Eric Stevens
I agree that sensible people will have their data backed up externally to the cloud but there are plenty of people with smartphones and the like who think their data (mainly images) is safely backed up to the cloud and who have no other backup copy of much of it.

nospam
it's on their phone.

Eric Stevens
You persist in trying to shift the argument.

nospam
i'm not shifting anything.

Eric Stevens
Oh yes you are. You are shifting from the question of whether or not cloud storage can lose data to whetheer or there shhould be a separate provision for backup. Related questions, I will agree, but not the same question.

I will follow you to the extent of pointing out the phones and similar smart devices are far from secure storage.

I've known three people drop phones in the sea. I've never heard of anyone dropping a desktop in the sea.

nospam
plenty of people spill coffee or some other beverage into their laptops, causing total failure.

Eric Stevens
And they can equally well spill coffee on a phone.

I know two people who have had phones stolen by pickpockets. I've never heard of anyone having a desktop stolen by pickpockets.

nospam
plenty of desktops and laptops have been stolen.

Eric Stevens
But you have never heard of a desktop stolen by pickpockets.

I know one person who has smashed a phone when falling off a bicycle. I've never heard of anyone smashing a desktop when they fell off a bicycles.

nospam
laptops are often dropped.

Eric Stevens
There you go trying to shift the argument again. Nobody spoke of laptops until you introduced them right now.

But you have never heard of anyone damaging a laptop by falling off a bicycle.

The point is that a phone is a much less secure device for storing data than is a desktop. It is subject to all the same hazards plus a unique set of it's own.

Smartphones are subject to a whole lot of additional risks over and above those to which a desktop is exposed.

nospam
so what? this isn't about whether the device can be lost or damaged.

Eric Stevens
You have made the subject the use of a phone for data storage.

nospam
in the event there is a disaster, all the user needs to do is get a replacement and resync, either from the cloud or a local backup, whether it's a phone or a desktop or anything else.

Eric Stevens
Assuming the cloud hasn't turned to custard in the meantime.