Are there items on your digital devices that you would be absolutely lost or devastated without? Pictures? Financial files? Important information for other accounts? Genealogy information?
If so, the recent tragedy in Texas only serves to remind us that if we are not backing up to a cloud service, we should find a way to do that.
A family relative in Texas was rescued in the middle of the night by her son. She woke up to the sound of dripping water and when she stepped out of bed, her feet were in 2-3 inches of water. By the time her son arrived, they waded out of the area in chest-deep water. It was harrowing; she had no time to collect belongings.....didn't even have her shoes. Scary.
Now, she will begin the process of rebuilding her life. Everything she owned is gone. Pictures of her late husband and brother. Financial files. Everything.
Most of us back up important files, BUT usually on an external hard drive. But, in addition to that, you should also be storing your important things in the "cloud." "The cloud" simply means you are storing your documents on some computers that someone else owns so that if something happens to your house, your documents/photos will still be retrievable on another computer. If you aren't sure if you are backing up to the cloud we probably need to talk about that one-on-one.
However, if you are using one of these services -- iCloud, Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Google Photos, etc. then you are backing up to the cloud IF you are actually using them to upload all of your files automatically OR if you regularly copy your documents or photos to them.
I plan on spending one of our class sessions on "the cloud" this fall. I know we have briefly discussed it before but last week's hurricane stresses the true importance of making sure our electronic files will always be there for us.
For more information on the "top" cloud storage for 2017, you may want to check out this article:
http://www.techradar.com/news/the-best-free-cloud-storage
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