Backup is a process of storing your important data in some other medium than your internal computer memory specifically hard disk drive or HDD. This is done in order to avoid losing any crucial data when your system faces technical issues such as virus infection or hard disk crash etc. In such case it is wise to transfers your crucial data from your system’s internal memory to any other external storage media. There are numerous such devices which serve as a competent storage media for performing a back up.
Magnetic Tape:
Magnetic tape has been one of the most commonly used devices for storing mass amount of data. It is used for storage archiving interchanging etc. Initially, magnetic tapes were coveted over hard disk drives due to its capacity and cost. However, nowadays the scenario is quite different. Though magnetic tapes are still in use there are people who rely on Hard disks. There are countless types of magnetic tapes many of which specialized or devoted to certain market such as mainframe or personal computer systems. It can be said that it is a chronological access device which can, even under unimpressive access time, can read or write data significantly faster. There are some latest introductions of magnetic tapes which are said to be faster as compared to hard disk drive. Magnetic tapes have been in use since a very long time and are still available in market.
Hard Disk Drive:
Hard Disk Drive is not an uncommon term to people; it is also referred to as HDD. Almost all computer users know what a hard disk is and it functions. Hard Disks are conventional storage device found internally in a system; however, you may come across external hard disks which are ideal storage device for backed up files. These external hard disk drives are not placed inside the computer chassis but in fact are portable and can be carried to places. These devices have connectivity options through which they can be synchronized with the computer system. These connectivity options may include eSata, SCSI or Small Computer System Interface, Fire Wire or Universal Serial Bus also commonly known as USB. In order to perform a back from a long distance one can use Ethernet, iSCSI and other modes. For the convenient of the users there are some disk backup systems which allow data duplication which preserves significant amount of space by eliminating redundancy of data? There is a noticeable drawback about doing external hard disk back up. It is believed that these external hard disk drives are more prone to damages. These damages can take place during travelling or storing the device.
Optical DISC:
Optical Disc are disk that can be used for storing data there are two types of optical disc CD and DVD.
CD: CD also referred to as Compact Disc is one of the most reliable medium for performing backup. To perform a backup using CD you need to have CD drive in order to burn or write the data on to the CD. A conventional CD can offer approximately 700 Mb of space which makes it an ideal option for performing back up for small size of data. However, the durability of these storage media is not sure.
DVD:
DVD or Digital Versatile Discs are again disc which proffers space to store important data. Similar to CD, even DVDs are considered as a competent source for storing data while doing data backup. DVD are advanced than CD and provides more space as compared to CD. CD provides approximately 700 MB of space whereas DVD provide up to 4.5 GB of space for storing backed up files. However, you also need to remember that you should have a DVD writer in order to write of Digital Versatile Discs.
Blu-ray Discs:
Blu-Ray disc are the most advanced for of discs available in the market. Due to their capacity of data storage there disc are highly adopted by huge organizations. However, at the same time these discs are costly as compared to other source of storing data. These discs are considered as ideal for storing high definition videos and PlayStation 3 games but it is also significantly useful for storing other kinds of data. A Blu-ray Disc offers space of 25 Gb per single layer and approximately 50 Gb for every dual layer. However, there are Blu-Ray Discs available with storage capacity up to 100 to 200 GB. This makes them an ideal option for doing backup and storing considerably hi9ghg amount of data.
There are rewritable discs available which can be over written to store updated data and eliminate previously stored information. However, it should be known that storing data in such optical media does not guarantee longevity of data as these media are prone to damages.
Floppy Disk or Diskette:
Floppy disks are also sometime referred to as Diskette. Initially these diskettes were highly used as a medium of backup storage especially during 1980s to 90s. However, it is not used by people nowadays as it has become obsolete and does not provide considerable space. Conventional floppy disk provided only 1.44 MB of space; however, through the course of time experts tried to enhance the device but yet it is not proven to be impressive.
SD Memory Card:
SD memory card is also technically known as Secure Digital Memory Card. It is non volatile memory device which can be used as a backup device for storing data. This device is based on intricate technology which enables it to offer impressive storage capacity of minimum 2 Gb to maximum 32 Gb. These cards are amazingly small and are used with devices such as mobile phone, cameras, etc, However, to connect these devices to your computer system you may require a chip or card reader.
USB Flash Drive:
As the name suggests USB Flash Drive are devices which are easily portable and are based on Flash technology along with USB or Universal Serial Bus connectivity option. Due to USB connectivity these flash drives have become easy to be connected to most computer possessing USB ports. Data transfer rate is also considerable. Storage capacity offered by USB fLash drive is minimum 1 Gb and maximum 32 Gb and above. All these factors makes USB flash drive a perfect backup storage medium. It is also believed that in near future the data storage capacity of USB can grow up till 256 GB.
Remote backup facilities:
Internet serves as a very good source for arranging for backup. There are online services that allow you to store data on their server for some cost. These are internet based services which are offered through online sources and most transaction of data is done through internet.
These are some of the backup storage media through which one can do back up of necessary files and avoid losing data due to any adversities.
