So I started using cloud services to keep my data. I already have finances and tax records in the encrypted portion. I also have archived my old files there to sort through when I get the time. I'm also still in the process of uploading my iso and media files.

The company pCloud says they keep copies of my data in 3 or 5 geographically split servers. I can recover files I deleted up to 30 days.

But I got to thinking, what if the company suddenly goes kaput? Or shut down and I can't get access to my files?

Do I now have to back up those files in the cloud to a USB drive? I don't think I'll go as far as backing up my cloud data to another cloud service. Or am I just being too paranoid? I know I went with the cloud in case my physical laptop/usb drive gets stolen or destroyed. But should I worry about losing my data that's in the cloud?

I have a physical hard drive that sits on my desk that backs up daily as well as the cloud backup that I have. I also back up about once a month to another (encrypted) physical drive that I keep in my truck. My truck is parked in my driveway so if my house were to burn down it would likely survive.

Yes, backup your cloud data.

Actually, the way to look at it is that your local backup should be the primary, and the cloud is your shtf copy.

If your computer tanks, you'll want a local copy of your recovery media to try to fix it, local images of your system to reinstall, or recent copies of your files to repopulate your computer with. A cloud backup can't help you until you've reformatted the computer and reinstalled the OS, or you use a second computer to bring the cloud copy down locally. Also, downloading all those files can take quite a while if you have more than a few hundred GB of data.

3-2-1.

3 copies, using 2 different methods, 1 stored off site.

The newest rule is 3-2-1 plus 1.

3 copies, using 2 different methods, 1 stored off site, plus a separate drive that is "air-gapped," or completely disconnected from the computer and internet to protect from viruses and ransomware encrypting your automatically updated backups.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
I have a physical hard drive that sits on my desk that backs up daily as well as the cloud backup that I have. I also back up about once a month to another (encrypted) physical drive that I keep in my truck. My truck is parked in my driveway so if my house were to burn down it would likely survive.

Maybe I wasn't clear in that I'm using the cloud as just another directory. I have files also on my local C drive. The cloud files and the local C drive files are different sets of data.

The local C drive I back up to an encrypted USB drive every day and every week, I back up the local C drive to the cloud.

But I don't back up my cloud data to anywhere. Ironically, I will survive if I lose the C drive data. I will be pissed if I lose the cloud data.

I suppose just talking this out is making me think I should back up the cloud data to the encrypted USB also. Just in case.

I have two backups. One is a thumb drive kept in a safe location. The other is in the cloud.

I use Google's cloud, so the chances of them going kaput and shutting down are slim.

The Cloud is basically my extra backup, in case something were to physically happen to the thumb drive, or I needed to access the data immediately without having time to physically retrieve the thumb drive.

There's been a number of threads on this. Use the cloud but remember...

I use Google Drive and OneDrive. Both are synced to my hard drive so the same data exists in the cloud and on the hard drive and is accessible from either place.

I also have the free 50GBs from pCloud.

I figure they can all outspend me on security measures, and it is in their best interests to do so.

That being said, I have no expectation of ultimate or bulletproof privacy.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes: Just cuz it’s “in the cloud” doesn’t mean you don’t have to back it up.

This is as true for businesses (using, for example, Office 365) as it is for individuals (using OneDrive or GoogleDrive or iCloud).

While the cloud providers won’t typically lose your data, they are generally not solicitous about restoring it to a previous state if (a) ransomware encrypts your dats or (b) you accidentally delete a file.

Backups under your control are cheap insurance.

Remember Photobucket.

While there are many benefits to cloud storage and backups. Data can be sandboxed and separate clean data streams co-located on multiple volumes and or servers, so that your backups are protected from things like encryption ransom-ware and the like, the company can fold, "change the game" the servers can be hacked and many other things out of your control that could risk that data being lost.

So, as most are saying, backup to a local drive or two, and unplug them and rotate the drive in your back up, so that if you do get hit, if a drive happens to be connected, you should still have your last good backup on the other drive (as well as the cloud).

But imagine a day when you get hit with ransom-ware, tell the shitbag to take a hike then find the cloud data is not there, corrupted after restore or what not, and you did not spend a $100 or so dollars on a couple of external drives.

And the Solid State Externals on USB3 are pretty danged sporty.

A very low cost and simple cloud solution is Spider Oak.

https://spideroak.com

Backups should be near (local) first and secondary to another location off site.
If you are ONLY doing a cloud backup that is a mistake in strategy.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Data can be sandboxed and separate clean data streams co-located on multiple volumes and or servers,
A very low cost and simple cloud solution is Spider Oak.

https://spideroak.com

Got it about backing it up. But I tried reading and re-reading what I quoted above several times and I can't make sense out of it. Can you please break it down or explain?

On the cloud service, I got pCloud $250 for 2 TB FOR LIFE! I had an account for myself and an account for my wife daisy chained together through sharing. But that's when I started thinking what if this is a scam and the company folds up after taking everyone's money. Not only am I out of the $500 but they got my data, too! I was just having a hard time reconciling myself with the reason I got the cloud storage was (I thought at the time) to not being vulnerable to having a physical USB drive lost or stolen.

quote:

I got pCloud $250 for 2 TB FOR LIFE!

Guaranteed for YOUR "life";
or for the "life" of the pCloud company?

My point exactly. There's already been several of the "Cloud" storage companies go out of business.

I use a NAS device with raid 1 to store anything of importance, and the files I care about are backed up to an external USB disk each night. I should technically take that offsite, but otherwise I feel like I'm covered.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
I use a NAS device with raid 1 to store anything of importance, and the files I care about are backed up to an external USB disk each night. I should technically take that offsite, but otherwise I feel like I'm covered.

How are the backups made? Automatic via backup software, or manually? Is that second external USB drive attached?

Ransomware is known to attack attached USB drives and NAS Drives.

quote:

Originally posted by Crom:

quote:

I got pCloud $250 for 2 TB FOR LIFE!

Guaranteed for YOUR "life";

or for the "life" of the pCloud company?

The agreement is my life or 99 years whichever comes first. But your question whether it's for the life of the pCloud company made me consider if I should back up the data I have on their cloud.

Believing in witches and lifetime guarantees...

He was a junior bank executive and he had swindled one hundred thousand dollars from his bank---all of which he'd lost at the races. The bank examiners were coming the next day, and when he confessed the whole thing to his wife, she packed her bags and left him. Totally despondent, he walked to a nearby bridge and stood at the edge of it about to jump off and end it all.

Suddenly, a voice called, "Young man, don't do that! There is no need to end your life! I'm a witch and I can help you!"

"I doubt it," he said sadly. "I've stolen a hundred thousand dollars from the bank, for which I'll probably be arrested tomorrow, and my wife has left me.

"Young man, witches can do anything," she said. "I'm going to perform a witch miracle.”
She said, "Alakazam! The hundred thousand dollars has been replaced, and there's another hundred thousand in your safe deposit box!
Alakazam! Your wife is back home again!"

He looked at her in disbelief. "Is this all true?" he asked.

"Of course," she said, "but to keep it true you must do one thing."

"Anything!" he said, "anything!"

"You must take me to a motel and have sexual intercourse with me."

He stared at her. She was an ugly old crone, dressed in rags. Nevertheless, he agreed to her terms. He took her to a motel and made love to her all night. In the morning, as he was getting dressed and combing his hair in front of the mirror, she lay on the bed watching him silently.
Finally, she asked, "Sonny, how old are you?"

"I'm forty-seven," he said.

"Tell me something then," she said.

"Aren't you a little too old to believe in witches?"

For those who think what you upload to the "cloud" is yours and private-


Microsoft To Ban ‘Offensive Language’ & Monitor Your Private Account
March 27, 2018 at 1:01 pm

Cloud Article link

CBS Local — Microsoft is cracking down on what people say while using their services online. According to a new services agreement written by the company, the tech giant is planning to ban accounts that use “offensive language” and will go through your private data to “investigate” users.

In a March 1 release, Microsoft is warning customers using Office, Xbox, Skype, and other products that the company is prohibiting offensive language and inappropriate content starting on May 1. “Don’t publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence, or criminal activity),” Microsoft warns in a portion of their new codes of conduct.

Microsoft also added that the company plans on “investigating” users who are accused of violating the new policy and will block content from being sent to other people. “When investigating alleged violations of these Terms, Microsoft reserves the right to review Your Content in order to resolve the issue,” the new policy states.

Internet privacy and civil rights advocates are already speaking out against the Microsoft service agreement; calling the upcoming policy an attack on free speech. “Offensive language is fairly vague. Offensive to whom? What my granny might find offensive and what I might find offensive could be vastly different,” Ms. Smith of CSO Online wrote.

Civil rights activist and law student Jonathan Corbett added that Microsoft’s May 1 agreement is just an excuse to police people’s behavior, even in private. “I can’t use Skype to have an adult video call with my girlfriend? I can’t use OneDrive to back up a document that says ‘f–k’ in it? If I call someone a mean name in Xbox Live, not only will they cancel my account, but also confiscate any funds I’ve deposited in my account?” Corbett questions in a blog post.

Digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) argues that Microsoft’s hard-line policy stems from Congress passing two new sex trafficking bills. The Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex-Trafficking Act (SESTA) holds platforms responsible for users’ speech, illegally shared content, and anything connected to sex trafficking.

EFF claims SESTA/FOSTA “silences online speech by forcing Internet platforms to censor their users.” The Department of Justice has also warned that the bills raise “serious constitutional concern.”

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
So I started using cloud services to keep my data. I already have finances and tax records in the encrypted portion. I also have archived my old files there to sort through when I get the time. I'm also still in the process of uploading my iso and media files.

The company pCloud says they keep copies of my data in 3 or 5 geographically split servers. I can recover files I deleted up to 30 days.

But I got to thinking, what if the company suddenly goes kaput? Or shut down and I can't get access to my files?

Do I now have to back up those files in the cloud to a USB drive? I don't think I'll go as far as backing up my cloud data to another cloud service. Or am I just being too paranoid? I know I went with the cloud in case my physical laptop/usb drive gets stolen or destroyed. But should I worry about losing my data that's in the cloud?

Your data is in their hands. The answer is yes, you should.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:

Your data is in their hands. The answer is yes, you should.

Thanks. Based on SigMonkey's post, I revamped my data storage strategy.

I'll use the cloud to back up my computer data and to hold archived data I don't need on my computer.

I have two USB drives with hidden encrypted vaults to back up my computer data and the cloud data.

With all the cloud transfers I've been doing, I've been hitting up on my ISP's bandwidth limit. I didn't realize there was one.