A recent legal battle highlights the risks of relying on cloud storage providers, especially when one company vanishes with your data. PBS in St Louis lost 50TB of irreplaceable footage, including coverage from the Great Flood of 1993 and the pandemic, because their storage provider simply disappeared.

The incident raises serious concerns for independent creators who often trust a single cloud service to store all their work. The lesson? Diversify your backup strategies across different types of storage to avoid losing months or even years of effort.

While it might not be fun, implementing proper backup methods is essential. Just as you put on a seatbelt before driving, safeguarding your digital assets should become a routine part of your creative process.

The takeaway for all creatives: don’t rely solely on one cloud service. Spread copies across at least two different types of storage to avoid the nightmare of losing irreplaceable work.