Introduction
As the world’s population gets bigger and more people have access to the internet, more storage is needed. For more data to be put or stored on the internet by users, there needs to be more storage space needs to be available. Now that the internet is so accessible, more and more people are able to access data and will need a place to put it. A reason for this accessibility is how many people now have smartphones. Smartphones are a pretty recent invention, and with how fast the market for smartphones has grown, there is also a huge demand for storage for the data on those devices. Some people have so much storage on their phones they need to purchase more. As newer versions of smartphones have come out, they actually have more storage capability because so many people hit the storage capacity on their devices.Another reason the world needs more storage is that everything is digital. With the invention of new smart devices such as refrigerators, printers, and even baby monitors, more storage is to store data. With devices like this and new technology always improving, bigger files of data are produced. For example, a high quality picture is surely much larger than a picture of bad quality, and as technology gets even better and picture quality is improved, files will get bigger. The last reason that the world is in need of more storage is the value of data. The value of data is actually increasing, so it is necessary to provide the world with more storage for that data because of how valuable it is.
Cloud Storage
Cloud storage is where user data is stored to save room on a device. It is stored in a third party storage system off-site. This means that it is not on the device itself. The remote database is accessed on the device using the internet.
An advantage of using cloud storage is that it does not matter what device you are using because most sites allow users to log in anywhere to access their work. For example, I am able to access my Google account on my phone and my laptop, so if I need to send an email when I am on the go, I do not have to take out my laptop. I can also upload files from my phone into my Google Drive if I need to last minute for a class. Cloud storage has helped me a lot in college because I always have easy access in my pocket. I also took advantage of cloud storage last semester when my computer broke. I was able to borrow a computer from Trinity and access my work from Google Drive and TLearn.
Another advantage is recovering data when a device breaks. In the past I dropped my phone in some water and it was no longer usable. Because I had iCloud storage that had things like my photos and messages saved, I easily uploaded it onto my new phone. I always make sure to backup my phone data every once and a while to keep my backups up to date in case of emergency. If my phone, or even computer, suddenly doesn’t work anymore, I can retrieve my data through backups and put it on a new device. Additionally, the cloud will last forever. Technology is constantly advancing and because of the nature of the cloud, it allows for advancing technology to be used with it, and it cannot become obsolete.
An advantage of using cloud storage is that it does not matter what device you are using because most sites allow users to log in anywhere to access their work. For example, I am able to access my Google account on my phone and my laptop, so if I need to send an email when I am on the go, I do not have to take out my laptop. I can also upload files from my phone into my Google Drive if I need to last minute for a class. Cloud storage has helped me a lot in college because I always have easy access in my pocket. I also took advantage of cloud storage last semester when my computer broke. I was able to borrow a computer from Trinity and access my work from Google Drive and TLearn.
Another advantage is recovering data when a device breaks. In the past I dropped my phone in some water and it was no longer usable. Because I had iCloud storage that had things like my photos and messages saved, I easily uploaded it onto my new phone. I always make sure to backup my phone data every once and a while to keep my backups up to date in case of emergency. If my phone, or even computer, suddenly doesn’t work anymore, I can retrieve my data through backups and put it on a new device. Additionally, the cloud will last forever. Technology is constantly advancing and because of the nature of the cloud, it allows for advancing technology to be used with it, and it cannot become obsolete.
3-2-1 Backup Plan
The 3-2-1 backup plan is a plan every computer or device user should have if they want to ensure their data is backed up in case of emergency. The 3-2-1 backup plan recommends that users have at least three copies of their data. According to the 3-2-1 backup plan, at least two of the copies of the data should be local copies and on different platforms. The other one copy should be stored off-site. This is extremely helpful if anything happens to your computer: “If your laptop or desktop’s hard drive crashes, and you have an up to date external hard drive available, you can quickly get the majority of your data back, or use the external on another computer while yours gets fixed or replaced” (The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy, Yev).
The 3-2-1 backup plan copies are different from an archival copy. An archival copy is a copy of original data that is used as a reference for the original. If the original data is updated or changed, the archival copy does not update as well because it was copied before the original was updated. Automatic syncing, on the other hand, is used so users no longer have to manually sync their data. This keeps backups up to date because every time anything changes within the data, it is saved automatically as it changes. My 3-2-1 backup plan consists of using my Google Drive and OneDrive. Usually my school documents are saved on my Google Drive and anything else I put on OneDrive. The other hard copy I will use is on a USB flash drive since I do not have much data that is important and it is cheaper than a hard drive.
The 3-2-1 backup plan copies are different from an archival copy. An archival copy is a copy of original data that is used as a reference for the original. If the original data is updated or changed, the archival copy does not update as well because it was copied before the original was updated. Automatic syncing, on the other hand, is used so users no longer have to manually sync their data. This keeps backups up to date because every time anything changes within the data, it is saved automatically as it changes. My 3-2-1 backup plan consists of using my Google Drive and OneDrive. Usually my school documents are saved on my Google Drive and anything else I put on OneDrive. The other hard copy I will use is on a USB flash drive since I do not have much data that is important and it is cheaper than a hard drive.
