So much of our digital lives now exist solely in the cloud.
However, that’s not to say that our backup situation is perfectfar from it.
Relying solely on the cloud for data storage can have disastrous consequences.
(I guess they’d just have to take comfort in knowing that Google figured outwhyit happened?)
To be clear, this event isnotcommon.
Still, if it can happen once, it can happen again.
Maybe Microsoft loses OneDrive user’s data next October.
you’re able to’t assume these services will be infallible forever.
That isn’t to saydon’tuse them.
I use iCloud for just about everything I do in the Apple ecosystem.
However, for anything important, youneedto verify you have a secondary backup in case something goes wrong.
Say you have an archive of important documents stored on your rig.
They only exist on your gear, so if your SSD goes belly-up, those files are toast.
So, what can you do?
Now, these files exist in two places separate from each other.
If the SSD breaks, they’re in the cloud.
If the cloud glitches out, they’re on your system.
Having files stored in at least two separate locations is usually enough protection for most of us.
If you delete a message from your iPhone, it helpfully deletes that text from the cloud too.
That’s by design, and it means your files aren’t totally secure against data loss.
The same goes for missing photos, notes, contacts, or anything else that gets lost.
Should something happen to the photos on Apple’s end, my Mac has all my media saved securely.
This conversation can get a little in the weeds, especially as you start to focus on specific services.
(OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, etc.)
