‘Go Cloudless’

Going Cloudless, it to remove all of your data from the cloud and keep it stored locally. Why would someone do that? Using cloud services are a great convenience and we don’t have to think about managing my files anymore. While that is true, with convenience comes trade-offs like personal data vulnerability and cost.

Let’s start with personal data vulnerability. We here about massive data breaches all the time and are reminded to change our passwords for these services. The graphic above illustrates the data breaches since 2013. Look closely you probably use many of these services. In many of these attacks passwords and data was compromised. It does make sense then to ‘Go Cloudless’ and use password managers, but I will save that subject for another time.

So how where do we start? Check out the list below:

1 Determine the total size of your data footprint in the cloud. It might shock you.

2 Determine how much free space you currently have on your device. Most people purchase a phone with the cheapest storage option like 32GB or 64GB, so if it is time for an upgrade, we recommend going with a phone with more built-in storage. A few recommend links are provided of Phones and PC’s below.

• Have a phone and PC you love already, then skip to step three.

3 Buy an external drive large enough to store all of your data, a number of recommended links are provided below.

4 Download all our your photos and files from your cloud service provider onto your device or external drive. This could take a while.

• If you have an Android Device, you can plug your drive directly into your device and transfer files to your external drive.
• If you have an iPhone or an (non Pro) iPad, it is currently not possible to plug your drive directly your device and transfer files to your external drive unless it is a thumb drive designed for iPhone or iPad.
• If you have an iPad Pro, you can plug your drive directly into your device and transfer files to your external drive.
• If you have an PC or Mac, you can plug your drive directly into your device and transfer files to your external drive.

5 Cancel your cloud service subscription. If you had 1TB of cloud storage you are saving $60-$100 per year, those savings pay for your 1TB External Drive right away! Plus it is one less App running in the background draining your battery.

By Platform De.Central