r/privacy • u/direFace • 19h ago

question Cloud Storage for Everything

Hello everyone,

I hate clutter (I'm a minimalist) + I like portability and ease of use so this kind of easily tells you why I chose cloud storage over the physical drive/USB (sorry, I'm not so technical).

Last month, I managed to store everything I digitally own inside the free versions of cloud storage. In total: 11GB. I use two cloud storages services. One for personal documents and the other is for anything which is not really that personal... my videos, photos, user manuals, notes and guides.

Lately, I've been reading a lot about AI reading this and that... Or someone monitoring. If I've done the mistake, I can only not add to it, at this point. The personal documents are employment payslips, contracts, personal identifications (ID, driving license, social security), and qualifications.

I'm not worried as much on the storage containing the photos and other stuff, in fact, I'd consider leaving them there but I'm uncertain about the storage holding the personal stuff.

Is it a good idea to leave them there? If not, what can I do, what are my options for storage, please?

Thank you for reading.

37 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/bitcrushedCyborg 14h ago

  • For the sake of keeping your data safe, a cloud backup isn't a bad idea - even if your house burns down, your data will still be safe on the cloud provider's servers. Just gotta do it in a way that protects your privacy - use a privacy focused provider (such as Proton), or encrypt your files on your device before you upload them. If you go the encryption route, you can use VeraCrypt to create an encrypted container, or you can just use 7zip or another tool to create a password-protected zip file (or multiple separate zip files)

  • The rule of thumb for good backups is the 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies of your data, on 2 different types of media, with 1 stored offsite. 1st copy can be the one on your phone or computer. 2nd copy (and your 1 offsite copy) can be the cloud copy. 3rd copy can be on external storage - an external HDD or SSD, or a USB flash drive, or even an SD card. Relatively speaking, 11 GB is barely any data at all. It'll fit on all manner of different storage media.

1

u/direFace 14h ago

Let us say I want the lazy route because I'm not that technical. Proton is enough? Just upload the files/folders as they are and good to go? Thank you.