The data on your hard drive is the most important item inside your computer, and the only item that cannot be changed. It can be an unwanted hassle and expense to replace a faulty memory module, monitor, or processor, but once lost is not the place to replace data.
In addition to the possibility of a simple hard drive failure, the threat of Internet-generated worms and viruses is a risk for data loss or corruption. Although you may not be able to provide complete protection to your hard drive, there are several ways by which you can ensure that the data on your hard drive is protected. The five ways to back up your data are summarized below…
1. USB flash drive
Although, I am not recommending that flash drives be used for actual data storage, they are a convenient means of transferring data from one computer to another. Important files can be quickly loaded onto devices such as MINIDISK-512-DGRY-CS USB 2.0 flash drives, and moved to another computer for safekeeping. Installation and operation is extremely simple, and perhaps in addition to installing the software driver, the use of USB flash drives is a matter of having an available USB port on your computer. Every computer produced over the past several years includes USB ports, with more modern systems supporting the USB 2.0 standard. USB 2.0 allows data transfer rates of up to 480 MB / s, which is a tremendous improvement over the original USB speed limit of 12 MB / s, and allows the user to fill their drives with data in a relatively short time is.
Although the storage capacity of flash drives has increased a lot in the last year or so, users are still limited to the typical size of 512 MB and 1 GB. Mass storage is obviously not an option, but 512 MB may be enough to store your “My Documents” folder, several albums of MP3s or other important files elsewhere.
2. CD and DVD Writers / Re-Writers
The falling prices of CD and DVD writers / re-writers have made them a staple of every modern computer. These devices can usually be found installed in the case of a computer, but external devices that support USB 2.0 or FireWire are available for greater flexibility and ease of installation.
The popularity of DVD writers / re-writers has increased thanks to falling prices, and they are pushing the stand-alone CD burner towards extinction. DVD media gives the user far more storage capacity than a CD, and DVD burners can usually burn CDs to DVDs as well. The recent availability of a double-layer DVD burner, such as the Sony DW-D22A-DO-N, represents a major increase in capacity for qualified DVDs, taking a back limit of 4.7GB per disc and nearly reducing it to 8.5GB Is doubling.
With proper storage, CD / DVD media can provide long-term storage that cannot be endangered by hardware failure. The data from a CD or DVD can be easily read from just about any computer, making it a good choice for storing files that are not overly large.
3. External Hard Drive
As the name may seem, external hard drives are usually the same type of drive you can find inside your system, but are housed in its small, external enclosure. The walled in area will include in any event one information interface, (for example, FireWire, USB or Ethernet), and limit is restricted distinctly by the size of the as of now accessible hard drive and by the user’s budget.
Ximeta NetDisk is an example of an external hard drive that provides a user with the option to add an additional 80GB, 120GB, or 160GB of storage to their system using a USB 2.0 or Ethernet connection. Installation for such a device is simple, and may involve the installation of some basic software, as well as making the necessary connections between a computer and an external enclosure.
The ability of external hard drives makes them ideal for backing up large amounts of data, and many of these devices simplify the process by incorporating software (or hardware) features to automate backups.
4. Additional Hard Drive
By adding just one extra hard drive to your system, you can prevent data loss by copying it from your primary drive to your secondary drive. The installation of a second hard drive is not difficult, but it requires a basic understanding of the internal functioning of the computer, which may scare some users. We provide a “how-to” section on our site for many tasks such as “installing a hard drive in a computer system”.
To take the installation of a second hard drive to another level of security and reliability, the hard drive can be installed in a RAID array. RAID stands for a redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) disks, and can be configured in multiple manners. An in-depth discussion of RAID and all of its variations will be an article in itself, but what might be of interest in this discussion is what is known as RAID 1. Same for RAID 1 array
The administrations for the most part charge a month to month expense comparative with the measure of extra room required. At Xdrive, for instance, 5GB of capacity costs $9.95 every month, which can rapidly signify more than one would spend on any of different choices talked about.
5. Online Storage
Online administrations, for example, Xdrive, permit clients to transfer their records to a server for safety’s sake. In spite of the fact that it might be helpful to have the information accessible any place a web association is accessible, there are a couple of restrictions.
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