Using Creative Cloud Files folder as main storage to work from directly: yes or no?

[J van E]

At this moment I have all my work files at the office stored in a local folder on my iMac. I use Chronosync to copy everything twice a day into the Creative Cloud Files folder: these files then get synced and hence I have a backup of all my work on the Creative Cloud server. (Take note: I never use the app or a web browser to 'upload' files: I always only work with the Creative Cloud Files folder and let the CC app do its magic in the background.)

Sometimes I work at home just to change a little thing or whatever. I can access all my work from the Creative Cloud on my home iMac: I might have to wait a while before everything has been synced to my home computer but that's not a big deal. Very nice and convenient. However, whenever I change something at home I have to make sure to copy the changed files at work from the Creative Cloud to my local storage and I should not forget to do so before Chronosync copies things in the other direction or it will delete my home made files...!

Now in the near future I will probably be working at home an entire day every week and I was wondering... what if I do NOT work from my local folder at work anymore but store everything directly into the Creative Cloud Files folder and work from there? So then I will ALWAYS be working with the latest files at work AND at home! And I also don't need to use Chronosync anymore because everything I store locally into the Creative Cloud Files folder will by synced to the Cloud server all the time. I will have a constanct up to date backup! I also don't have to copy files I changed at home from the Creative Cloud Files folder to my local folder at work anymore.

Are there any drawbacks to this? Am I missing something? Is it a good idea to work directly in the Creative Cloud Files folder?

I often add a lot of various files to my work folders and move folders around and so on so this might mean there will be a LOT of syncing all through the day but usually I never notice CC Cloud is syncing so I don't think that will be a problem?

[kglad]

you should always have a local backup for anything important in case some disaster befalls your cloud files/local sync'd folder.

(and you should have some backup in case some hard drive disaster loses your local files.)

[J van E]

I always have a backup of my local files on an external hard disk using Chronosync. So... if I make sure that the Creative Cloud Files folder is being backup locally I should be totally fine, right...? The files are saved in the cloud, which you might call a backup too with the advantage it is being synced on my home computer, and saved/backupped on my external drive.

So the workflow would be this:

1. I save and store all my work directly into the Creative Cloud Files folder.

2. This will sync all my work instantly to the cloud and make it available for work at home and at work: you can also regard this as Backup 1.

3. The Creative Cloud Files folder is being backupped every hour (using Chronosync) on an external hard disk (both at home and at work), Backup 2.

This way I can ALWAYS work on everything at home and at work, no matter what, and I will always be working with the latest files.

So... I have the idea no one does it like this. It seems to me most people copy specific files and projects into the Creative Cloud Files folder. Why? Because my workflow seems PERFECT for anyone who wants to work at various locations. It seems such a good solution that I wonder why no one else is doing it like this (afaik). Hence my question: am I overlooking something obvious?

[kglad]

i don't know about your chronosync setup but it could be problematic.

eg, what happens if all the files in your local folder are corrupted and then sync'd with the cc files and chronosync does its backup?  are all the files corrupted?

[J van E]

I understand what you're saying but... that same problem may occur if I do it the old fashioned way: if I store my files locally (and leave syncing to the cloud out of it all) and my files do get corrupted (without me knowing it) just before I create a new backup (on an external disk) then I will also have lost everything. I don't really see a difference if I am using the cloud or a local drive.

[J van E]

I don't really see what exactly is the difference between syncing and backing up. Both methods make a copy of my current work, one in the cloud, the other on another disk. If the Cloud service messes up that's bad news but if my hard disk messes up that's bad news too.

I get the impression that you all think the cloud isn't very reliable? Less reliable than a hard disk or external disk?

Of course I can keep on working as I do now: store all my work on my local internal drive, make a backup on an external drive and also copy things into the Creative Cloud folder but then I might as well skip the Cloud service altogether and rely entirely on my external hard disk to get my projects from work to home and back again. It will be hard though to keep track of the changes and versions...

Any idea's of another solution to work on projects at home and at the office without having to copy things all the time? Are there any other cloud services that would work better? Or is there any (Mac) software that could help me here?

[Test Screen Name]

"Both methods make a copy of my current work, one in the cloud, the other on another disk. If the Cloud service messes up that's bad news but if my hard disk messes up that's bad news too." You're describing "one generation" backups. That for me, too, would not pass as an effective backup strategy, at least not for business assets.  I would want a backup strategy which kept all versions of everything, indefinitely, and includes offsite cycling of at least three copies.

To put it another way, just making backups by copying files to the same place, overwriting what is there, is not a full backup strategy.

[J van E]

Got ya. If I'd have such a strategy it might be an option to work in the Creative Cloud folder directly...? Or would you still advice against it?

[Test Screen Name]

Sycing is a very risky kind of backup. I'd not really call it backup at all. Best to think of it only as a way of sharing UNLESS the underlying cloud has versioning, but even then what happens if the Cloud service messes up?

[Nancy OShea]

Oh, no.  I only use CC folder for things I need to share with other people or sync to other devices.  It is neither my primary storage nor my backup. 

Backblaze is my backup service provider.

https://www.backblaze.com/