Choosing the Right Storage Medium

Last week I reviewed the various portable hard drives that are now widely available. These drives can store the entire contents of your home or office computer. As discussed, these new USB drives are essentially the same as the hard drives you have had in your computer for decades. The big difference is that they have higher capacity and are designed to be portable. They can handle rough treatment and plug easily into the USB port of most any modern PC or Mac computer.

That column prompted some questions about the other types of storage media. How do they differ from hard drives? What applications are suited for the various types?

There are three basic types of data storage devices that you might use at the office, at school or at home. There are those that store data on a disc or platter using magnetism. Another type stores data on a disc using an optical system. Finally there are those that use Flash Memory.

Perhaps the most basic type of storage is the floppy disc, a magnetic media. Once the most ubiquitous of all media, it has almost disappeared from the market. In fact, you must special order a floppy drive in any new computer and most likely in the very near future this will no longer be possible. The floppy uses a plastic disc that is coated with iron oxide (i.e., rust.) Data are stored on the disc using a magnetic read / write head. The 3.5 inch floppy only holds about 1.4 mb. of data. This was plenty of room if you were storing your school book report. If you want to save copies of digital pictures, the floppy doesn’t cut it. You can hardly fit one high quality digital picture on a single floppy.

My suggestion is that if you have a box of floppies sitting on your desk, you may wish to see what is stored on them and save any valuable content to another type of media. For those of you who might still have data stored on a 5.25 inch floppy, you may need to go on eBay to find a drive.

Most of us are familiar with optical discs. First there were CDs, and now DVDs. These media use a laser to read and write to the surface of the disc. There are two types of CD discs. One type, a CD-R, allows you to write the data only once and read many times. This is an excellent choice for archiving files. There are others, dubbed CD-R/W. These can be used like a hard drive allowing you to erase unwanted files.

Most of us are familiar with DVD video discs. There are also DVD data discs that work much like a CD. The big difference is the capacity. A standard CD data disc can store about 700 mb., while a DVD data disc can hold more than 8 gig. Before running out and buying DVD discs for data storage be sure that your computer can handle them. Many will play a DVD video disc, but cannot read or write to a DVD data disc.

Finally, there are Flash Memory based storage options. The most popular is the SD Card. These small cards are commonly found in cameras and some audio players. They can hold a tremendous about of data. Once very expensive, these postage stamp sized cards can hold several gigabytes of information and are very reasonably priced . One negative is that they are so small they are easily misplaced. Akin to these SD cards are the Memory Sticks that seem to be everywhere. They operate much the same as the SD cards but do not require a SD slot or “drive” in your computer. Rather they plug into the USB port of your computer or device. They are great for sharing files between machines. Many in business use them to store meeting presentations. They can fit in your pocket and hold very large files. Since most computers have a USB port, data is easily retrieved.

The good news is that prices for file storage media continue to fall. The bad news is that the media keep changing and just like it is hard to find a player for your Betamax tape, a few years from now we will be searching for a drive that will play a CD.

Choosing the Right Storage Medium

Last week I reviewed the various portable hard drives that are now widely available. These drives can store the entire contents of your home or office computer. As discussed, these new USB drives are essentially the same as the hard drives you have had in your computer for decades. The big difference is that they have higher capacity and are designed to be portable. They can handle rough treatment and plug easily into the USB port of most any modern PC or Mac computer.

That column prompted some questions about the other types of storage media. How do they differ from hard drives? What applications are suited for the various types?

There are three basic types of data storage devices that you might use at the office, at school or at home. There are those that store data on a disc or platter using magnetism. Another type stores data on a disc using an optical system. Finally there are those that use Flash Memory.

Perhaps the most basic type of storage is the floppy disc, a magnetic media. Once the most ubiquitous of all media, it has almost disappeared from the market. In fact, you must special order a floppy drive in any new computer and most likely in the very near future this will no longer be possible. The floppy uses a plastic disc that is coated with iron oxide (i.e., rust.) Data are stored on the disc using a magnetic read / write head. The 3.5 inch floppy only holds about 1.4 mb. of data. This was plenty of room if you were storing your school book report. If you want to save copies of digital pictures, the floppy doesn’t cut it. You can hardly fit one high quality digital picture on a single floppy.

My suggestion is that if you have a box of floppies sitting on your desk, you may wish to see what is stored on them and save any valuable content to another type of media. For those of you who might still have data stored on a 5.25 inch floppy, you may need to go on eBay to find a drive.

Most of us are familiar with optical discs. First there were CDs, and now DVDs. These media use a laser to read and write to the surface of the disc. There are two types of CD discs. One type, a CD-R, allows you to write the data only once and read many times. This is an excellent choice for archiving files. There are others, dubbed CD-R/W. These can be used like a hard drive allowing you to erase unwanted files.

Most of us are familiar with DVD video discs. There are also DVD data discs that work much like a CD. The big difference is the capacity. A standard CD data disc can store about 700 mb., while a DVD data disc can hold more than 8 gig. Before running out and buying DVD discs for data storage be sure that your computer can handle them. Many will play a DVD video disc, but cannot read or write to a DVD data disc.

Finally, there are Flash Memory based storage options. The most popular is the SD Card. These small cards are commonly found in cameras and some audio players. They can hold a tremendous about of data. Once very expensive, these postage stamp sized cards can hold several gigabytes of information and are very reasonably priced . One negative is that they are so small they are easily misplaced. Akin to these SD cards are the Memory Sticks that seem to be everywhere. They operate much the same as the SD cards but do not require a SD slot or “drive” in your computer. Rather they plug into the USB port of your computer or device. They are great for sharing files between machines. Many in business use them to store meeting presentations. They can fit in your pocket and hold very large files. Since most computers have a USB port, data is easily retrieved.

The good news is that prices for file storage media continue to fall. The bad news is that the media keep changing and just like it is hard to find a player for your Betamax tape, a few years from now we will be searching for a drive that will play a CD.

When Your Computer Info Vanishes

There is a saying in “geek” circles. “It is not a matter of if your computer hard drive will fail; it is a matter of when it will fail. Few components in today’s desktop computers get more wear and tear than the hard drive and few components are more important. The hard drive in a desk top computer runs whenever the computer is turned on. It adds and deletes information to its “innards” hundreds, even thousands, of times during a single hour of operation. Designers and engineers make them smaller and smaller with their storage capacity larger and larger. The dirty little secret is that this is one of the few components in a computer that is mechanical in nature. That is, it has moving parts. Moving parts break. When they break your information is locked forever in the recesses of this little box with very little probability that it can ever be retrieved, at least for us mere mortals without pocket protectors and with finite pocketbooks.

Not too many years ago when the capacities of hard drives were much less robust, we were forced to remove information stored there in order to have space for new stuff. We may have copied the information on to floppy discs or some other media. Today, when the standard hard drive in the most basic computer can hold enough information to fill a small town library, it is easy to forget about it. You will forget about it at your peril. The drive will fail. Perhaps not today or tomorrow, but it will fail.

There are simple things you can do to protect your information. Here are some examples.

If you use your computer to manage your finances and use software like QuickBooks®, Quicken® or Managing your Money®, you can establish a simple routine. Each time you make changes to your data (i.e. pay bills, write checks, do online banking, etc.) go ahead and save your data to the hard drive, but before you exit the program, back up that data. All these software packages have simple back up commands. Once you get into the routine this adds less than a minute to your work.

I suggest that the best media to back up to is a simple CD data disc. Most new computers have a CD drive that will record data to a CD. You must have a blank CD that is formatted to READ and WRITE data. The blank discs will have printed on the package “CD-R/W.” CD-R discs can only be recorded on one time; CD-R/W discs are just like floppy discs or memory sticks, you can record on them many times

The same should be done each year when you do your taxes on your computer. Rather than keeping all the data on the hard drive, copy it to a CD and put it in a safe place. Hopefully you will never need to use it again. If Uncle Sam calls, you will have it ready.

Many of us now use our computers as family photo albums. Again, to have all your photos stored on the hard drive is very dangerous unless you plan to get into the “witness protection program” and don’t want pictures of you to exits. If you group your photos in file directories by date or subject matter, it is an easy task to make copies of those directories on CDs.

There are services that will do all of this for you if you have internet access. We will look at these services and other back up tips next week.

When Your Computer Info Vanishes

There is a saying in “geek” circles. “It is not a matter of if your computer hard drive will fail; it is a matter of when it will fail. Few components in today’s desktop computers get more wear and tear than the hard drive and few components are more important. The hard drive in a desk top computer runs whenever the computer is turned on. It adds and deletes information to its “innards” hundreds, even thousands, of times during a single hour of operation. Designers and engineers make them smaller and smaller with their storage capacity larger and larger. The dirty little secret is that this is one of the few components in a computer that is mechanical in nature. That is, it has moving parts. Moving parts break. When they break your information is locked forever in the recesses of this little box with very little probability that it can ever be retrieved, at least for us mere mortals without pocket protectors and with finite pocketbooks.

Not too many years ago when the capacities of hard drives were much less robust, we were forced to remove information stored there in order to have space for new stuff. We may have copied the information on to floppy discs or some other media. Today, when the standard hard drive in the most basic computer can hold enough information to fill a small town library, it is easy to forget about it. You will forget about it at your peril. The drive will fail. Perhaps not today or tomorrow, but it will fail.

There are simple things you can do to protect your information. Here are some examples.

If you use your computer to manage your finances and use software like QuickBooks®, Quicken® or Managing your Money®, you can establish a simple routine. Each time you make changes to your data (i.e. pay bills, write checks, do online banking, etc.) go ahead and save your data to the hard drive, but before you exit the program, back up that data. All these software packages have simple back up commands. Once you get into the routine this adds less than a minute to your work.

I suggest that the best media to back up to is a simple CD data disc. Most new computers have a CD drive that will record data to a CD. You must have a blank CD that is formatted to READ and WRITE data. The blank discs will have printed on the package “CD-R/W.” CD-R discs can only be recorded on one time; CD-R/W discs are just like floppy discs or memory sticks, you can record on them many times

The same should be done each year when you do your taxes on your computer. Rather than keeping all the data on the hard drive, copy it to a CD and put it in a safe place. Hopefully you will never need to use it again. If Uncle Sam calls, you will have it ready.

Many of us now use our computers as family photo albums. Again, to have all your photos stored on the hard drive is very dangerous unless you plan to get into the “witness protection program” and don’t want pictures of you to exits. If you group your photos in file directories by date or subject matter, it is an easy task to make copies of those directories on CDs.

There are services that will do all of this for you if you have internet access. We will look at these services and other back up tips next week.