Consider how simple it is to add fast storage - or the ability to record your own CDs and DVDs - to today's PCs. If you're the least bit nervous about digging inside your PC's innards to add more hard drive space, you'll be pleased to know that it's easy to connect a fast external hard drive to your system . . . providing that you have the FireWire or USB 2.0 ports available on your PC.
Portable hard drives and CD/DVD recorders
Forget the huge external hard drives of just five years ago. Those doorstops have been replaced by slim, trim models (see Figure 1) that run faster and are more reliable and yet are no bigger than a pack of playing cards. At current prices, you can pick up an external 80GB hard drive for about $150 that is a mere one inch thick and shock resistant, yet can connect effortlessly to PCs with either FireWire or USB 2.0 ports.
Figure 1: This external 80GB drive means mobile storage.
On the CD and DVD recording scene, you'll find five major types of drives:
- CD-R/CD-RW drives: Can store around 700MB on a CD
- DVD-R/DVD-RW drives: Can store 4.7GB on a DVD
- DVD-RAM drives: Can store 9.4GB on a double-sided DVD
- DVD+R/DVD+RW drives: Can store 4.7GB on a DVD
- Dual Layer (DL) DVD+R drives: Can store 8.5GB on a DVD
The RW in the drive moniker stands for rewriteable, meaning that you can reuse a CD-RW, DVD-RW, or DVD+RW over and over. All these recorders can produce audio CDs and standard data CD/DVDs, but only the drives that can record the DVD-R and DVD+R formats are likely to create a DVD movie that can be played in your stand-alone DVD player. Unfortunately, the rewriteable DVD-RW and DVD+RW standards aren't compatible with each other, and they're not compatible with older stand-alone DVD players, either; you'll have to watch your discs on your PC.
Backup drives
Backup drives used to mean inexpensive, slow-running tape drives. However, today's typical 60GB and 80GB drives are simply too humongous for such tapes to be worth much anymore.
Instead, you now have three choices to pick from when backing up your system:
- DVD recorders, especially DVD-RAM drives, which can store over 9GB per double-sided disc.
- Online backups, using a commercial Internet backup service. (This is really only a viable solution if you're using a broadband connection to the Internet; backing up a big hard drive takes too long over a pokey 56KB modem.)
- External FireWire and USB 2.0 backup hard drives, like the 300GB Maxtor One-Touch II ( Maxtor.com), which allows you to start a full, automated backup of your system by pressing the button on the front of the drive.
The Maxtor unit isn't cheap, but how much are your documents and files worth? No matter what backup method you use, do your duty as your PC's guardian and back up your system!
USB flash drives
Another storage toy is a little something different: the USB flash drive, which is a key-chain-sized unit that needs no batteries and has no moving parts! Instead, it uses the same method that digital cameras use to store images. Your files are stored on memory cards (either removable cards or built-in memory inside the unit). Most USB drives now range from 64MB to 2GB of storage, and after you plug them into your PC's USB port, they look just like an external hard drive (or a whomping huge floppy disk), but they can be unplugged and carried with you in your pocket. These drives don't need extra software - Windows 2000 and XP recognize them instantly - so they make a great "digital wallet."
Figure 2 illustrates a 1GB flash drive that even includes a write-protect switch so that you can safeguard your data from being accidentally erased.
Figure 2: Carry 1GB in your pocket with a USB flash drive.
