It is if something goes wrong with your console.

A USB drive would be even better, since you still have the information on you, so you don't need to tell Sony that you need the information for your system on another one, and any registration needed.

Pretty amazing feature, though I must say it sucks to have to be a plus user to use it. I would do this to transfer my 80Gb data to my 120Gb but not a plus member. Hopeflluy they'll make this a regular feature for all users eventually.

Unless its a truly awful cloud service, the info should be synced to your psn so you can pull it access it on any ps3, no memory cards required, no asking Sony for the information. Just sign into psn and there it is. 

This is something that should have been implemented ages ago by both Sony and Microsoft. If true then I'll be surprised because typically Microsoft gets a lot of these game related features implemented first. It'll be good to see Sony in the lead for certain game related online features for once.