External Hard Drives Vs. Online Storage Security
Archiving your important documents, photos and videos to an external location is very helpful if your computer's internal storage devices are damaged or something else causes data loss, such as a virus. External hard drives and online storage are popular archive choices, each with different security considerations.
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External Storage Theft
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An external storage drive is much handier because you can transfer files to it much faster than over the Internet. However, an external drive can be stolen and is expensive to replace compared to online storage.
Drive Encryption
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One of the ways to handle drive theft is to encrypt its contents, which scrambles the bits in a way that can only be un-scrambled by entering a password.
Password Security
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A strong password is important for external devices, but essential for online storage. An external drive can only be accessed by someone within physical proximity. Meanwhile, anyone who can connect to the Internet may attempt to access your online storage account.
User Habits
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If you travel a lot and you do not need more than 50 gigabytes of storage, you may want to use online storage instead, since it cannot be lost or stolen from your bags. However, this means having reliable Internet access during your trip.
Environment Control
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Online storage requires you to rely on the security mechanisms of the provider. Using an external drive gives you more control over the system.
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