Store It: Storage Buyer's Guide (page 2)

Both USB and Flash memory cards use something called Flash memory to save data. That simply means they do not have a hard drive. Both are ultra-portable and offer a great way to store data, for their size. They are also very easy to carry around. They fit into a USB port and show up as another drive on your desktop.

USB thumb drives are easy to carry around, which makes them just as easy to lose and damage. If your computer has a virus or another computer you attach the drive to has a virus, the thumb drive can become infected. You should run your virus checker on your USB thumb drive.

Flash memory cards are those very small cards that hold data for use in cell phones, smart phones, camcorders and cameras. It is easy to write to them, and they are very easy to transport. Their prices are a bit steep, compared to a USB thumb drive. They can be easily lost, and not all computers have card readers or writers.

Pros: USB and Flash memory cards are very portable.
Cons: Easy to lose or leave behind. Limited capacity.
What to look for: Shop around for the best deal. You can buy USB thumb drives with a lot of storage space for a good price. You can buy a media card reader at a reasonable price.

These storage solutions are created by Iomega. They are no longer as popular as they were a while ago, but they still have their advantages. The new REV and REV Pro drives have piqued some creative professionals' interests. They can hold a lot of data and are fairly resilient. Keep in mind that newer machines no longer have Zip, Jazz or REV drives as standard operating equipment. This means you have to buy an external Zip, Jazz, or REV drive. This solution makes the most sense for computer backups and archiving. The blank media are also expensive, compared to CDs or DVDs, but they offer increased capacities, which work better for bigger video projects.

Pros: Older computers may still have a Zip or Jazz drive. Rugged for their size. Fairly large capacities with newer REV and REV Pro drives.
Cons: Sharing your archive can be more complex, as these drives are less common than they used to be.
What to look for: Jazz holds more data than Zip drives.

There are many companies offering storage space on their servers for free or for a nominal fee. There are two big advantages to using online data storage. The first is that you can access your data from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. The other big advantage is that you do not have to worry about transporting your data. This can be an excellent solution to your storage and transport problems. On the downside, you do have to have an online connection in order to upload and download, and, while the prices for high speed have come down significantly, there are many places that still cannot get adequate high-speed connections. There is a chance that a promised free online storage solution will become a pay one in the future. You should also not forget that, if that company’s data is hacked, your data is no longer private. The servers that the company uses to store data may fail, and that could lead to a total loss of your data.

Pros: Very cheap - requires only an internet connection. You can access data from another computer without a problem. Excellent choice for computer backups.
Cons: More storage space will require you to pay. Must have broadband internet connection like cable or DSL. Slow throughput limitations (upload/download transfer speeds) not ideal for anything but archiving and transferring small files.
What to look for: Start off with an introductory offer, and see which service works the best for you. Try different online companies, and compare their prices and services.

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