Questions: Cloud Storage Basics

Question 1

Priya saves all her vacation photos to Google Drive, then deletes them from her phone to free up space. Later she finds they are missing from Google Drive too. What most likely happened?

• A. Google Drive has a storage limit that automatically deleted her photos
• B. The sync client interpreted the local deletion as an intentional change and deleted the cloud copies as well
• C. Google Drive does not support photo storage
• D. She needed to share the photos before they would be saved to the cloud

Answer: (B)

This is the critical sync-vs-backup distinction. Sync clients mirror your current state everywhere — when Priya deleted photos locally, the sync client propagated that deletion to the cloud. Sync does not protect you from yourself. A true backup stores a separate, independent copy that does not mirror deletions. This is the most common way people lose files they thought were safely stored in the cloud.

Question 2

You share a report with a colleague using a view-only cloud link. Two days later, you fix a typo in the document. What does your colleague see if they click the same link?

• A. The original version with the typo, because the link was created before the fix
• B. The corrected version, because the link points to the live cloud file — not a frozen snapshot
• C. An error message, because the document was modified after sharing
• D. The corrected version, but only if you reshare the link after editing

Answer: (B)

Cloud sharing links point to the live file on the server, not a copy made at the moment of sharing. Any changes you make are immediately reflected when the recipient accesses the link. This is a key advantage over email attachments: with an attachment, each person has an isolated copy and edits do not propagate. The tradeoff is that if you accidentally break the document, collaborators see the broken version too.

Question 3

Cloud sync is a reliable backup strategy because any file stored in the cloud is protected from accidental deletion.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

Sync is not backup. The core property of a sync client is that it mirrors your current state — deletions and overwrites included. If you accidentally delete a file and the sync runs before you notice, the cloud copy is deleted too. A true backup maintains a separate copy that does not mirror destructive changes, often with version history so you can recover older states.

Question 4

When you share a cloud file via a link with view-only permissions, the recipient can read the file but cannot modify it, and you can revoke their access by disabling the link.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

View-only sharing means read access but no write access. Because the link points to a server-side permission, revoking the link or changing permissions immediately removes access. This is the fundamental difference from an email attachment, where the recipient's copy is permanent and cannot be recalled.

Question 5

Explain the difference between cloud sync and a true backup, and describe a situation where treating sync as backup could lead to data loss.

Model answer: Cloud sync mirrors your current file state to the cloud and all devices in real time — any add, change, or delete is propagated everywhere. A true backup stores a separate, independent copy that does not mirror destructive actions and lets you recover older versions. Treating sync as backup fails when you accidentally delete a file: the sync client propagates the deletion to the cloud before you realize the mistake, leaving no copy to recover. Similarly, if ransomware encrypts local files, the encrypted versions sync to the cloud and overwrite the originals.

The distinction matters because sync and backup solve different problems. Sync solves 'access everywhere.' Backup solves 'recover from mistakes and disasters.' They are complementary, not interchangeable. Many cloud providers offer both as distinct products for this reason.