External Hard Drive - These are a great option for most home users and some business users but I would highly recommend using at least 2, as you should always have at least 2 of every backup. So if your going to use an external hard drive that's fine but if you have 2 or more its even better. There's nothing worse than discovering your hard drive in your pc is corrupted just to find out that the external hard drive is faulty too. Its not very common for this to happen but trust me it does. The only downside to this is that the drives can be expensive so buying more than 1 can be out of some people price range.
USB Memory Sticks - Another great option for any user whether it be for the home or the office, provided your data size doesn't exceed the size of your memory stick. So if the files you want to backup are say 10gb in size you will need to use at least a 16gb memory stick. There are limitations to the size of any backup device and this device is currently limited to 32gb. I have yet to see a 64gb memory stick but I'd imagine it would be cheaper to buy an external hard drive at the moment. If your using this for your business you could use up to 5 memory sticks one for each day, Monday, Tuesday Wednesday etc. Another great thing about using a USB memory is that its very easy to take offsite.
DVD Disks - This would definitely have to be the cheapest option when it come to backing up your files and folders but the one that has the greatest limitation. I almost look at CD's and DVD's now as i used to look at floppy disks 5 years ago. They are small compared to today's standards. This being said though they are a great backup device if your data is under around 4gb (for DVD's) and your prepared to replace them regularly as they can deteriorate.
REV Drives - Manufactured by Iomega and mainly for business use, the REV drives are a fantastic option when it comes to backing up your data. They are basically a cartridge that fits into a special internal or external drive that range in sizes starting from 35gb going up to 120gb uncompressed. From what I can tell they work in a similar way to a tape drive with one big distinction, you don't need special software to retrieve the data. You simply insert the disk you want to retrieve files from navigate to the file or folder in My Computer and copy and paste, very handy and no need to call in an IT wizz to get a copy of your files. Only downside with these drives is the costs, the drives start from around $450 for the 35gb version and the cartridges start from around $60 for the 35gb version. I suppose when it comes to keeping your business data safe its a pretty small price to pay.
Tape Drives - Probably one of the oldest devices for backing up but still being used today is the Tape Drive. Mainly used by medium to large businesses the Tape Drive allows large amounts of data to be backed up onto a tape similar to those old cassettes we all used to listen to in our old walkmans.Tape drives can be a very expensive option but are still widely used today. Depending on the size of the Data you need to backup id look at the REV drive option first as they are easier to use and you don't have to spend alot of money on additional software.
So now that you know the basics of backing up and the different device options available, you should have a better understanding of what you need to keep your data safe and backed up. Remember if your data is important to you always try to keep a copy offsite at all times.
U'R Computer Ade, U'R Computer Tech Support Experts - Melbourne
