Taking Care of Your Backup Media

Therefore, backing up data on a regular basis has become a much-needed practice amongst businesses and individuals these days.

Which Data Backup to Choose?

It is important to analyse your needs before deciding on your backup option. Different users have different requirements and hence the data backup preference will also differ. For example, while a home or home office user may create data backups on a USB drive, it may not be a very good option for a large business to use a USB drive because the amount of data for a large business is bound to be huge. Therefore, it is important to understand the various data backup media.

Different Data Backup Media Available in the Market: Pros and Cons of Each Media

There are many data backup media available in the market. Let us analyse the various data backup media available in the market to better understand your choice of data backup media. We will also discuss the pros and cons of each backup media to aid your understanding.

• Using CDs and DVDs as Data Backup Media
  
  This option will work best if you are a home or home office user. Creating data backups on CDs and DVDs is an inexpensive way to backup your data. You can store up to 800 MB of data on a CD. The data storage capacity is even higher for DVDs. DVDs can store up to 5 GB of data. The cost of backing up your data per MB is significantly reduced if you opt for CDs and DVDs. However, backing up your data on CDs and DVDs can be a time-consuming process. If your files are huge in size then you may have to use multiple CDs and DVDs, which can be a cumbersome process. In addition, CDs and DVDs are very prone to scratches which eventually make your data unreadable. Therefore, if you must use CDs or DVDs as your data backup option, you will have to create multiple CDs or DVDs of your data.



• Using Flash Drives as Data Backup Media
  
  Flash drives are the easiest way to store, carry, and backup your data. These drives are portables and very easy to carry. In addition, they are very resistant to erroneous human handling and can survive even falling from your hand. Again, this data backup option too is best suited for home and home office users. However, if you want to store large amounts of data, this can be an expensive option. Most pen drives come with limited storage capacity and the cost increases significantly as the storage capacity increases.



• Using Portable Hard Disks as Data Backup Media
  
  Portable hard disks are the much loved data backup option especially amongst small businesses. They are very cheap as compared to tape drive systems and you can get excellent storage space capacity. Portable hard drives can store upward of 120 GB. The portable nature of these devices makes them ideal for office as well as offsite backups. Portable hard disks, like the fixed hard disks, are extremely fragile. This is probably one of the worst drawbacks. Therefore, users have to be extremely careful in handling and storing portable hard drives. Cost of data recovery from portable hard drives can be much higher because most hard drives can only be operated inside the clean room facility.



• Using Tape Drives as Data Backup Media
  
  Many businesses still tend to use tape drives for backing up their data. Tape drives can store several GB of data. However, when you compare tape drives with the CDs and DVDs as backup media, tape drives are a more expensive option. Repeatedly buying tape cartridges can be expensive. In addition, a tape drive can be very expensive to buy. Most people complain of the performance of the tape drives because of their inability to retrieve the data successfully. Tape drives are extremely fragile and have to be stored extremely carefully. In addition, tape drives need to be checked on a regular basis to ensure that your backed data is secure. Some people prefer creating multiple tapes of the same data to ensure that they have a backup of their backup. However, this can be a cumbersome process.

Taking Care of Your Data Storage Devices

It is very important to handle and store the data storage devices as per the manufacturer’s recommendations. Most of the data backup media boxes are accompanies with a set of instructions that explain the dos and the don’ts very clearly. Make sure that you keep your data backup media away from extreme weather conditions. Exposing your backup media to extreme hot or humid conditions can have disastrous consequences. In addition, make sure that you do not expose your backup media to magnetic fields.

About the author:
James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk


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