Cloud Backup vs. Cloud Storage: What’s the Difference and Which One Do You Need?

Today, we generate an enormous amount of data, from personal photos and videos to important work documents and sensitive business information.

Protecting this data is more critical than ever, and that’s where cloud backup and cloud storage come in.

While both involve storing data in the cloud, they serve different purposes and offer distinct advantages.

This blog post will explore the key differences between cloud backup and cloud storage, discuss their pros and cons, examine various use cases, and help you determine which solution best suits your needs.

Cloud Backup vs. Cloud Storage: Let’s Start With the Basics

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is like having a hard drive in the cloud.

It allows you to store your files, such as documents, photos, and videos, on remote servers instead of your computer’s local storage.

You can access these files from any device with an internet connection, making it convenient for sharing and collaborating with others.

Popular cloud storage services include Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive.  

There are different types of cloud storage, each designed for specific needs:

• Object storage: This type of storage is ideal for unstructured data like files, images, and videos. It stores data as objects, each with a unique identifier, metadata, and access control policies. Object storage is highly scalable and cost-effective, making it suitable for storing large amounts of data.  
• Block storage: This type of storage is similar to a hard drive, where data is stored in blocks. It offers high performance and low latency, making it suitable for applications that require fast access to data, such as databases and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.  
• File storage: This type of storage organizes data in a hierarchical file and folder structure, similar to how files are stored on your computer. It is commonly used for applications and provides a familiar way to access and manage data.  

One important aspect of cloud storage is data tiering.

This feature allows you to optimize storage costs by automatically moving infrequently accessed data to lower-cost storage tiers. This way, you only pay a premium for the storage you actively use, while less frequently accessed data is stored more economically.  

Cloud Backup

Cloud backup focuses on protecting your data from loss or damage.

It automatically creates copies of your files and stores them securely in the cloud.

In the event of a computer crash, accidental deletion, or a cyberattack, you can easily restore your data from the cloud backup.  

But know this, cloud backup relies on cloud storage to store the backed-up data.

Essentially, cloud backup services utilize cloud storage as the infrastructure for storing and managing your backups.  

When choosing a cloud backup solution, consider the location of the cloud server.

The physical location of the server can affect data transfer speeds during backup and recovery.

A server located closer to your location might offer faster speeds, but it could also be more vulnerable to localized disasters.

Choosing a server location requires balancing speed, cost, and disaster risk considerations.  

In addition to cloud backup, there are also local backup services.

These services involve backing up your data to a local device, such as an external hard drive or a network-attached storage (NAS) device.

While local backups can be faster and less expensive than cloud backups, they are more susceptible to physical damage, theft, and localized disasters.  

Cloud Backup vs. Cloud Storage: Use Cases

Cloud Storage

• File sharing and collaboration: Ideal for teams working on projects together, allowing them to easily share and co-edit documents in real-time.  
• Remote work: Access files from anywhere, enabling remote work flexibility and allowing employees to access necessary documents and data regardless of their location.  
• Data syncing: Keep files up-to-date across multiple devices, ensuring that you have the latest version of a file on your computer, phone, and tablet.  
• Archiving: Store infrequently accessed data for long-term retention, freeing up space on your primary storage while keeping older data accessible when needed.  

Cloud Backup

• Protecting against data loss: Safeguard your data from accidental deletion, hardware failures, and cyberattacks, ensuring that you have a copy of your important files even if your computer crashes or is stolen.  
• Disaster recovery: Ensure business continuity by restoring data and systems quickly, minimizing downtime and allowing your business to resume operations with minimal disruption in case of a disaster.  
• Compliance: Meet regulatory requirements for data backup and retention, ensuring that your business complies with industry standards and regulations related to data protection.  
• Ransomware protection: Recover from ransomware attacks without paying the ransom, allowing you to restore your data from a clean backup and avoid the financial and operational consequences of a ransomware attack.  
• Backup Office 365 data: Safeguard your organization’s Office 365 data, including emails, documents, and other critical information, as Microsoft’s responsibility primarily covers the uptime of their services, not the individual data within them.  
• Defend against data loss: Protect your data from various scenarios that can lead to data loss, such as accidental deletion, computer crashes, ransomware attacks, and natural disasters, ensuring that you have a reliable backup to recover from.  

With the increasing rate of cyberattacks, cloud backup is becoming even more critical for businesses and individuals.

It provides a secure and reliable way to protect your data from these threats and ensures that you can recover your information in case of a breach or attack.  

Cloud Backup vs. Cloud Storage: Pros and Cons

Cloud Storage

Pros:  

• Accessibility: Access your files from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Collaboration: Easily share and collaborate on files with others.
• Scalability: Adjust your storage space as needed.
• Cost-effectiveness: Often more affordable than traditional storage methods. Cloud storage has many advantages over traditional document box storage.  
• Disaster recovery: Protects your data from local hardware failures.

Cons:  

• Limited control: Less control over data storage infrastructure.
• Vendor lock-in: Migrating data to another provider can be challenging.
• Security risks: Data breaches and unauthorized access are possible.
• Internet dependency: Requires a stable internet connection for access.
• Lack of automation: Requires manual effort to select and upload files.  
• Data loss risk: Syncing corrupted files can lead to data loss across all connected devices.  

Cloud Backup

Pros:  

• Automation: Automatically backs up your data without manual intervention.
• Comprehensiveness: Protects your entire system, including applications and settings.
• Security: Strong encryption and security measures protect your data. Cloud storage often offers greater protection against cyberattacks than other options because it’s backed up regularly and stored off-site.  
• Versioning: Restore previous versions of files.
• Disaster recovery: Ensures business continuity in case of data loss.

Cons:  

• Cost: Can be more expensive than cloud storage, especially for large amounts of data.
• Speed: Backup and recovery speeds can be affected by internet connection.
• Loss of control: Relying on a third-party provider for data protection.

Cloud Backup vs. Cloud Storage: Key Differences

While both cloud storage and cloud backup involve storing data in the cloud, there are some critical differences:

Cloud Storage

• Purpose: Primarily designed for storing files and making them easily accessible across multiple devices. It’s like having an external hard drive in the cloud.
• Functionality: You manually select files or folders to upload to the cloud. Changes made to files are often synced across devices.
• Use Cases: Ideal for sharing files, collaborating on projects, and freeing up space on your local devices.
• Examples: Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive

Cloud Backup

• Purpose: Focuses on protecting your data from loss due to events like hardware failure, accidental deletion, or cyberattacks.
• Functionality: Automatically and regularly creates copies of your data, including files, applications, and system settings.
• Use Cases: Essential for disaster recovery, ensuring you can restore your data in case of data loss or system failure.
• Examples: Carbonite, Backblaze, IDrive.

Key Differences Summarized

Can Cloud Storage Replace Cloud Backup?

While cloud storage can offer some level of data protection, it’s not a substitute for dedicated cloud backup. Cloud storage primarily focuses on file synchronization and sharing, while cloud backup provides comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery capabilities.

Relying solely on cloud storage for backup can leave you vulnerable to data loss in certain scenarios.

Choosing the Right Solution

• Use Cloud Storage if: You need to easily access and share files across devices, and your primary concern is convenience and collaboration.
• Use Cloud Backup if: Your top priority is protecting your data from loss and ensuring business continuity in case of a disaster.

Ideally, consider using both cloud storage and cloud backup to achieve both accessibility and robust data protection.

Read also:

• Cloud Backup vs. Local Backup: Which is Right for You?
• The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide
• Cloud Backup vs. External Hard Drive: Which is Better for You?
• Cloud Backup vs NAS: Which is Better for You?