Online Vs. Offline Data Storage

The evolution of technology has come so far. The way we store data before started by writing it on a piece of paper. But that would take some time, and it is very insecure. You could easily lose your data. Whether it gets wet, dirty, or gets flown away by the wind, losing your data from that piece of paper is very easy. It is also very hard to share and produce more copies of it. You would have to write it down manually. And when computers were created, we finally had a more secure way to store data. With the help of computers, we can share and save data better. But it still had its limitations. A lot of hard drives also had many different versions. 

As time goes by, the way we store data with the help of computers has also evolved. One of the most prominent technological advancements we have today is cloud storage. In this article, we are going to know what cloud storage is and compare it to physical storage devices. 

Physical storage

The demand for accessibility has increased. Storage devices evolved by tech companies making them smaller but with greater storage capacity. First, the IBM 350 was created measured 60 inches high but had low storage. Then floppy disks came, there was a significant improvement in terms of accessibility and portability, but it could only store up to 2 MB. Then compact disks were made. This was the start of the digital era. It has almost the same size as the floppy disk but has a larger storage capacity. It could reach up to 700 MB, but you still can’t erase or change the data you store. Then the flash drive came, the beginning of flash storage. 

Flashdrives are much more portable, has a larger storage capacity, and, best of all, you can make changes to your data. Then the SD cards came. They are much smaller, and is usually used for mobile phones, and are more versatile. Then we finally arrived at the UFS era or the universal flash storage. HDD and SSDs are examples of it. The HDD and SDD are pretty similar but differ in performance and build. The SDD is the newer one, has greater capacity, and has better performance. 

Cloud storage

It just seems like we can’t stop making more data. Despite the smaller storage devices with larger capacities, people are still looking for something better. Tech companies have finally made groundbreaking inventions. They have found a way for us users to store and access data online. You can access and share data faster and easier with cloud storage. All you need is a wifi connection, and you are good to go. The best thing about this is you can easily edit your data and sync them across your devices. This means you can have the latest file version on all the devices you synced. 

There are also a lot of types of cloud storage.

  1. Hybrid cloud- there are different environments involved. You can have both public and private clouds, so you can experience the best of both worlds as one.
  2. Multicloud- you can have multiple clouds, private or public, but it is usually public. However, this option is more expensive than the hybrid cloud. 

Whether you store your data online or off-site, it will always have pros and cons. It is difficult to see which one is better since it depends on what kind you need. Today,  a lot of companies apply the 3 2 1 storage rule, which involves storing data online and offline. This is a more secure way to store and back up data by simply using the two kinds.