Assessing the safety of cloud storage for creative teams.

Humans are inherently resistant to change. We prefer what’s comfortable. Whenever something “new” or “game-changing” hits the market, there are always initial hesitations, probing questions, and curiosities. With the launch of Suite storage and already with our cloud-based virtual workstations, there some questions that the creative community poses to our team repeatedly. In this article, we’re discussing the specifics of file security on suite. We’ll dive into the different types of cloud storage systems, what “object storage” really means, and why there’s no safer place to store your team’s precious files and media assets than Suite.

There’s no need to be scared…

There are still many studios with hesitations about the next generation of remote collaboration, which makes our education about these cloud-based/cloud-native workflows so paramount in the current moment. One of the biggest questions our team hears is about the security of cloud storage: “Is it safe to store our data in the cloud?” they’ll say. We’re here to dispel rumors and set the story straight: Uploading media to Suite's cloud-native storage is, without a doubt, one of the most secure way to store, organize, share, and maintain your media.

Block storage vs. Object storage

Block Storage is the most common method of file storage—any ol’ hard drive, solid-state drive (SSD) utilizes this method, which stores data in fixed-sized units, called “blocks.” While this is a quick and easy way of storing files locally, or between a single computer and single drive, or multiple computers on the same network, it requires a direct connection between the components to work. This significantly limits the ability for creative studios to use this process when working collaboratively, even between in-house employees, and especially so with remote workers on separate networks.

Object storage, which is the type of cloud storage that Suite utilizes, handles data (aka your precious media assets) as unique, identifiable, and distinct units called “objects,” and stores these objects in larger, non-hierarchical “buckets” of information.

In plain English, this means that when you upload media to Suite, it is stored across the infrastructure of major cloud providers, and it becomes accessible to anyone on your team instantly. What makes this method of media storage so damn secure is that when all data is first uploaded to the cloud, it automatically replicates itself across multiple physical locations. Unlike traditional, block storage, in Suite (object storage) every file is duplicated and stored between, not just one, but up to 10 different machines, to ensure its safekeeping.

Data Redundancy = Premium Security

Suite partners with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Cloudflare R2, and IBM Cloud Solutions to make our powerful product come to life. Specifically, Amazon S3 is an object storage-based system that enables Suite to provide our customers outrageously reliable, budget-friendly storage options with infinite flexibility and scalability, unlocking new ways for creative agencies to incorporate cloud workflows into their everyday lives.

The best part? Suite streamlines the intricacies of these cloud systems into an intuitive, easy-to-use product built specifically for media professionals—so storing, sharing, and organizing media becomes truly seamless, and more time and energy can be spent on the creative process, with the confidence that Suite cloud storage is keeping every file safe, in every circumstance.

Here are the (very impressive) numbers:

The short version version is that storing media in Suite, and therefore in Amazon S3, provides users 99.999999999% durability over a given year. Citing the Amazon website:

This durability level corresponds to an average annual expected loss of 0.000000001% of objects. For example, if you store 10,000,000 objects with Amazon S3, you can on average expect to incur a loss of a single object once every 10,000 years.

To put these statistics in layman’s terms, it’s nearly impossible to lose files that are stored in object-based systems, and these systems are built to last. On the other hand, most SSDs and hard drives have a lifespan of roughly three to five years; if those drives aren’t broken or lost in that time, then they might actually stop working altogether or possibly corrupt data files. Run some quick math and you find that—with Suite—every 10,000 years you might lose a snippet of data; with your standard hard drive, you might lost entire folders or projects within moments.

Futhermore, even if there were to be a catastrophe, the redundant backups automatically created and shared between Suite’s cloud systems are a near-perfect line of defense. But, even then, you could experience a mishap at the office and accidentally delete the latest version of a file. We thought of everything, so you can implement Time Machine which ensures you can easily back and find a file exactly how it was saved at a specific date or time.

Driving the point home: Object storage is the most secure solution

The future of creative collaboration lies in cloud storage. Suite represents a shift from the familiar towards increased efficiency, accessibility, and most importantly, security, ensuring your data is not just stored but safeguarded, with multiple backup copies spread across numerous physical locations. With Suite, your media is not just stored—it's protected, it’s accessible, and it's ready to be shared and edited, whenever and wherever you need it. That means, as a creative, you can get back into your flow state and leave the worries of data security to the experts at Suite.

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