2. Storage in the cloud

2.4. Recommendations

Storing files in the cloud will not only allow, as we have seen, having access to them from anywhere, at any time; it will also increase productivity and place less storage demands on devices.

Nevertheless,we should take several key recommendations into account when it comes to managing data in an efficient, safe way.

Classifying information in the cloud. In order to keep an organized and efficient cloud storage site, we should follow several relevant strategies:

  1. Agree on a common structure. If several users in a work group share a common storage space, it would be advisable to adopt structures that were previously used by the group, or previously agreed upon by the whole group.
  2. Keep access controlled. Sharing a storage space in the cloud does not necessarily mean using a totally centralized structure, as many work teams provide private spaces for each member of the team, depending on the roles to be played by each member. For this reason, if necessary, access to several of the folders and files stored will have to be controlled and restricted. This will determine the structure of the storage space, in which free access or restricted access directories will be available. The different storage platforms in the cloud have mechanisms to manage this kind of permissions.
  3. Control folder structure. In a cloud storage space, using a folder structure that contains more than four levels is not usually recommended. This would hinder file search and the perception on the general storage space arrangement. Besides, this could make the route to the files too long (it should not be above 255 characters).
  4. Avoid duplicate files. As a general rule, a file stored in the cloud should only be duplicated if (because of its features or context) we want to keep it in more than one folder. In any case, we should take into account whether the file is a definitive file or could still be modified, because its subsequent versions should be included in all the corresponding folders simultaneously.
  5. Make a distinction between files “under development” and “closed” files. You should consider a structure that makes room for the distinction between files that are being used in the present and files that have already been closed and will not probably require updates. In this sense, we would recommend creating sub-folders for given periods of time (e.g. “2018-01”, “2018-02”…) that contain files created or used in this period and will not be changed in the future.

Create backups. You should not miss the opportunity to take advantage of one of the great advantages provided by cloud storage: backups. Performing backups periodically is essential to keep important files safe.

Configure permissions. A correct configuration of permissions should be done on the user’s account, as this will make it possible to properly establish which files stored in the cloud are to be shared. Some of them will be share publicly and some will be shared with some users only. Others will be kept in a private space in the cloud storage system. Besides, it is also important to decide whether some of the files that contain sensitive information should be stored in the cloud (where they are potentially exposed to hacking or to information leaks by the service provider) or else be kept in a local disk storage system exclusively.

Control storage capacity. When folders are shared with one or several users, we should keep in mind both the storage capacity of our own account and the storage capacity of those users we share the folder with. In this regard, we would recommend periodically checking the size of the files that are shared and preventing other users on the inclusion of new files that are too heavy and could drain the storage capacity in other users’ accounts.