tadamichi/Shutterstock Cloud storage is a reliable way to backup important files. Yes, you can always use an external hard drive or SSD, but as long as you're regularly backing up your data, the cloud is an excellent redundancy against failures. If your drive dies, there's a corrupted sector, or you lose access to it, you still have the cloud backup. You won't lose your entire work-in-progress novel or your spreadsheet database with all your budget and finance details, they're recoverable. But with most of that data, especially when it's sensitive in nature, there's one more step you should take before uploading. You should encrypt your files for a separate layer of protection. Encryption makes it so even if files are hijacked, stolen, or accessed by an unauthorized party the data itself is unreadable without the encryption key. Since cloud service providers also normally use encryption, personal encryption creates a double layer of protection.…