How Much Cloud Storage Do You Need to Avoid Running Out of Space?

A large part of that space is taken up by items that do not need to be backed up to my cloud. In my case, apps alone account for 41.42 GB and the system uses 14.71 GB.

By opening the storage details, Android lets you see more precisely what is taking up space.

My phone contains 9.09 GB of videos and 2.61 GB of images. If my goal is to back up the photos and videos on my phone, they currently represent around 11.70 GB.

I can now add them to the 6.57 GB from my computer.

6.57 GB + 11.70 GB = 18.27 GB

There is no need to arbitrarily add 20 or 30% or try to predict what you will store three years from now.

With a 100 GB cloud storage plan, my 18.27 GB fits comfortably and leaves around 81.73 GB. When that space starts to run out, you can move to the next plan.

On Android, the storage settings show how much space is occupied by photos and videos. If you already use Google Photos with items that are no longer stored locally, also check the space used directly in your Google account.

On an iPhone, pay attention to iCloud Photos. When storage optimisation is enabled, the originals may remain in iCloud while the iPhone keeps smaller versions. In that case, the size shown on the iPhone may be smaller than the size of your photo library.

Which cloud storage capacity should you choose?

Once you know how much data you need to store, you can choose a capacity that suits your current usage.

Small plans from 5 to 100 GB are mainly suitable for documents, photos and a few videos. From 200 or 500 GB upwards, you can start bringing together a sizeable photo library, several devices or an older cloud space that is already quite full.

Capacities of 1 TB and 2 TB are more suitable for large amounts of data. They are useful for businesses, photographers, videographers, content creators or anyone who keeps a lot of archives.

Cloud storage does not replace a backup

Storing your files in the cloud keeps a copy on a provider’s servers, but that does not mean you have a proper backup.

Most cloud services use redundancy to prevent a hardware failure on one server from causing your files to be lost. This is an important point to check before choosing a provider, but this redundancy mainly protects the provider’s infrastructure.

It does not protect you from accidental deletion, a corrupted file, losing access to your account or a change synchronised across all your devices.

If you delete a file in a synchronised folder, that deletion may be propagated to the cloud and then to your other devices. The recycle bin and version history may help you recover the file, but how long they retain it depends on the service you use.

For files you really care about, I recommend keeping a local copy as well.

On your PC, you can ask your cloud service to keep certain folders always available on the device instead of leaving them online only. This gives you a complete copy on your drive while still benefiting from cloud synchronisation.

On a smartphone, photo-backup apps can send the originals to the cloud and then offer to free up local space. Before using this feature, make sure you have another copy of your photos if you want to avoid relying solely on the provider.

For truly important data, you can go further by keeping one copy on your computer, another on an external drive and a third in the cloud.

Qu’est-ce que la stratégie de sauvegarde 3-2-1 pour sécuriser vos données ?

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Découvrez la méthode 3-2-1, la règle d'or pour protéger vos fichiers contre la perte de données.

The provider’s redundancy protects its infrastructure. Synchronisation makes your files easy to access. An additional backup protects you when the problem comes from your account, your device or a mistake.