Files Going Local First

Ah, the “Cloud.” That nebulous data storage in the ether. All my files…on someone's else's hard drive, far away. What could go wrong? I’ve relied on cloud storage for years, but now that I’ve got plenty of local storage in my new tech setup, I’m starting to revert to the simplicity of my files on my hard drive.

A quick look-back reminds us that, once upon a time, people had one computer. It alone stored all your stuff. Then came the portable/mobile revolution. Files could be in multiple places: your PC, your phone, your MP3 player etc. In other words, they were kind of scattered. So then came “The Cloud” to the rescue; it would auto-magically sync your data across all your devices. Welcome to the future, when even your programs apps can run in the cloud on the web.

When it comes to the cloud-versus-local storage debate, suffice to say there are pros and cons to each side. Likely, the most realistic solution is a hybrid approach, leveraging the strengths of both local (“on-prem”) and cloud (“off-site”) storage.

My current migration is natural and practical. I didn’t take a stance purely motivated by principle. I’m just trying to manage my personal storage of office documents and photos, for example, between my Android phone and Windows PC after switching away from Apple gear. I finally have plenty of local storage, unlike before.

One cause or effect of relying on cloud storage — hard to say which came first — is the trend of base model laptops (MacBook Air, Chromebook…) generally being equipped with paltry amounts of internal storage. In a time when storage drives are ubiquitous and affordable commodities, the minimum should be measured in terabytes. Yet many laptops still ship with 64GB to 256GB. This is unfortunate and unnecessary.

Contrary to this, I was recently fortunate to acquire two “computers” with decent onboard drive space. First I got a smartphone with 256GB of storage. And the bigger impact has been my new gaming laptop with a 512GB SSD inside, plus it has a full-sized SD card slot. In that I keep another 512GB of storage for now.

With a minimum 1TB of local laptop storage currently, I’ve been moving my files from the cloud to the ground. I’ve come back down to earth. There’s a tangible comfort in having my data — discreet files — in my local file system. And it’s simpler in a way.

The two immediate impacts, I think, are cost and convenience.

Less cost?

Once I get all my files onto my hard drive and not on somebody else’s, I will be able to scale back how much money I spend monthly on cloud storage across iCloud Drive and Google Drive. I’ve shifted the cost of data storage to buying local space instead of cloud space, which I think is cheaper overall or in the long-run. At the least, it will feel less costly since there won’t be a recurring subscription charge. Like being nickeled and dimed, those small monthly expenses add up.

Less convenient?

A concern might be the inconvenience of not always having all my files with me. But I suspect this won’t be a big deal. Most of the time, I don’t need all my files. Generally, I only need access to recent files, ones I’m currently working with. In my case, Google’s free 15GB of cloud storage is likely more than enough.

The biggest data-eating files are photos and videos I take with my phone. I plan to turn off Google Photos backup to save on cloud storage. While that might feel like a safety net being removed, it’s low-risk. Most of the time, local storage devices, especially since mechanical drives became obsolete, are reliable enough. My new workflow will be to simply move photos from my phone to my laptop for long-term storage. 

For all my data on my local drives, I will make periodic local backups onto an affordable external SSD. Simple and easy.

Shifting storage of my stuff from cloud-first to local-first might take some getting used to. But I’ve already sensed comfort in it. I think that’s because it is the way I was trained on computers. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, storing local files on local drives was the norm. I’ve only been mostly relying on cloud storage for about the past ten years.

So we’ll see how things go. I’m hopeful and happy about reverting to local storage as my new norm. It’s simpler. It’s tangible. It seems more affordable too. Also, I don’t want to keep trusting Big Tech to safeguard my files. Big corporate business models ultimately do not have my best interests in mind. For them, the bottom line is the dollar; for me it’s my invaluable data.

It’s my data. I want to keep it on my drives.