The more high-tech the world becomes, the longer our needs also get. Back in the days, a roof above your head, food on the table, and clothing on your body are enough to sustain a man. Nowadays, luxuries of the not-so-distant past like gadgets and an Internet connection among others have become necessities. Can you imagine life without these smart gadgets that connect you to the web with ease? The very presence of the web opened up a lot of opportunities and a new way for us to connect with people from all over the world.
Now that we have learned to embrace a new life, we keep on facing challenges brought about by this new lifestyle. Our increasing use of technology resulted in a huge amount of digital data that must be placed somewhere, right? From personal mementos like photos and videos to your favorite songs and movies, you want them stored in a safe place that you can still conveniently access, right? The same thing also applies to important documents from school and in the office. They’re even more precious and can make or break your life especially one’s career.
To save money, you could simply rely on OneDrive or similar services to store all your files. But this means you’ll be relying on Microsoft to not only keep your files safe and secured from the outside world, but also an internet connection should you wish to access said files on a device that hasn’t been synchronized. And it’s also a pain sometimes to synchronize things across on a less reliable connection.
An external drive, on the other hand, allows for the quick and painless transfer of files. It keeps the process streamlined with little to fail, aside from the drive itself and perhaps the USB cable. There’s also the case of cost and available space. You’ll often need to fork out a specific amount per month for cloud storage, which could increase over time should you require additional capacity. With a physical drive, you only pay for the device itself.
(Via: https://www.windowscentral.com/everything-you-need-know-buying-external-hard-drive)
The smartest thing to do is to back up your data. However, it is easier said than done, though. First thing is that you need to spend money in order to protect your data. The laptop or computer you have only has a limited storage space and the software you install take so much space already, so where are you supposed to save your data when the device you are using no longer has a space for it? A flash drive won’t do since it can’t hold that much data especially when it entails work documents. An external hard drive comes to mind next because while a little pricey, it can hold more data quite conveniently too.
External drives are certainly fast; however, even after all these years they’re just not that reliable. Hard drive failure rates, especially on modern devices, are as high as 27% during warranty period. This means a hard drive is pretty much good for two or three years, and then you can kiss it, and your data, goodbye.
What about the cloud? Cloud storage maybe not be as fast as external drives but it does take care of a fundamental problem external HDDs can’t fix: reliability.
- Universal access
We have files on our phone, on our home laptop and on office computers, but an external drive can only back up data on the device it’s connected to. On the other hand, cloud storage gives you the freedom to back up files on any internet-connected device, without plugging anything in. Most cloud storage services have dedicated apps for most major clients. Access is so much easier, because you only need a web browser and working internet connection to access your files.
- Security
With external drives, you’re in charge of security. However, a lot of people seem to miss this part – while a hard drive warranty will replace your HDD, it won’t bring lost files back.
(Via: https://www.techradar.com/news/cloud-storage-vs-external-hard-disk-drive-which-one-is-better)
You have another option now aside from external hard drives. The cloud has become a popular option for data storage because you don’t have to worry about it getting damaged during disasters or accidentally break it on your own because your data is now stored in a safe location but still remain accessible for you at all times. There are even cloud storage services that you can avail for free. Think of Google Drive and the likes. The storage is unlimited but you can opt to upgrade it for a fee. Security isn’t always guaranteed by both options but the problem has been somewhat addressed by the cloud through encryption.
It is up to you to decide which risk you are willing to take in the name of protecting and saving your files. Just be wary, though, that if you do choose to go with an external hard drive, be ready for the following issues you might face such as https://www.harddrivefailurerecovery.net/hard-drive-gets-water-damaged-what-to-do/ as well as the fact that will you able to recover your lost data in case your external hard drive malfunctions. You got to contact the experts for that https://www.harddrivefailurerecovery.net/external-hard-drive-recovery/.