Why we’d pick an external HDD over the Cloud
Whilst we and many other commentators persistently advocate
the importance of people and businesses regularly backing up their data in order to avoid damaging data loss, research
consistently shows that most people are still failing to do so.
Perhaps this stems from so many of us being blissfully
unaware of the fact that storage media can and does fail? It could be because we’ve
never considered just how valuable our data actually is both monetarily and sentimentally?
These are both distinct possibilities, but we can’t help but feel that the
plethora of potential options available for backups is causing confusion and
that consumers would be more inclined to secure their data’s longevity if they
knew what device or service was best suited to the task.
With this in mind, we’ve considered the two most obvious
options available to non-commercial users with large amounts of data – namely external
hard drives and Cloud storage – and have concluded that there’s a clear winner.
So, without further ado, here’s why we’d pick an external HDD over the Cloud
for backing up data:
Lower cost
As we’ve said previously, we’ve assumed that anyone reading
this article is going to have to backup a substantial amount of data. If you
don’t, most cloud operators offer modest amounts of storage for free. If,
however, you’re looking to store a larger amount of data, an external HDD offers
far better value for money.
An external HDD with 1TB of storage capacity can be
purchased for less than £50. Cloud providers, on the other hand, will charge
roughly £9.99 per month for the same amount of storage. In other words, you’ll
have overspent in just six months and this figure will only grow until you
cancel the service.
They can be kept
offline
Yes, data centres invest a lot of time and money into
security and they’re unlikely to be hacked as a result. That said, just
consider how many high-profile companies have suffered from significant data
breaches over the last few years. Sony, Yahoo, Equifax: these are just three
examples and we think it’s safe to say that they’d invested heavily in security.
By keeping your drive offline, you’ll all but guarantee the security of the data stored on it. Furthermore, even if you wanted to add your external drive to a network to allow remote access, it’s unlikely that you’d personally be targeted by hackers – the same cannot be said of data centres.
Oh, and don't forget that the Cloud isn't immune to data loss.
Speed
Finally, backing up data to an external device is a far
quicker process than uploading it to the Cloud. Granted, this may not seem like
a huge bonus but, with free time at a premium these days, it’s certainly worth
mentioning.
The case for the
Cloud
Whilst we personally prefer external drives, it’s only fair
to point out that the Cloud does have a few advantages over its main rival.
Most significantly, it’s cheaper if you have a small amount
of data to back up. Most providers offer a few GBs for free and the capacity
can be increased for a nominal monthly fee. Its only when you need to backup
500GB+ that Cloud storage becomes more expensive than more traditional storage
options.
Cloud storage is also a good option for those who want to
backup with a minimum of fuss as automatic backups can be setup with just a few
clicks.
If you’ve failed to backup and have lost your data, you can find
out how much it’ll cost to get your data back with a free quote from Fields
Data Recovery today.