Backup Methods

Backing up can be done many ways. You can back up with an external storage device or you can use optical discs. It really depends on how much data you have on your computer.

There are two kinds of external storage devices. There are flash drives and there are external hard drives. You should use a flash drive if you have hardly any files on your computer. This is for people who rarely use a computer. The cost of flash drives varies. They can range from $5 to $100 or more. The storage can range from 64 megabytes to 8 gigabytes.

External hard drives are the most popular way to backup data. It’s much faster than optical discs. This is for people who have a whole lot of data on their computers. Hard drives come with any of these ports: USB is the most popular, which transfer speeds at 480 Mb/s (Megabits per second) or 60 MB/s (Megabytes per second). Also there’s FireWire 400 and 800, which is more popular with Macs. Finally, there’s the rare eSATA, which transfer data at a much higher rate. The cost can range from $50 to thousands of dollars. The storage space can go up to a terabyte or more. There are many software programs that back up your stuff automatically. For example: Time Machine with Mac OS Leopard. It backs up your whole computer to any hard drive. You can restore your Mac back to where it was before your hard drive failed.

Lastly, there are optical discs: CDs and DVDs. If you are backing up I would suggest using DVDs. They hold 4.7 GB. CDs only hold 700 MB. This is good if you can’t afford an external hard drive. This is the slowest way to backup. The more stuff you put on a disc, the longer it will take to burn.  Before you back up to a DVD, I suggest making a checklist of what you should backup, just in case you forget to backup something.

Popular Hard Drive sites:
Lacie
MacMall
Newegg
TigerDirect