Author Topic: Cloud Storage, safe?  (Read 3831 times)

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carls365

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Cloud Storage, safe?
« on: April 18, 2012, 04:31:52 PM »
It's mighty tempting, move all your files taking up a lot of space on your computer hardrive to a cloud storage site like Hotmail's Skydrive, Adrive, Mozy, and many more, most offer pretty generous free storage up to a certain gb limit. But I have some serous security concerns like whatif some employee decides to copy your information and use it for whatever? or whatif they get hacked and files are stolen or corrupted just name a few things that could happen.

LindaRS

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Re: Cloud Storage, safe?
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2012, 06:14:02 PM »
Having been involved in a digital internet business, I may be able to answer some questions for you. I have not used cloud storage because I have read what many others in digital businesses have said about their experience with cloud storage. Many of them are using cloud storage, and a lot can depend on the company you choose. I don't recall all the companies that have it. I know that one company supplies you with an EHD that you load up and send back. Others upload directly from your computer. Some have complained that it is a very slow process with some companies. One woman said that she didn't get everything uploaded when she had a crash and lost about a third of her stuff. In the digital business I have been involved with, the storage is often in the thousands of gigabytes. I don't know if anyone has had a crash and had to restore from the cloud storage, though many have cried over their fried HD or EHD, which always brings up the discussion of cloud storage. Personally I haven't used it and don't intend to. I don't know what could happen to that server where my digital files are stored. It could fry, it could get hacked, it could get a virus. I backup to EHDs and DVD. I haven't done offsite storage, but am thinking about sending DVDs of photos and other pertinent info to one of my children for safe keeping.

One potential problem that has been mentioned is the download restrictions that are being instituted by some broadband companies. If you have a HD crash, it may not be possible to download a large amount of material without going over the DL limit and incurring a very large bill for overages. Better I think to backup on your own devices, and store offsite in a safe place. Or if it all goes, just remind yourself that it was going to all burn up in a short time anyway.
O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Jeremiah  10:23-24

carls365

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Re: Cloud Storage, safe?
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2012, 09:04:44 PM »
Thanks LindaRS, I forgot to reply to you, sometimes I have so many posts in different places, I forget. I may try perhaps uploading some images but will not trust  cloud service for anything important or something that needs to be secure. I'll just keep it the old fashioned way by making copies on DVD's and flashdrives.

Richard Myers

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Re: Cloud Storage, safe?
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2012, 09:56:34 AM »
Carl, you may want to look into creating your own cloud.   To be able to access this storage from all of our various computing devices is a benefit. I imagine that this will be the common method soon. It is hardwired into a router that then communicates with the modem and all devices on the network.
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LindaRS

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O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. Jeremiah  10:23-24

JimB

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Re: Cloud Storage, safe?
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2012, 05:32:03 PM »
Three articles worth reading about cloud computing and storage.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/080912-cloud-computing-debate-261518.html
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/09/tech/web/cloud-security-tips/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking/

All of these are excellent articles but the last one is especially good as it tells the whole story of how his computer and phone were hacked and all data was wiped out. He is a writer in the tech world and he admits that he was hacked because he did not follow some simple security rules. He admittedly took a risk and lost for the sake of convenience.

By communion with God in nature, the mind is uplifted, and the heart finds rest.  {DA 291.1}

JimB

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Re: Cloud Storage, safe?
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2012, 06:05:21 PM »
Carl, you may want to look into creating your own cloud.   To be able to access this storage from all of our various computing devices is a benefit. I imagine that this will be the common method soon. It is hardwired into a router that then communicates with the modem and all devices on the network.

This is a good idea. This way it's under your own control and unless you advertise it no one will know it's even there. It's hard to hack something you don't know about. There a couple of good products out there where you separately purchase hard drive/s of your own choosing and install them and then connect it to your network at home.

The only caveat is that if your upload speed at home is slow (mine is only 300k) it will be slow accessing your data remotely. So check your upload speed before you put a bunch of time and resources into it and find out it's practically useless because of slow upload speeds.

Now if you're really ambitious and have an old spare computer laying around you could go all out with your own fancy but FREE cloud server. There is a free opensource product called ownCloud.org and if not into linux there is a way to run this on Windows 7 or Server 2008 and you can find the directions for that here....  http://owncloud.org/support/windows-server/
By communion with God in nature, the mind is uplifted, and the heart finds rest.  {DA 291.1}