Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup: Whats The Difference?

This article was originally written by By Jay El-Anis, Farah Khayyat on Techradar.com

Cloud Backup & Cloud Storage: Whats The Difference?

We hear words associated with the cloud all the time, words like cloud sync, cloud backup and cloud storage. They are all the buzz, they’re found everywhere, but what do they mean? And what is the difference?

The shared goal of all three is to protect a user’s data and make life easier. The major differences however center on what the user expects from the software. Every type offers a variety of advantages, but depending on the needs of the user, it can impact the type of plan they wish to purchase. The difference is that backup saves your data in case of loss or damage, and storage creates a gateway to access information from anywhere. Cloud sync on the other hand is for multiple users to access data, and make changes across the board from different devices.

Some software provides more than one feature on a single platform, offering those who need it a chance to utilize all three. Every single person can benefit from the cloud, whether it is for a school project, a business, an academic institute or even an individual’s personal photos and memories.

We’ve all had incidents where we have lost a document, a set of images, an important project or experienced an event where we lost all our data stored on our laptop or mobile. The thought of simply losing your family memories is upsetting and compelling enough to hop on the cloud train. So, which one is right for you? We break down each type, giving you a straight-forward but thorough overview so you can make the right choice.

Cloud Storage 

The meaning is in the word itself. Cloud storage is putting information into the cloud, which is an offsite safe and secure location. Simply put, cloud storage is like an external drive in an offsite location, accessed via the internet. It provides access to folders, allowing the user to store as much data as they need and is charged accordingly. Another advantage is the safety it offers, the information stored is replicated, making it available under almost circumstances.

Cloud providers utilize AWS (Amazon Web Services) or Microsoft Azure, which ensures data recovery and privacy no matter what. Another benefit to using cloud storage is the ability to increase the amount you want to store at any time. Unlike with an external drive, for which you have to buy a whole new device and certainly can’t simply ‘upgrade’ the old one, with cloud storage you can increase the storage capacity of your account by simply increasing your subscription fee. One drawback to cloud storage is the manual entry of all the files you want to store; it does not back up automatically in most cases.

Cloud Backup

Backup software operating under a set of rules, sending a copy of a user’s data to cloud storage, can be considered a backup. A fully functioning backup service should automatically back up data regularly, making this one of the most attractive qualities of backup. Additionally, it should ensure privacy by encrypting a user’s data with a password. It should offer multiple file versioning of previous versions and track the changes made.

To ensure security, a reliable service should compress and de-duplicate data to save on storage expenses as well as have the option to back up select files or all files. In case of damage or loss, cloud backup will be able to recover your information instantly, with the most up to date version available. Cloud backup is recommended for…

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