Bob’s Bytes – Cloudy Forecast

(Using the Cloud to your Advantage)

By Bob Dawes

 

 What is the cloud?  That depends!

1)    The cloud is any data you access over the internet.

2)    The cloud is the network of servers that collectively make up the internet

3)    The cloud is storing information somewhere else

4)    The cloud is really the network or the internet

It’s really hard to define other than to say that if the data you’re accessing via your computer isn’t stored on your local hard drive then it is in the cloud.  The cloud isn’t really a central spot but a hard drive somewhere else that you access remotely.

How can you use the cloud?

·         Online backup services (iDrive, Backblaze, Carbonite, Google backup)

·         Synchronizing files between computers (Google Photos, Google Docs, Office 365, Evernote)

·         Chromebook computers

·         Extending your storage  (Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft One-Drive)

·         Big Genealogy (Ancestry, Findmypast, FamilySearch, My Heritage)

·         Big Data (Oracle, IBM, SAS, Salesforce, Amazon, Shopify, Apple, Netflix, Wikipedia, etc)

·         Personal Cloud (Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung)

I’m going to deviate from the thread here and explain how I, as a genealogist, use the cloud to my advantage so you’ll get the idea of how it might apply to you.

First and foremost – backup backup backup!  If you have years of family history research on your computer along with scans or downloads of documents and photos you need a good backup strategy.  Belt and suspenders!  I backup my data files (not programs) to iDrive (Cloud based) every night and I back up my data files to an external hard drive every hour so my data exists in three places – on my computer hard drive, in the cloud at iDrive and on my external hard drive.  If my house burned to the ground, iDrive would courier me a portable hard drive of my data to load onto a new computer.  If my computer dies I can reload from the external hard drive.  Therefore, having a cloud based backup service gives me the piece of mind that I can recover from the worst possible disasters and my computer does the backup automatically and iDrive sends me an email every night when it is completed.  As a bonus, I can use iDrive to access my data remotely if I am away from home even if I don’t have my own laptop.

Synchronizing files  if you want to have the same file available from multiple devices.  You’ll need to use the cloud as the interface on your desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone.  Programs like Evernote, Onenote, SimpleNote etc., allow you to access the same information regardless of which device you are using.  Some browsers (Chrome, Firefox) also use this feature to synchronize your bookmarks and other personal features across multiple devices.  Synchronizing files for genealogy programs is usually done through Google Drive, Dropbox or Onedrive where your family file is stored.

I use an Android tablet to read ebooks using an app called FBReader.  I use FBReader’s cloud based service to add my books to a network library that I can access from either my tablet, laptop or smartphone.  FBReader uses my personal Google Drive to store the ebooks.  On the FBReader website, I upload the ebook to my account and it is forwarded to my Google Drive where I can access it from the app on my device.

My second example is with photos I take on my smartphone.  When Google backup is turned on, any photos will be shared with my Google Photos account anytime I have a wifi connection.  Usually, by the time I walk in the door and sit down at my computer my phone has connected and uploaded any pictures I have taken.  It means that I can access my photos from any device including shared computers as long as I log into my Google account.  Therefore, my photos are automatically backed up without me having to do anything.  Google Photos storage is unlimited as long as you use their compressed option which is very good resolution.  If you insist on higher or raw resolution it will count against your Google Drive limits but that is very generous at 15GB.

Chromebook computers  These kind of stripped down computers use an operating system called Chromium and run both their programs and storage on the internet or in the cloud.  The apps run in a browser and storage is through Google Drive or some other cloud storage provider.  Microsoft Office 365 uses One-Drive for its storage.  These computers are inexpensive but have limited capability when not connected to the internet so, for that reason, I don’t recommend them.

Extended storage  If you have a high speed internet connection you can add cloud based storage as a way of expanding your hardware based storage.  Google Drive, Microsoft One-Drive and Dropbox all offer paid expanded storage which you can add with a few clicks.  Most will put a new drive in your file explorer so you can drag and drop content or do searches.

Big Genealogy  The big genealogy providers (Ancestry, Findmypast, My Heritage and Familysearch) all offer access to billions of event records and tree connections.  They are essentially part of the cloud that you search and retrieve the information you want.  In essence, the Quinte Branch Find-It library finding aid is part of the cloud.  The database is stored on the OGS server (wherever that is) and you search it using a WordPress front end on our website.  Results ane then delivered to your computer over the internet.  You can try it out with https://quinte.ogs.on.ca/demo-finding-aid/

By uploading your family tree to the big providers, you are storing your personal research data in the cloud.  Some also offer extended services such as photo and record storage for you as part of your subscription but once you let your subscription lapse you won’t have access to that data so I don’t recommend it

Personal Cloud  You can buy a large external hard drive, hook it up to your computer, register it with the manufacturer and access it remotely through the internet.  In doing so you have created a cloud storage site.  All the drive manufacturer is doing is linking your storage to an internet address (URL) so you our anyone with the link can access the data.  This means that the computer with the attached drive must be on all the time but it can make accessing your personal files convenient when you are away from home.  Power failures or system crashes may throw a wrench in the works if you are depending on access and not anywhere close by to fix the problem.  However, this also can be used to provide shared file access to multiple computers in the same household.  I store movies and TV shows on an external drive connected to my network that I can access from my smart TV or tablet.

Cloud storage means many different things and the cloud image or logo is used to specify that no one really knows where the data is stored because it doesn’t matter. 

Have fun and backup, backup, backup!