NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 11

In the event of an emergency, one that requires you to evacuate your home, you will most likely need to have access to your important documents. Things like insurance policies, birth certificates, vehicle registration, and a copy of your driver’s license may be required to prove your identity or that you own the property in question. Is it physically possible to carry all the information that may be needed? 

Probably not…you could collect it all in your emergency binder and be ready to grab it and go, but is that the most secure way to save important documents?

#3 Online Storage.What is the cloud anyway?

Imagine a situation where, rather than running intensive applications like Photoshop or CAD programs on your personal computer, you upload your data to a computer in the cloud and it does all the heavy lifting and returns to you a finished product. We are already seeing this with sites that will process your photos like Photoshop.com or provide you with an office suite that handles documents, spreadsheets, such as Google Docs.  In the end, “The Cloud” is simply The Internet, and we use it every day.

Saving your documents to the cloud may seem to be the answer

Maybe and if my laptop died today I would be cooked.
“Cloud computing offers other benefits as well. Not too long ago, many of us worried about losing our documents, photos and files if something bad happened to our computers, like a virus or a hardware malfunction. Today, our data is migrating beyond the boundaries of our personal computers. Instead, we’re moving our data online into “the cloud”. 

Is it Safe to Store Data in the Cloud?

You have to wonder if your files are really safe if you store them in the cloud. It is safe to store your data but you have to do your research and understand the limitations before doing any uploading. 


The online options, which allow a limited amount of space for free – Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive and Google Drive. These are easily accessible from your computer and you probably already have documents stored on them now. Some other reliable for fee providers include Master Vault Lock, Secure Safe, and MyVault. Each of these has built in encryption for your data.

But what if your files are hacked or lost? It is  completely avoidable, if you are willing to regularly and intelligently back up your photos and documents.

1)      Back up your photos and documents online, or “in the cloud,”
AND
2)      Buy an external hard drive
It can be a bit of a chore, but it's like having insurance.  Back up your photos right now, both online and to a hard drive. Go on. Back them up. Before your computer bursts into flame, your phone falls into the ocean, and your iPad snaps in half. Back up your pictures, documents and all the information you need to function in an emergency so that you do not lose them forever, in case you are hacked or your device is stolen or is run over by a semi.