The cloud versus portable ssd

[Jonathan Cross]

We have replaced our laptop and wish to be able to access files on both that and our desktop.  The laptop is Apple with SSD and the desktop is a PC with an HD.  We will replace the desktop in the next year or two with a machine with SDD.  We want to use the laptop away from home.  We have a 2TB Sandisk portable SSD that works on both machines. 

The alternative is to use the cloud, but I am wary of it.  I assume, rightly or wrongly, that to use the cloud one must have access to wifi or mobile data.  Also I am unsure about upload and download speeds using the cloud versus a fast portable SSD (backed up, of course). 

Am I missing something?

Best wishes,

Jonathan

[bassman51]

If you're storing data - eg image files and perhaps a catalog - in the cloud, then by definition you need to connect to that data from your laptop/desktop via the Internet. As you say, either a wifi or mobile data connection.  Everyone I know who accesses their data while traveling (including me) carries a portable drive with them.

[PeterAit]

You are right to worry about the up/download speeds. Wifi is vastly slower than a USB 3 connection.

[BobShaw]

The cloud to me is useless for anything other than transferring files. If I used it for backup then a backup would never complete, as in the six months it would take there would be so much new data that it couldn't catch up. Restoring is worse.
I was on a Pacific Island last week with satellite internet and could barely do email. Ubiquitous fast wifi is non existent. You can take your own in your own country but even that is comparatively slow to drive access.

[digitaldog]

The cloud is a very good backup because it's off site. Otherwise, no, you want a fast local drive. But if you're backing up important data, short of having a fire-proof media save, the cloud is useful for a 'belt and suspenders' approach to backing up data you can't afford to lose ever.

[PatCastaldo]

If you have fast internet at both places, then the cloud (in my case Dropbox) works wonderfully.

I've got over a 1.5 terabytes in dropbox and I swear by it — working at the studio and at home, things just sync and it all just works. I have fast internet at both places, and that's obviously a must, but saving all my working files there and then creating a new folder that's an archive works great.

On my laptop, I use Dropbox's smartsync to keep just the list of my non-active project files on the laptop w/out taking up any actual room, which I find really useful.

I use it mostly for workflow, so I can keep working on things between machines. For backup I've got a networked drive at work, a cheaper one:

https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/network-attached-storage/wd-my-cloud-pro-series-pr4100#WDBNFA0000NBK-NESN

That seems to work pretty well.