Why the Cloud cannot be the only repository of your data!

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/114803-megauploads-demise-what-happens-to-your-files-when-a-cloud-service-dies

 "If you’re only just joining us, late yesterday the US Department of Justice shut down Megaupload, arrested seven employees, and seized assets worth more than $50 million (including three 82-inch TVs, two 108-inch TVs, 14 Mercedes, and other rich boys’ toys). This huge indictment poses many questions, but today we’re going to look at just one of them: What happens to all of those files that people had stored on Megaupload’s servers?


This morning the web is littered with hundreds of millions of broken Megaupload links. There was no warning, no preamble: If you stored files on Megaupload, they are gone ...  "

Of course, that's only one of many reasons as to how you can lose your data in the cloud.

Local storage is not going to go away any time soon, especially if the data being stored belongs to a business.

So is cloud storage all bad? Obviously not.  Cloud, as a secondary backup to your archival backup, can be very useful, if only because it's universally accessible. But don't forget that the data is stored on a third party site and is accessible to others, others over whom you have no control or knowledge.  So, if you do store data on a third party cloud server, do make sure that it is compacted and encrypted so that it's not easy to access.

 In the end an external USB is probably a better place to store things.