Cloud Service or External Hard Drive?

Kristi Martin

Kristi Martin

Well-known member
Cloud Service or External Hard Drive?
What is your preference and why?

No back up is ever fool proof because bad things can always happen, hard drives can fail, cloud service could fail too.
It seems like the majority which I read about here use external hard drives over cloud services so I am just curious why you have chosen your preferred method of backing up.

I am a cloud service person and 2 big reasons for that is:
1- it backs up automatically from my phone and my laptop so I don't have to even think about it.
2- the files are accessible from anywhere, my phone, laptop, work computer, etc.

I use Microsoft OneDrive for my overall back up, meaning all of my personal files, (though I really don't have that many personal files that aren't scrapbook related), my photos, my kits, my layouts, etc. I feel like OneDrive is one of the most reliable of all of the "big name" cloud services and personally know many engineers and tech guys who agree and helped with my decision to go with OneDrive. In the long run it ends up being cheaper than DropBox and I feel it is easier to use.

When my layouts are complete I download them from OneDrive to my phone so they go into my camera roll which is super nice because then they are sorted alongside my photos so I can easily see which photos I have scrapped and which ones I haven't. (I am in NO WAY a chronological scrapper and am all over the place in which ones I scrap.)
Then from there, all of my photos and layouts are also backed up to Google Photos and Amazon Photos.
 
Thank you for sharing this information!

I use EHDs and iDrive for my backups. My EHDs are my "working" storage. I travel often and I don't always have access to internet or high-speed internet, so I utilize a pair of EHDs.

I use iDrive (which is a subscription service) as the back up in case anything goes wrong with the EHDs.
 
EHD's all the way for me. I have several so that if one fails I have another as a backup, backup :36_1_11: I've always backed up all my files this way.
 
breoni said:
Thank you for sharing this information!

I use EHDs and iDrive for my backups. My EHDs are my "working" storage. I travel often and I don't always have access to internet or high-speed internet, so I utilize a pair of EHDs.

I use iDrive (which is a subscription service) as the back up in case anything goes wrong with the EHDs.
Click to expand...

OneDrive does have an "offline" option so if you have enough storage on your device you can move thing to be "on this device" as needed and easily remove them again later to free up space.
I have a ladies scrapbook weekend with girlfriends once a year and our internet there isn't reliable so I always move the photos and kits that I want to work with to "on my laptop" for that time period and it works great.
 
Both! My computer uses Time Machine to back up to an EHD and I use Backblaze as offsite backup. It also lets you back up EHD's so I also do that for the drives that I store old supplies and classes on. And all my photos are in iCloud so that's one extra.
 
I have a Synology NAS with two 12-TB hard drives. One is a mirror of the other. I also have a 12 TB EHD, which I use as an external backup. I am going to add a cloud backup one of these days, but so far, it always seems to slow me down too much. I am sure it is something I am doing, but they always have a service running and that takes memory and I am always maxed out because I have so much going on on my computer. I am hopeless!
 
I use iCloud for my scrapping supplies and photos because I mostly scrap on my iPad now and it is super convenient to jump back and fourth between devices with iCloud.

I also have a backup program called Code42/CrashPlan that is always syncing my devices and an EHD I hook up about once month so that I also have a "hard copy" on hand. I know it is a bit much to have so many backup options, but you would not believe the amount of support tickets I get for people that have a total loss of their computer or EHD and didn't have any secondary (or even primary) backup. It is so sad! I feel terrible for people when that happens.
 
GingerScraps said:
I use iCloud for my scrapping supplies and photos because I mostly scrap on my iPad now and it is super convenient to jump back and fourth between devices with iCloud.

I also have a backup program called Code42/CrashPlan that is always syncing my devices and an EHD I hook up about once month so that I also have a "hard copy" on hand. I know it is a bit much to have so many backup options, but you would not believe the amount of support tickets I get for people that have a total loss of their computer or EHD and didn't have any secondary (or even primary) backup. It is so sad! I feel terrible for people when that happens.
Click to expand...

(hand raised) . . . that's me! I've had two EHD's fail now. My current EHD is only a year old and occasionally emitting the "tick of death." I've lost all my digi supplies, layouts and (gasp) photos TWICE now.

I'm seriously thinking OneDrive is the way for me to go!
 
pagefrocks said:
(hand raised) . . . that's me! I've had two EHD's fail now. My current EHD is only a year old and occasionally emitting the "tick of death." I've lost all my digi supplies, layouts and (gasp) photos TWICE now.

I'm seriously thinking OneDrive is the way for me to go!
Click to expand...

I feel pretty good about the reliability of OneDrive. We use it to back up all of our files for church where I am secretary and we have a few guys who are very knowledgeable & discerning about things like this and they have suggested that OneDrive is one of the best and most reliable of all cloud based services these days. The fact that your files are available on any device when you need them and can be set to offline access when needed makes it a well rounded and safe way to keep your files.
I know that it isn't foolproof or perfect but nothing is really!
 
Kristi Martin said:
I feel pretty good about the reliability of OneDrive. We use it to back up all of our files for church where I am secretary and we have a few guys who are very knowledgeable & discerning about things like this and they have suggested that OneDrive is one of the best and most reliable of all cloud based services these days. The fact that your files are available on any device when you need them and can be set to offline access when needed makes it a well rounded and safe way to keep your files.
I know that it isn't foolproof or perfect but nothing is really!
Click to expand...

We use it at work now and it's convenient that I can access everything when at home, without running into the office.
 
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