud and be gone by the time you notice.
It’s a accepted that if you don’t have your data in three distinct locations then it doesn’t really exist.
In your position I’d consider using office 365 for your office tasks and file syncing via OneDrive
I’m not a heavy windows user but you have the option of using the native win10 to perform local backups to a usb hdd or local NAS drive, then you have the mitigated to a great extent the chances of attacks on your data and have a fast way to restore should you suffer a drive failure.
For a belt and braces approach you can use two usb drives and rotate them offsite at friends or family’s this minimises the chance of losing data because of fire, flood or theft
Some other points to consider are how frequently you backup hourly, daily or weekly, whichever you should use the backup softwares scheduler and not trust manual backups.
Encryption - should you store backups offsite or not it’s best practice to encrypt them so should they get lost or stolen you data is unusable, this does mean you need to keep the encryption keys safe or you will not be able to access your own data when you need it most.
And this leads me on to restores, after putting in all this work to get things backed up your done right? Nope, you need to perform random restores I’d suggest at least every 6 months to confirm if you need the data you can access it
Hopefully this gives you some food for thought
How valuable is the data to you?
Can any of the data be re-created?
How much do you want to spend?
Depending on the answers to the above you have options.
The first thing is that syncing to the “cloud” be that one-drive, Google drive, Dropbox etc is not really a backup.
When you set up any of these cloud options you can choose to keep all the documents in the cloud or on your local machine and on the cloud, the latter is preferable in case the cloud goes offline for any reason.
Syncing to the cloud is not a backup because if your machine becomes infected with a virus / malware that corrupts or locks your data and that’s automatically syncing to the “cloud” your data there can be compromised, or say you accidentally delete all those photos of the first grandchild’s bar mitzvah and don’t notice then again they could also be deleted from the cloud and be gone by the time you notice.
It’s a accepted that if you don’t have your data in three distinct locations then it doesn’t really exist.
In your position I’d consider using office 365 for your office tasks and file syncing via OneDrive
I’m not a heavy windows user but you have the option of using the native win10 to perform local backups to a usb hdd or local NAS drive, then you have the mitigated to a great extent the chances of attacks on your data and have a fast way to restore should you suffer a drive failure.
For a belt and braces approach you can use two usb drives and rotate them offsite at friends or family’s this minimises the chance of losing data because of fire, flood or theft
Some other points to consider are how frequently you backup hourly, daily or weekly, whichever you should use the backup softwares scheduler and not trust manual backups.
Encryption - should you store backups offsite or not it’s best practice to encrypt them so should they get lost or stolen you data is unusable, this does mean you need to keep the encryption keys safe or you will not be able to access your own data when you need it most.
And this leads me on to restores, after putting in all this work to get things backed up your done right? Nope, you need to perform random restores I’d suggest at least every 6 months to confirm if you need the data you can access it
Hopefully this gives you some food for thought
It's obviously not a case of either/or local and cloud.
I’ve got the normal family photos, do a bit of video, run a couple of websites, create 3D images and animated video, and write a bit and generate other memory-hungry data. My desktop has over 13GB of SSDs and HDDs.
You might think I go overboard with backup but I’ve had two HDDs go down with mechanical breakdowns. I have two external 6GB HDDs which I use for my images, 3D, video and work on these together with personal images and data. BT internet includes 1TB cloud storage which I use for a second backup of my personal details.
For transferring data between various PCs, I use my Google drive.
Overkill possibly, but after the problems I’ve had before, it’s worth the extra bother.
I’ve got the normal family photos, do a bit of video, run a couple of websites, create 3D images and animated video, and write a bit and generate other memory-hungry data. My desktop has over 13GB of SSDs and HDDs.
You might think I go overboard with backup but I’ve had two HDDs go down with mechanical breakdowns. I have two external 6GB HDDs which I use for my images, 3D, video and work on these together with personal images and data. BT internet includes 1TB cloud storage which I use for a second backup of my personal details.
For transferring data between various PCs, I use my Google drive.
Overkill possibly, but after the problems I’ve had before, it’s worth the extra bother.
A993LAD said:
Great advice thanks all.
It will be a mix of business and personal files but none that can't be recreated if lost.
Apart from photos I guess.
Be careful about taking data from your employers domain out to the cloud or external storage. This might be flagged as theft of Corporate data and land you in a heap of trouble, even if it’s your own docs. It will be a mix of business and personal files but none that can't be recreated if lost.
Apart from photos I guess.
It happened to a person I know, they copied everything not just their own personal docs, and got in real trouble as they went to work for a competitor. Caused a royal stink.
Make sure you only copy your own personal info, don’t let the ‘sync all’ take stuff for you that might not legally be yours.
It's also worth bearing in mind that if you end up needing more than Google provide for free, you can pay (roughly) £4 a month for 100Gb with Google or £6 a month for 1Tb with Microsoft. And Microsoft gives you O365 including all the Desktop Office apps in that price, so if you use Office or have a decent chunk of data, Microsoft is way ahead on value.
If you have access to the MS Home Use program via work you can pay £5 a month for O365 Family for 6 x 1Tb and 6 Office Installs. I know the OP isn't working, but my first port of call would be whether a spouse, family member etc could get me in.
If you have access to the MS Home Use program via work you can pay £5 a month for O365 Family for 6 x 1Tb and 6 Office Installs. I know the OP isn't working, but my first port of call would be whether a spouse, family member etc could get me in.
Slightly off-topic (but only just), I'd also make sure you have an external HDD / SSD & use it for Windows 10's "File History".
Dropbox, OneDrive, etc are perfectly good ways to keep backup copies, but are no use if you accidentally delete / overwrite an important file (don't ask me how I know...).
The deleted file can be recovered from W10 File History & I think it's a useful addition to the backups mentioned above.
Dropbox, OneDrive, etc are perfectly good ways to keep backup copies, but are no use if you accidentally delete / overwrite an important file (don't ask me how I know...).
The deleted file can be recovered from W10 File History & I think it's a useful addition to the backups mentioned above.
Keypad said:
Slightly off-topic (but only just), I'd also make sure you have an external HDD / SSD & use it for Windows 10's "File History".
Dropbox, OneDrive, etc are perfectly good ways to keep backup copies, but are no use if you accidentally delete / overwrite an important file (don't ask me how I know...).
The deleted file can be recovered from W10 File History & I think it's a useful addition to the backups mentioned above.
Could you not have done this; https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restore...Dropbox, OneDrive, etc are perfectly good ways to keep backup copies, but are no use if you accidentally delete / overwrite an important file (don't ask me how I know...).
The deleted file can be recovered from W10 File History & I think it's a useful addition to the backups mentioned above.
In addition to the above, One Drive and Google Drive both do file version storage as well, so if you cock a file up, right click it and you can revert back to an earlier version.
TTmonkey said:
A993LAD said:
Great advice thanks all.
It will be a mix of business and personal files but none that can't be recreated if lost.
Apart from photos I guess.
Be careful about taking data from your employers domain out to the cloud or external storage. This might be flagged as theft of Corporate data and land you in a heap of trouble, even if it’s your own docs. It will be a mix of business and personal files but none that can't be recreated if lost.
Apart from photos I guess.
It happened to a person I know, they copied everything not just their own personal docs, and got in real trouble as they went to work for a competitor. Caused a royal stink.
Make sure you only copy your own personal info, don’t let the ‘sync all’ take stuff for you that might not legally be yours.
Penelope Stopit said:
The cloud isn't really a cloud, it's hard drive or SSD storage in some strangers property
Would you give a stranger met on the street all your personal things to look after?
What a ridiculous thing to say. In the politest possible way, you clearly have zero comprehension at all as to how this stuff works.Would you give a stranger met on the street all your personal things to look after?
Do you by any chance have a bank account? Would you give a stranger in the street all your money to look after...?
Funk said:
Penelope Stopit said:
The cloud isn't really a cloud, it's hard drive or SSD storage in some strangers property
Would you give a stranger met on the street all your personal things to look after?
What a ridiculous thing to say. In the politest possible way, you clearly have zero comprehension at all as to how this stuff works.Would you give a stranger met on the street all your personal things to look after?
Do you by any chance have a bank account? Would you give a stranger in the street all your money to look after...?
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