There are a lot of suitable options where you can store your data. You may choose among External Hard Drives, Network Attached Storage, USB Flash Drive or USB Thumb Drive, Cloud Storage, Optical Drive, Solid State Drive and more. With all these varieties, your data will never run out of storage depository.
All these choices may differ in their storage capacities and utility, with varied advantages and disadvantages, yet either way, each of these offers a convenient position for your data content, all depending on your data needs. You can gather your oldest and latest files, photos, videos, music and more, and keep them all bounded in a secure storage that will protect all your possessions to be as efficient as it had been, through the use of time.
USB Flash Drive
Pros: USB Flash Drives are among the most popular and widely used storage devices because of its convenient portability. Anywhere and anytime of the day, you can carry your files and transfer it to or from other devices. It’s also tough when it comes to its generous storage capacity, giving you all the possible varieties to choose from. Compared to External Hard Drives, it’s not bulky and doesn’t take too much spectacle for possible theft potential. It’s very handy and provides highly reliable and consistent storage and speed performance. Over the years, several advancements have been applied for the convenience and durability of USB Flash Drives, featuring water, impact, shock and temperature resistance that continuously charms users.
Cons: Some USB Flash Drives can be easily lost and damaged. Not all products guarantee the safety of your data from dangerous elements.
Best USB Flash Drive Choices:
SanDisk Extreme CZ80, Apricorn Aegis Secure Key, Samsung 32GB Metal Flash Drive, Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth 64-bit USB 3.0 Flash Drive, Lexar 64GB JumpDrive P20
Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Pros: This data storage type is advantageous mainly with its user-expediency and its fast speed. It is connected to a wireless router instead of a hard drive linking to your PC, which allows numerous devices with various users gain access to the files present on the network.
Cons: The productivity of your usage will be based on the performance of Network Attached Storage, which is vastly depending upon the expanse of bandwidth obtainable.
Best Network Attached Storage Choices:
Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay, WD My Cloud Personal, QNAP TS-251A, Buffalo LinkStation LS220D, Synology DiskStation DS412+
Cloud Storage
Pros: One of the advantages using Cloud Storage is that you don’t need to carry around either a bulky or a tiny device every time you access your data. The good thing is that you can store and stream your files anywhere online. Loads of reliable Cloud Storage Services are just a click away for your usability. It’s fast, spacious, easily accessible and you can try a generous amount of space for free, and then have the choice to upgrade for a more expansive one.
Cons: If your internet connection is sluggish, you might not be able to access it swiftly. And the cost of your accessibility maximizes once your usage of bandwidth maximizes.
Best Cloud Storage Choices:
Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, Mega, NextCloud, Box, IDrive
Solid State Drive (SSD)
Pros: Solid State Drive abounds in offering several advantages for your data storage.Its exceptional fast speed excels in its total functionality, which is comparably speedier than that of hard disk drives. Besides, it’s less expected to be prone to suffer from damage such as vibrations, wear, drops and more, given that it has less moving parts. Portability comes easy too, as it is made with lightweight components. Additionally, it has lengthier battery life, which doesn’t demand as much power to operate.
Cons: To experience these benefits, you’ll definitely need to pay a considerably costly price that is equivalently worth its performance. Likewise, if ever one of the device’s components, say, its memory cache or its controller chip has been damaged externally, your data may be affected, making it totally unattainable.
Best Solid State Drive Choices:
Patriot Torch LE 120GB, Hynix SL301, Toshiba Q300, Sandisk Ultra II, Crucial MX300 SSD 1050 GB, Samsung 850 Pro
Optical Drive
Pros: With Optical Drive, you can use different types of optical storage media such as Blu-Ray Discs, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW and more. Optical Storage Devices are non-volatile and can last durably through the test of time with the proper maintenance, which also varies on each kind of optical media. Besides, your data is assured to be permanently preserved, as Optical Storage devices are remarkably known for archiving.
Cons: It doesn’t provide sufficient space for data storage and its pricing per GB/TB is also expensive compare to other storage outlet. Oftentimes, other formats undergo compatibility problems between other drives. And once worm discs start to pest, it’s generally permanent.
Best Optical Drive Choices:
SAMSUNG TSST SE-506CB, LG GP50NB40 DVD/RW, LG WH14NS40, Lite-On IHAS124-14, ASUS DRW-24B3ST
External Hard Drive
Pros: Through the years, External Hard Drives have been celebrated for its large capacity of data storage. It can accommodate plenty of space available depending on your data, file size. Plus, it works at exceptionally high speeds, especially when it’s connected with Firewire, enabling your large files to be transferred as quickly as possible. Making videos is an advantage here, giving you the amount of extra space you need. Moreover, External Hard Drive stands out in its great portability. Its usability comes very handy; you can simply plug or unplug it anytime on your convenience. It usually comes in two sizes: either a 2.5 inch hard drive or a 3.5 inch hard drive. In addition to that, it’s an easy-to-use, flexible package and is among the cheapest storage available in the market. External Hard Drive is a reliable gem when handled with proper care.
Cons: It’s likely easy to be stolen, with high risk of theft potential and its fragile structure can get easily broken once it drops. It’s prone to failure especially when faced with immensely damaging elements such as fire, water or electrical surges.
Best External Hard Drive Choices:
Toshiba Canvio Connect II 2Tb Portable Hard Drive, Lacie Rugged Raid, Seagate Backup Plus Slim, Western Digital My Passport, SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSD