The recent Sidekick fiasco casts a new light on a conversation about cloud computing, Google Docs, and the potential for data loss Yesterday, I participated in a blog radio discussion with some folks from Google, another journalist, and Sree Sreenivasan, dean of student affairs and digital media professor at the Columbia Journalism School. The topic was how journalists use Google Docs and cloud computing, but the conversation took some interesting turns. In the aftermath of the Sidekick data failure, we were worried: How backed up is the data we store in the cloud?People who rely on Google Docs often have a great deal of important work there. And as Gunner points out in the comments to my last post, “While it could be argued that a customer is still liable for their own backup, this ‘cloud backup’ is a service that is touted as being a backup — not ‘another’ backup. For a vast majority of users, it was intended as their only backup, and why not?”[ Also on InfoWorld: “Microsoft learns the hard way: Back up our data!” | Frustrated by tech support? Get answers in InfoWorld’s Gripe Line newsletter. ] I know that I don’t back up the work I have on Google Docs. In fact, I consider it a backup of my own work. I assume — as do many people — that while my own computers are likely to fail, the data stored on Google’s servers will be there.Jonathan Rochelle, Google’s group product manager, responsible for the development of Google Docs and the Google Apps product suite, assured us that the data at Google Docs is stored in several places and several geographic locations around the world. If a server fails, if an earthquake hits the Googleplex, or if there is a massive power outage, he says, Google Docs users might well experience a service outage. But when service is restored, the data will remain intact.In other news, Microsoft says it has recovered “most, if not all” of user’s data from the Sidekick crisis, and according to TG Daily, the Danger servers that caused all this trouble are not even owned by Microsoft. I will have more on this topic of backing up in the cloud next week, so please stay tuned. Meanwhile, feel free to listen to our radio discussion. And follow me on Twitter so that I can let you know when you can join conversations like this one.Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com.This story, “Should I back up data stored in the cloud?,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in cloud computing on InfoWorld.com. Technology Industry