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February 1, 2010
• Vol.7 Issue 2 Page(s) 38 in print issue | |
Portable Storage Carry Data With You | |
 Sometimes, we should marvel at all of the portable electronics in our lives. From smartphones to notebooks, MP3 players to cameras, we carry around more processing power than the Apollo missions to the moon. But processing power goes hand in hand with data, and data needs someplace to be. Here's a look at three major categories of portable storage devices.  Portable Hard Drives Mainly used as backup drives for laptop and desktop computers, these add-on storage units can also be used to add capacity to DVRs, network storage systems, and more. Portable units built on 2.5-inch hard drives are slim enough to slip into your notebook bag or pocket, yet they can hold 250GB to 1TB of your data. Thus, they give you an easy way to bring your music collection with you on vacation or to tote high-resolution design materials to a business meeting. Most portable drives use the USB 2.0 interface, but keep an eye out for drives with the new USB 3.0 connection. When used with a USB 3.0-compatible port and cable, the new interface will help external drives run faster than ever. It’s backward-compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1 ports, too. Perfect for: Mobile computer users and business travelers. Memory Cards As digital cameras captivated the world, so, too, did they introduce the masses to the flash memory card. Today, SD, CompactFlash, and other formats are everywhere. You’ll find memory cards of up to 32GB in smartphones, GPS devices, eReaders, personal media players, and camcorders. And you’ll find memory card readers (read/write drives) in notebooks, desktop PCs, photo printers, game consoles, HDTVs, and more. If your consumer electronics all support a particular type of memory card, such as microSD, you could enjoy your media files without ever touching a computer. For instance, you might be able to pop the card out of your camera, insert it into a reader in the side of your TV, and start a photo slideshow. If one of your guests wants a hard copy of a particular image, eject the memory card and slip it into your photo printer. Perfect for: Users of mobile media devices. Flash Drives These common widgets are flash memory devices that are both recordable and erasable. They range from a fingernail to nearly a credit card in size, but they’re all extremely pocketable. These are generally built much tougher than any hard drive, and nearly all have USB 2.0 connectors. Flash drives can store 2 to 32GB of data or more, depending on the model, so they see a lot of use as informal backup devices for works in progress, important documents, and so on. They can also be used as data transfer mechanisms for moving photos, presentations, video clips, and more between computers. When you’re over at your mother’s house, for instance, you’ll be able to take home copies of her photos from the most recent family gathering. Or, IT workers can use flash drives to carry around software that can help them fix malfunctioning computers. Perfect for: Anyone who needs to take digital data with them on the go. by Marty Sems |
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