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.

Some stocking stuffer ideas with plugs and batteries

Last week I gave you some gift giving ideas. Some of the items I suggested were a bit pricey. This week I have a few suggestions that won’t break your budget, but will be used and appreciated all year long by the recipient.

Who doesn’t need a flash light? Who hasn’t reached into the glove compartment or trunk only to find a flashlight with dead or weak batteries or bad light bulb? There are several models of LED flashlights on the market. LEDs are more durable, longer lasting and energy efficient than incandescent light bulbs. LEDs do not have a filament, so if you drop them they are not prone to failure. They have dramatically lower power requirements, so batteries will last 10 to 15 times longer than models with incandescent bulbs. You can get them at Small’s Do It Best Hardware. Prices range from as little as $15.00.

For those “road warriors” who use cell phones a lot, there are several small back up power devices that use standard AAA batteries to recharge a cell phone’s dead battery. They can be purchased locally at Biggs and K-Mart as well as from the big electronics stores. Be sure that you have the model number and make of the phone, since there are several different plugs for connecting the charger to the phone.

For the “green minded” there are similar devices that use solar energy. They are available at several vendors on line. Try http://solarstyle.com or www.amazon.com

For computer enthusiast data storage is always a good bet. The price of flash drives and memory sticks continues to drop. You can get a 1 GB drive for as little as $15.00. Some of the 250 MB models are as inexpensive as $3.00. For the photography buff, you might consider a SD Flash Card. You can never have enough cards for your camera when you are on vacation. Like calculators, these cards and drives are showing up on display at check out counters next to the candy bars.

For those who don’t want to spend a lot on an iPod™, there are several portable media players from companies like ScanDisk™ for as little as $49.00. They can store MP-3 music files, have a FM radio tuner built in and can be connected to your home computer for file sharing.

Why not get rid of the “gaggle” of remote controls piled high on your coffee table. A single universal remote can control your cable or satellite box, your VCR, DVD, audio system and TV. With the proper equipment it can even control the lights in your family room. They are priced from $20.00 to several hundred dollars. Try Radio Shack® or Mirco Center®

If you need to purchase new Christmas lights this year, why not go green? The new LED lights last forever and use only about 25% of the energy used by traditional lights.

I hope that these suggestions are helpful and make your shopping a less hassled experience.

Some stocking stuffer ideas with plugs and batteries

Last week I gave you some gift giving ideas. Some of the items I suggested were a bit pricey. This week I have a few suggestions that won’t break your budget, but will be used and appreciated all year long by the recipient.

Who doesn’t need a flash light? Who hasn’t reached into the glove compartment or trunk only to find a flashlight with dead or weak batteries or bad light bulb? There are several models of LED flashlights on the market. LEDs are more durable, longer lasting and energy efficient than incandescent light bulbs. LEDs do not have a filament, so if you drop them they are not prone to failure. They have dramatically lower power requirements, so batteries will last 10 to 15 times longer than models with incandescent bulbs. You can get them at Small’s Do It Best Hardware. Prices range from as little as $15.00.

For those “road warriors” who use cell phones a lot, there are several small back up power devices that use standard AAA batteries to recharge a cell phone’s dead battery. They can be purchased locally at Biggs and K-Mart as well as from the big electronics stores. Be sure that you have the model number and make of the phone, since there are several different plugs for connecting the charger to the phone.

For the “green minded” there are similar devices that use solar energy. They are available at several vendors on line. Try http://solarstyle.com or www.amazon.com

For computer enthusiast data storage is always a good bet. The price of flash drives and memory sticks continues to drop. You can get a 1 GB drive for as little as $15.00. Some of the 250 MB models are as inexpensive as $3.00. For the photography buff, you might consider a SD Flash Card. You can never have enough cards for your camera when you are on vacation. Like calculators, these cards and drives are showing up on display at check out counters next to the candy bars.

For those who don’t want to spend a lot on an iPod™, there are several portable media players from companies like ScanDisk™ for as little as $49.00. They can store MP-3 music files, have a FM radio tuner built in and can be connected to your home computer for file sharing.

Why not get rid of the “gaggle” of remote controls piled high on your coffee table. A single universal remote can control your cable or satellite box, your VCR, DVD, audio system and TV. With the proper equipment it can even control the lights in your family room. They are priced from $20.00 to several hundred dollars. Try Radio Shack® or Mirco Center®

If you need to purchase new Christmas lights this year, why not go green? The new LED lights last forever and use only about 25% of the energy used by traditional lights.

I hope that these suggestions are helpful and make your shopping a less hassled experience.

Data Storage Getting Cheaper

“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” This quote is attributed to Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder, when quizzed many years ago about the amount of memory that should be sufficient for computer users. The prediction by Gates, apocryphal or not, proved false as even the most inexpensive computers now come with several gigabytes (billions of bytes) of memory. Heck, the temperature control on your modern refrigerator has more memory than 640K.

Even more phenomenal is the plunging cost of data storage. Last year when my wife was heading on a trip, I picked up a few extra memory cards for her digital camera. When I looked for new 128 megabyte (128,000.000 byte) cards I could find none available. I was delighted to find 1 Gigabyte cards ( i.e. about 9X more capacity) for a fraction of the price we paid for the 128 Meg cards a year or so ago.

A recent advertising supplement from a local computer retailer has several memory cards and USB memory sticks for sale with 2 and 4 Gigabyte capacities for less then $20 each. Putting this in perspective, a 1 Gig card can hold the equivalent of more than 200 copies of the King James Version of the Bible. Remember the old 5 ½ inch floppy disks? It would take 14 disks to store the text of just one copy of the Bible.

So what does this mean? Well for certain, keeping photos and documents in digital form has never been cheaper or easier. That is both the good news and the bad news. Since it is no longer costly to keep stuff, we can easily begin to drown in too much stuff. Gone is the incentive to erase those out-of-focus pictures or that letter you sent to Shillito’s complaining about the malfunctioning Philco Transistor Radio you bought. Why keep that stuff? Because we can!

Seriously, this is a great time to consider using memory cards and USB memory sticks for long term storage. They are compact, rugged and they continue to be offered with more and more capacity.

Manufacturers claim that these memory devices will retain data for as long as 100 years. Few of us using them now will know if that proves to be the case. Since we are storing information in digital form on these devices, it will be relatively easy to move the data to another form of digital storage (when it is invented) without losing data integrity or quality.

Data Storage Getting Cheaper

“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” This quote is attributed to Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder, when quizzed many years ago about the amount of memory that should be sufficient for computer users. The prediction by Gates, apocryphal or not, proved false as even the most inexpensive computers now come with several gigabytes (billions of bytes) of memory. Heck, the temperature control on your modern refrigerator has more memory than 640K.

Even more phenomenal is the plunging cost of data storage. Last year when my wife was heading on a trip, I picked up a few extra memory cards for her digital camera. When I looked for new 128 megabyte (128,000.000 byte) cards I could find none available. I was delighted to find 1 Gigabyte cards ( i.e. about 9X more capacity) for a fraction of the price we paid for the 128 Meg cards a year or so ago.

A recent advertising supplement from a local computer retailer has several memory cards and USB memory sticks for sale with 2 and 4 Gigabyte capacities for less then $20 each. Putting this in perspective, a 1 Gig card can hold the equivalent of more than 200 copies of the King James Version of the Bible. Remember the old 5 ½ inch floppy disks? It would take 14 disks to store the text of just one copy of the Bible.

So what does this mean? Well for certain, keeping photos and documents in digital form has never been cheaper or easier. That is both the good news and the bad news. Since it is no longer costly to keep stuff, we can easily begin to drown in too much stuff. Gone is the incentive to erase those out-of-focus pictures or that letter you sent to Shillito’s complaining about the malfunctioning Philco Transistor Radio you bought. Why keep that stuff? Because we can!

Seriously, this is a great time to consider using memory cards and USB memory sticks for long term storage. They are compact, rugged and they continue to be offered with more and more capacity.

Manufacturers claim that these memory devices will retain data for as long as 100 years. Few of us using them now will know if that proves to be the case. Since we are storing information in digital form on these devices, it will be relatively easy to move the data to another form of digital storage (when it is invented) without losing data integrity or quality.