I use both. I keep copies of a lot of documents and files in Dropbox and in external drives, but since here external drives (at least the ones with lots of space) are somewhat expensive, I lean more towards using Dropbox. Besides it's convenient, here almost everybody has internet connection so I just need to log into the Dropbox webpage to access my files. It isn't much hassle.
I'm still attached to my external drive and I always keep 2 so I can backup all the time. For some reason, I don't trust that there's a lot of privacy in the cloud. It can always get hacked. Not that I have too many confidential files, but still, it's just weird that you're just dumping your files into an imaginary storage system in the internet. I think external drives are still much safer as long as you keep it in a safe place at home and you backup regularly.
I would prefer external drives because the data in the cloud aren't readily available for use. In the cloud storage, you'd still have to download the files from there before you're able to use them. Or if not, they would have their own software through which you could run your media files. And another reason is that not all places have a stable internet connection, so it'd significantly depend on your connection how you'd be able to make the most of that storage particularly when storing, downloading or uploading your file.
All the storage solutions have some drawbacks to them. I would like to adopt the cloud options more these days, but the big setbacks with them is how much of a strain they are on your ISP. Considering most ISP's cap you at 250GB per month, after which they start charging you more for bandwidth - the money you pay for these fees could have easily gone towards another external hard drive. So if you are already paying a monthly fee for cloud storage, you are also paying for excessive internet connection use too, which makes the external drives a more economical option. However I've had several external drives die on me in recent years - including the backups of my external drives on other external drives, so I lost everything each time this happened. They just don't seem to build these things very reliably these days. What I do currently is make a smaller backup to a cloud service, of just my most important files, and keep it all under about 15GB. Stuff like movies and music I no longer waste my resources backing them up. I can download them again from somewhere else if need be. There is no sense in paying over and over for external drives or large cloud hosting packages just to hang on to a bunch of old Mp3 or movies that I never watch or listen to. That ends up costing me more than what I would have spent just buying them outright on CD or DVD years prior.
If you have a stable internet connection using cloud storage is ok. However security problems pose a great threat to cloud storage. There is always a possibility that your files might get hacked and used against you. External drive are quite safe ( as long as it is not stolen).
Yes it is. External and physical drives are always there if you need it and I don't think you can say the same for cloud storage. For starters, yes you can access it where ever you are but only if you have an internet connection that is fast and reliable. Also when it comes to large files you can't just copy and paste it pronto, you have to either wait a couple of minutes or hours depending on your internet speed which in a way isn't as convenient after all.
I have a 1TB drive. Imagine trying to back that up to a cloud, any cloud. It is impossible. I would have my most important files backed up to cloud (about 10 GB worth) and the rest would stay on my hard disk. Backing up and accessing 1TB of data to cloud would far exceed the cost of the data itself (or the hard disk that I would back it up on).
I would still prefer physical storage over cloud. Could storage is not that reliable at all times since you have to rely on the internet to get your files, also there is the issue of privacy and when it comes to big files, unless you have a lighting fast internet or mobile data connection then it's not a wise option.
Eh, I'd rather pay for an HDD. Cloud may be cool and all, but you still have to download the data anyway, so it'll take the space up either way.
Having a mix and not being dependent on one source of storage is the optimal path to take. This can be applied to anything really. Cloud storage is cheap as dirt, so it's great to organize all your junk files on there, while keeping your important documents on external hard drives. Why you might ask? Well think about it this way Cloud storage requires internet connection, if you go under a tunnel, or don't have access to the internet you've lost connection with that data. Which is why you want to put your junk files there. Anything uploaded to the cloud is now stored in that companies database. Maybe you had some important documents in there. Now anyone who hacks that account can easily search through your private information, and because companies don't delete data(for business and law enforcement purposes) anyone can claim they "accidentally" deleted that data. I accidentally deleted something from google drive, and I was astounded on how much data they actually keep in back up.
