Which free cloud service?

[Mark300zx]

Have got data on my phone and keep on being asked to back it up to a cloud service, is this to be recommended and if so which one?

[sgrimshaw]

Depends on how much space you need, stick with the big players though. Most have a free option.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband-and-tv...

[Penelope Stopit]

Don't forget to encrypt all data before giving it to others

Just a thought, if you own a computer or USB stick you could back it up to one of those, this would save you from giving what's yours to others

Edited by Penelope Stopit on Monday 26th July 08:18

[extraT]

Get a western digital home cloud. Together with the “back up to usb drive” option would mean you have your data saved 3 times (on the WD hard drive, on the USB and your phone). The USB is a manual back up when the last update is/was depends on you. But even if you don’t do that, it is a superb little device.

[deckster]

Depends on the phone. If it's Android, then Google. If it's an iPhone, then iCloud.

Both of those options will Just Work and will automatically sync to any new device you get. Other options are, of course, available; but on the whole are not better and are just hassle.

[e-honda]

Penelope Stopit said:

Don't forget to encrypt all data before giving it to others

Just a thought, if you own a computer or USB stick you could back it up to one of those, this would save you from giving what's yours to others

Edited by Penelope Stopit on Monday 26th July 08:18

At what point do you think you are giving it to others?
If you don't trust what a company's software will do with access to your data stored in a datacentre, then you cannot trust what that company's software will do with access to the data stored locally on your phone or laptop.

[Captain_Morgan]

e-honda said:

At what point do you think you are giving it to others?
If you don't trust what a company's software will do with access to your data stored in a datacentre, then you cannot trust what that company's software will do with access to the data stored locally on your phone or laptop.

Unencrypted data stored in the cloud is at risk from employee misuse and attacks on the service via hacking.

One could debate the relative risks of this vs the risk to your data on local devices but storing your data unencrypted in multiple locations obviously increases the risk.

[bitchstewie]

Mark300zx said:

Have got data on my phone and keep on being asked to back it up to a cloud service, is this to be recommended and if so which one?

If you want an easy life if it's Android use Google if it's an iPhone use iCloud.

Job done.

[insert coin]

Not OneDrive and as above, encrypt it.

[Penelope Stopit]

e-honda said:

Penelope Stopit said:

Don't forget to encrypt all data before giving it to others

Just a thought, if you own a computer or USB stick you could back it up to one of those, this would save you from giving what's yours to others

Edited by Penelope Stopit on Monday 26th July 08:18

At what point do you think you are giving it to others?
If you don't trust what a company's software will do with access to your data stored in a datacentre, then you cannot trust what that company's software will do with access to the data stored locally on your phone or laptop.

At what point do you think you're not?

I think it's when the data has been strongly encrypted

[deckster]

Penelope Stopit said:

e-honda said:

Penelope Stopit said:

Don't forget to encrypt all data before giving it to others

Just a thought, if you own a computer or USB stick you could back it up to one of those, this would save you from giving what's yours to others

Edited by Penelope Stopit on Monday 26th July 08:18

At what point do you think you are giving it to others?
If you don't trust what a company's software will do with access to your data stored in a datacentre, then you cannot trust what that company's software will do with access to the data stored locally on your phone or laptop.

At what point do you think you're not?

I think it's when the data has been strongly encrypted

This is one of those "yes, you're technically correct" moments. Absolutely, if you don't encrypt files before placing them on a cloud service then there is a small chance that a bad actor may get access. And, for confidential stuff, bank records, or my secret plans for work domination, it's probably worth the effort.

But context is everything. Here, we're talking about a phone. It's probably holiday snaps and Candy Crush. Even if it were possible to encrypt these before uploading, it's seriously not worth the bother.

I would also suggest that the huge majority of home users are massively more likely to lose their master keys (and, therefore, all their data) than they are to suffer through Google being hacked.

[bitchstewie]

deckster said:

This is one of those "yes, you're technically correct" moments. Absolutely, if you don't encrypt files before placing them on a cloud service then there is a small chance that a bad actor may get access. And, for confidential stuff, bank records, or my secret plans for work domination, it's probably worth the effort.

But context is everything. Here, we're talking about a phone. It's probably holiday snaps and Candy Crush. Even if it were possible to encrypt these before uploading, it's seriously not worth the bother.

I would also suggest that the huge majority of home users are massively more likely to lose their master keys (and, therefore, all their data) than they are to suffer through Google being hacked.

Nail on head.

How many people do you know who've gone "st someone at Google or Apple stole all my stuff".

How many people do you know who've gone "st I dropped my phone and it broke and I didn't backup all my stuff does anyone know if I can get all my photos back?"?

For most normal people the latter is way more likely to bite you than the former.

[Corso Marche]

Mark300zx said:

Have got data on my phone and keep on being asked to back it up to a cloud service, is this to be recommended and if so which one?

Is it a Huawei phone?
Sounds like one.... Don't agree to the prompt if it is.

Device backups to Google Drive if android, and iCloud if iPhone, as others have said.

[wrong_turn]

Corso Marche said:

Is it a Huawei phone?
Sounds like one.... Don't agree to the prompt if it is.

Device backups to Google Drive if android, and iCloud if iPhone, as others have said.

Haha, I have a Huawei and while it's a good phone they do seem keen for me to set up an account and put stuff in their Cloud! It predates the Google ban so I have all the Google apps and use their services.

[eltawater]

bhstewie said:

deckster said:

This is one of those "yes, you're technically correct" moments. Absolutely, if you don't encrypt files before placing them on a cloud service then there is a small chance that a bad actor may get access. And, for confidential stuff, bank records, or my secret plans for work domination, it's probably worth the effort.

But context is everything. Here, we're talking about a phone. It's probably holiday snaps and Candy Crush. Even if it were possible to encrypt these before uploading, it's seriously not worth the bother.

I would also suggest that the huge majority of home users are massively more likely to lose their master keys (and, therefore, all their data) than they are to suffer through Google being hacked.

Nail on head.

How many people do you know who've gone "st someone at Google or Apple stole all my stuff".

How many people do you know who've gone "st I dropped my phone and it broke and I didn't backup all my stuff does anyone know if I can get all my photos back?"?

For most normal people the latter is way more likely to bite you than the former.

A cautionary tale that it's not always the bad actors who you should be wary of but the service providers themselves who might apply some content analysis software against your files:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[bitchstewie]

eltawater said:

A cautionary tale that it's not always the bad actors who you should be wary of but the service providers themselves who might apply some content analysis software against your files:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Of course it could happen but again on balance of probabilities between that v dropping your phone and having everything gone most people are more at risk from the latter than the former.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good which I think is especially relevant in IT where you might not have the skills to be perfect but you can flip a "backup my phone to the cloud" toggle

[Penelope Stopit]

bhstewie said:

eltawater said:

A cautionary tale that it's not always the bad actors who you should be wary of but the service providers themselves who might apply some content analysis software against your files:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Of course it could happen but again on balance of probabilities between that v dropping your phone and having everything gone most people are more at risk from the latter than the former.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good which I think is especially relevant in IT where you might not have the skills to be perfect but you can flip a "backup my phone to the cloud" toggle

Have you got shares in cloud storage ?

Am a great believer in if it can happen it will

[Mr Pointy]

bhstewie said:

eltawater said:

A cautionary tale that it's not always the bad actors who you should be wary of but the service providers themselves who might apply some content analysis software against your files:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Of course it could happen but again on balance of probabilities between that v dropping your phone and having everything gone most people are more at risk from the latter than the former.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good which I think is especially relevant in IT where you might not have the skills to be perfect but you can flip a "backup my phone to the cloud" toggle

The issue is the ramifications can be extreme & not explined beforehand - it's not just that you get locked out of your photos; you can get permanently & irrevocably locked out of all of your accounts with that provider with no appeal or comeback.

[deckster]

Mr Pointy said:

bhstewie said:

eltawater said:

A cautionary tale that it's not always the bad actors who you should be wary of but the service providers themselves who might apply some content analysis software against your files:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Of course it could happen but again on balance of probabilities between that v dropping your phone and having everything gone most people are more at risk from the latter than the former.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good which I think is especially relevant in IT where you might not have the skills to be perfect but you can flip a "backup my phone to the cloud" toggle

The issue is the ramifications can be extreme & not explined beforehand - it's not just that you get locked out of your photos; you can get permanently & irrevocably locked out of all of your accounts with that provider with no appeal or comeback.

A vanishingly small risk that is in any case trivially mitigated by maintaining multiple copies with multiple providers. It's already been said but the overwhelming risk for home users is in losing their devices or suffering some kind of system failure. Let's clear that one out before worrying about these hugely unlikely edge cases.

[Penelope Stopit]

deckster said:

Mr Pointy said:

bhstewie said:

eltawater said:

A cautionary tale that it's not always the bad actors who you should be wary of but the service providers themselves who might apply some content analysis software against your files:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Of course it could happen but again on balance of probabilities between that v dropping your phone and having everything gone most people are more at risk from the latter than the former.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good which I think is especially relevant in IT where you might not have the skills to be perfect but you can flip a "backup my phone to the cloud" toggle

The issue is the ramifications can be extreme & not explined beforehand - it's not just that you get locked out of your photos; you can get permanently & irrevocably locked out of all of your accounts with that provider with no appeal or comeback.

A vanishingly small risk that is in any case trivially mitigated by maintaining multiple copies with multiple providers

How about multiple flash drives or hard drives, perhaps store a backup in the garden shed and another at grandmas house

One could always store a backup on a friends computer and vice versa

Will never understand the logic of using a strangers computer to look after data, let's be honest about this, that's all this cloud business is about

Edited by Penelope Stopit on Thursday 29th July 11:16