Importance of Proper Data Storage

By Laura

So your self-storage unit is all packed and now you are realizing how much room your house actually has. It’s a pretty awesome feeling right? Since you have already taken the initiative to store extra household items your next step should be to store all of your extra computer files. Your computer files, if you think about it, probably hold a lot of value to you! All of those pictures, records, songs, papers…don’t you want to keep all of those items safe? Today we’ll take a look at data storage options that can help you protect all of your electronic files. 

Computer’s today have larger hard drives to store their data but what if your hard drive crashes. Anything you had stored on that hard drive is lost forever. Keeping your files backed up on a storage device will insure your files are never lost due to a hard drive crash.

There are several ways to back up your computers files however. The size of the files you want stored will help decide the type of storage device you need.

External Hard Drive

An external hard drive is one of the largest storage devices you will find. They can store anywhere from a 1GB to 1000GB(1 TB) of memory–that’s a LOT of space. If you are looking to store movies, music, or your entire computer an external hard drive would be your best choice. The price for an external hard drive runs anywhere from $40 to $200 depending on how much memory it can store.

Flash Drive

These devices have earned the nickname “thumb drive” because they are literally about the size of your thumb. Their size allows them to be easily transported and is a large reason for their high popularity. Flash drives now can store almost up to 64GB but if you’re only looking to store a few files an 2GB flash drive would be your best choice. You can purchase a 2GB flash drive today for about $10. (Remember when these were super expensive and 1GB was giant?)

The Cloud

Cloud storage is a way of storing your computers files in virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Many companies today such as Amazon, Google, and Apple offer cloud storage. How it works usually is you go to the cloud providers website, register as a member, and then use their application to store your files. It is one of the easiest ways to store your files and usually a certain amount of storage is offered for free. Google’s cloud offers up to 5GB for free.

Your computer’s files should always have at least one form of back up. Hard drives crash more than you would think so get a storage device today and back up your files. Just as you want to protect your personal possessions in a secure storage unit, you’re going to want to protect your digital items. Think about all of your pictures, papers, financial records, videos…all of that stuff that you keep on your computer that you’d be devastated if you lost. Research these forms of digital storage and see which one might work best for you.

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