You may have heard about people storing their photos, documents and other forms of data on the “Cloud.” What does that really mean? We know they’re not storing their files in the sky or in a ball of moisture, so where exactly are people storing their information?
Other than its name, the Cloud actually has nothing to do with the earth’s atmosphere. The Cloud is actually a group of servers in a building somewhere that stores terabytes upon terabytes of users’ data. The location of the servers may vary depending on the company you are using for your storage, but the overall concept is the same.
Is the Cloud Safe?
The Cloud is relatively safe; however, there is always a chance that another user could access your information, so it’s best to always keep your most important files on a personal hard-drive.
What is the Cloud used for?
There are many forms of Cloud computing. One of the biggest Cloud users is YouTube. Each video is stored on a server allowing you to access the video from the Cloud as soon as you push play. There are also other major companies who offer the Cloud to their customers: Google, Apple, LaCie and Drop Box to name a few.
You can easily upload files that are too big to email onto a Cloud server and email a link to a friend, rather than taking up several megabytes of space in an email. You can even send files that are several gigabytes as long as you have the available space on your Cloud server.
Before you sign up for a Cloud account, be sure to always do some research and read customer reviews and always keep a back up somewhere else.
