Data Backup Mediums
Data Backup has come a long way in recent years with the advent of CDs and DVDs. It costs less and less to back up huge amounts of data without the worry of cost. This is
especially true now in times of digital photographs and digital home movies. You wouldn’t want this data to get lost just because your computer decides to die.
Choosing the right type of medium for your data backup is important. And there are many to choose from. Smaller projects may only require a floppy disk while larger projects may require the use of a mirrored drive. It’s important to know exactly how much data you’ll need to backup in order to choose the correct medium.
The choices are as follows:
A Floppy Disk or Zip disk
CD
DVD
USB Drive
Hard Drive
Tape Drive
Mirrored Drive
Remote Backup
We’ll go over some of the choices to help you decide which you need.
A floppy disk can only hold 1.44 mb of data, which isn’t much. Floppy are pretty much obsolete and many new computers don’t have a floppy drive installed initially. A Zip disk is larger and can hold up to 2 GB of data. However like the floppy disk, many computers don’t have Zip drives.
CDs are one of the cheapest ways to back up data. They only cost about 25 cents each or so depending on the brand you buy. They can hold up to 750 mb of data, and almost all computers can read CDs.
DVDs like CDs are cheap. They costs around 50 cents and can store 4.7 GB of data. Although not all computers have DVD drives, they will soon enough.
USB drives or USB pods is another storage device that is relatively inexpensive. Although sizes and prices can range from small to large, I’m sure you can find one to fit your needs. They are also portable which makes them an easy backup tool that can be stored remotely.
An external hard drive can provide the ease of backup and much storage room, but are usually pricey compared to some of the other options available.
A tape drive can also back up huge amounts of data. However they are not very reliable. Also tape drives are being phased out as a form of backup because of the other options available today.
A mirrored hard drive is a great way to back up your data. Mirrored hard drives simply keep a copy of your hard drive at all times. So you don’t have to worry about backing up your data because it’s done each time your original hard drive is accessed. This form of backup is great also because it can cut downtime in the event of a failure.
Remote backup can be beneficial to someone who needs the data to be stored in a separate place rather than with the original. This is especially useful in case of fire, theft, flood, etc.
Choosing the right data backup medium for you should be a bit simpler now that you know all the options that are available. Plus with technology the way it is, there maybe new ones just around the bend. Remember to back up your data regularly if you don’t want to lose everything.
