This is a discussion thread for the "How Important is Local Storage?" story posted on the front page.
I'm a local storage person, both on my computers and my mobile devices. Despite what my signature says about my devices [two devices at 16GB], I'd rather have the max amount of storage available that can come built-in and have a lot of cloud services for streaming and instant file access.
While Samsung has announced a 128GB NAND chip. Apple will most likely not add it to the lineup. They prefer to get their memory from Toshiba.
I never stream. Redmond had an article saying that local storage space will become a thing of the past soon. I highly doubt that. Using the cloud for everything is a waste of data and also puts anything and everything on someone else's servers.
My main issue with cloud storage (and the only reason I haven't fully adopted it) is simple: unlimited plans are no longer available. I just wouldn't feel comfortable risking overage data fees by storing all my media in the cloud and having to stream it when I wanted it. Granted, I have WiFi access a lot, but still, when on road trips and listening to music, there are times where I would want to listen to music but would have poor service.
Simple: They can't really charge monthly or make you sign a contract to use your local on-device storage; the certainly can with the cloud.
For me, local storage is important enough that I upgraded my laptop's default 640GB HDD to 1TB. While I like the idea behind cloud storage, it is always wise to have documents and applications stored in a second noncloud location (whether USB, HDD, etc.). In fact, I go so far as to make backups of my USB from time to time. In short, life happens: servers crash, files get deleted by accident, USBs are forgotten in pockets before going through a load of laundry. So, I always try to prepare against Murphy's Law.
It's very important, USB 3.0 is just getting popular, it's definitely never going to go out the door. I like the cloud, but having all my files there ready to open is much easier then having to look for them on the cloud, then having to download it to view it.
It is very important. Data plans are ridiculously expensive and overage fees are even worse. I couldn't rely solely on cloud storage, that's for sure.
Until streaming from the cloud doesn't affect my data i want as much local storage as possible. How did i know when i saw your name that you had posted exactly what i thought?
