Cloud storage and local storage
Local storage keeps files on devices you own: the hard drive, a flash drive, a server on your own LAN. Cloud storage keeps them on a provider’s remote servers, reached over the internet. Paper 1 asks which is NOT cloud storage most years: data stored on your own LAN.
By the end of this page you can
- Explain cloud storage and local storage
- Compare them by capacity, cost, accessibility and security
- Recommend storage for a situation
Goals tick themselves off as you try the activities below.
Photo: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Slovinský, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized, JPEG q72.
“The cloud” is real hardware: someone else’s servers, reached through the internet.
How often it shows up in past papers
All papers4 of 14 papers
Last 54 of 5 · 2019–2025
Paper 1 counts come from our past-paper bank of CSEC Information Technology Paper 1s. The last-5 row shows how often it came up in the five most recent papers.
Inside this topic
- Cloud or local?Locked
- Four ways to compareLocked
- Key termsLocked
- Test yourselfmarkedLocked