The weather's great up here, just don't look down!

In this post, let's talk about what it means to keep your stuff in the cloud and why you should do it.  As I mentioned in the previous post, it's mostly about convenience - the convenience of having your stuff accessible to you wherever you have an Internet connection.  First, let's define what we mean by "cloud."  Essentially, I'm just talking about saving files on a secure, remote server rather than on your own computer's hard drive.  In other words, remote storage versus local storage.  Think of the cloud (that remote computer server) as your own, rented digital locker.

Your immediate reaction may be, "wouldn't my stuff be a lot more secure on my own computer"?  The answer is, well... yes and no.  Most major, reputable companies that offer cloud storage use sophisticated encryption and data protection.  Your data should be accessible only to you, and your security credentials are usually a username and password.  Of course there's no absolute guarantee everything is 100% safe, but neither are the physical things you put in real storage.  On the other hand, things you store in a secure, rented pod may actually be safer in some ways than what's in your house - security may be tighter, tougher to break in to, and accessible only by someone who has your key or lock combination.  So it is with digital storage.  You have to decide for yourself whether you actually need the storage and whether the benefits outweigh the risks.

It used to be that you had to purchase sometimes costly cloud storage, manually backup your computer, and simply download files back onto your computer when you needed them.  This is useful for people and businesses who need protection/backup in case of a computer crash or similar loss of data.  However, the more connected people became and the more devices people had, the greater the need to share and access data across devices instead of just backing it up.  Nowadays there are a bewildering number of cloud storage solutions depending on your needs, the type of devices on which you will access the data, what type of data you'll be storing, etc.  These solutions can range from all-in-one, backup and store everything, to very  specific types of storage for very specific types of data.  Over the next several posts, I'll be covering different types of storage solutions for probably what are your most immediate needs.  I'll try to highlight services that I personally like and/or have used, and give you at least some information that could help you make an informed decision about whether to use a particular service.  Help me help you make your life easier!