Relying on one Cloud Storage is Dangerous
Imagine you are organizing your whole life – private and business – in the cloud. Whether you use Dropbox, G-Drive, OneDrive, Amazon Drive, or Mega.nz, you have a problem if you rely on one single cloud storage service.
What happened to me was that a few weeks ago Microsoft blocked my access to my own OneDrive. I am currently an Office365 subscriber and therefore I enjoy 1TB of storage on OneDrive. And I use it a lot, actually, all my files are on OneDrive. After I contacted the OneDrive support, they told me that they are having technical problems. The support told me everything should be fine again in 48 hours, but it took 96 hours until the access to my OneDrive worked again. While this is a downtime of “only” 1% per year it is still a pain in the ass if you don’t have access to your files for 4 straight days.
Diversification
However, this made me realize how important it is to store my files on multiple cloud services and in the best case on my own hard drive. Even before this incident happened, I used several cloud storage services. Thanks to my Amazon Prime membership I enjoy unlimited photo storage on Amazon Drive, I enjoy 50GB free storage on mega.nz – a highly encrypted cloud storage service – where I store my most important documents. For many of my documents, I use Google Drive.
Even before this incident happened, I used several cloud storage services. Thanks to my Amazon Prime membership I enjoy unlimited photo storage on Amazon Drive, I enjoy 50GB free storage on mega.nz – a highly encrypted cloud storage service – where I store my most important documents. For many of my documents, I use Google Drive.
By using all of these services you may be nearly 100% sure that you have access to your files all the time.
How to ensure 100% uptime + Security
As convenient as cloud storage services are you have to keep the hidden danger in mind. Always keep in mind that storage services can kick you off their services without any reason. They may have difficulties with their service or unplanned downtimes.
If you want to ensure 100% uptime of your files, use several cloud storage services. If you want to ensure your files are 100% safe use encrypted cloud storage services like mega.nz or Spideroak. If you want even more safety you may also encrypt your files. Simply use an encryption software of your choice (for example aescrypt.com) before you upload them.
Cloud storage is great and convenient. To be on the safe side use multiple services and if needed encrypt your data before uploading.
