People lose data every day because they forget and can’t recover passwords, their accounts are hacked, or their service provider has a hardware malfunction or makes a mistake. And if your data only exists in one online storage pot, then you have no backup and your data is at risk. In a better world, you would be able to move 500GB of data from one service to any other in a few seconds, without downloading it and re-uploading it. Online storage services are like lobster pots: it’s easy to get into them but hard to get out. Millions of people shared their photos on Flickr, and billions share reduced-quality versions on social networking services such as Facebook and Instagram.Ī fourth reason might be that you have no way to keep a local backup.

The second – very sensible – reason might be that you want an off-site backup where your data will be safe if you’re burgled, your house burns down, or there is some other catastrophe.Ī third reason might be that you are sharing your photos and (less likely) data with friends and family, or possibly with the public. The first and best reason is that you often need access to the same data from multiple devices, some of which you use while away from home.

You could buy a 4TB external hard drive for less than £90. The core question, of course, is why you need to store 500GB of stuff online in the first place.

Dropbox cheaper plans