Page 16 - NL NOV 2019.indd

16 November 2019
Cloud Storage, Thumb Drive or Disk Drive?
Pros and Cons By Anita Campbell , Small Business Administra on

Today’s businesses need to store more data than ever
before. In fact, data storage requirements are growing by
about 40 percent each year. However, you need to make
sure that the storage solu ons you choose are going to
keep your data secure. In fact, there were an average of
62 cybera acks each day in 2018, with many of those
aff ec ng businesses and their sensi ve data.

In order to keep all of the data you use safe and easily
accessible, you need to fi nd the right storage and backup
solu ons. There are a ton of diff erent op ons to choose
from, including cloud storage, thumb drives, and disk Thumb Drive
drives. All of these op ons have their own advantages and A thumb drive is a small, portable device that allows you
drawbacks. So you need to carefully consider your own to store and share fi les. You plug it into a computer or
storage needs before choosing. And you might even opt other device using the USB port. Then you can add fi les to
to make use of mul ple op ons in diff erent ways. back them up in a second loca on or easily share those
documents with other devices.
Here’s a rundown Be certain that the storage
of each of these These devices are small and very simple to operate. You
op ons so you solu ons you choose are going simply plug it into your computer and drag and drop fi les
can create the to keep your data secure. that you want to back up. Some even off er advanced
combina on that features like password protec on so you can keep those
works best for your small business. fi les extra secure.

Cloud Storage However, if you use them on a device that’s infected with
Cloud storage is a model that essen ally allows users to viruses or malware, you could end up spreading those
store fi les and informa on across various servers. So you vulnerabili es around your offi ce. Addi onally, their small
don’t keep it in a hard drive that’s located on-premises. size makes it easy for users to lose or break them. So they
Instead, it’s backed up in a separate loca on. probably shouldn’t serve as your main storage solu on for
especially important items.
One of the main benefi ts of cloud storage is that it allows
your data to be accessible from anywhere. You can bring Disk Drive
up the same fi les at your desk that you can on your home A disk drive is a type of hardware that uses rota ng disks
computer or your laptop when you travel. You can also and electro-mechanical technology to store informa on.
give your team members access, or even allow clients to This can either be housed within a computer or laptop, or
view select fi les through cloud sharing pla orms. Keeping contained on a separate external hard drive.
your fi les saved in a separate loca on from your business This type of storage is fairly aff ordable and easy to use.
can also be useful in disaster recovery. If there’s a fl ood or There are a variety of hard drive storage op ons out
fi re at your facility, you can s ll access that important data there. And many off er higher capaci es than those
if your hard drives or on-premises servers were destroyed.
available with small thumb drives. So you can easily fi nd
However, security is a major concern for businesses an op on that provides enough capacity for your storage
using cloud storage solu ons. Since the data is not stored needs, even if you need to store large fi les or programs.
in your own disks or hard drives, you have less control However, this type of physical storage doesn’t last forever.
over who can access it. And hackers o en target cloud And when the disk stops working, you could end up losing
based storage pla orms. So you may not want to use the data you have stored on it. As such, it’s usually best to
this solu on for fi les that contain customer informa on, back up the data you have stored on this type of device on
fi nancial records or confi den al company data. In fact, another source as well. They also don’t usually come with
only about 18 percent of all fi les uploaded to cloud based password protec on or advanced security features. So it
sharing and collabora on pla orms contain sensi ve may not be the best op on for super sensi ve data. But
data. But despite those challenges, about 80 percent of someone would usually need to have a physical copy of
businesses have adopted cloud storage in some capacity.
the disk in order to access that informa on.
Timber Products Manufacturers Associa on