| Decide what is most important for you in terms of | | | | Buy a 250MB Zip drive, if your storage needs are |
| data storage backup. You may want to consider the | | | | moderate (a few GB). Buy an internal Zip drive, if you |
| following issues: how reliable is the data storage | | | | only plan to use the drive for backup and you can |
| device that you plan to use, is it well-protected from | | | | install it yourself (installation fees add up). |
| unauthorized access, natural disasters like flood and | | | | Figure your budget for a data storage backup device |
| fire? Also consider which backup files you would like | | | | and removable media to use. Your backup |
| to store at home and which you would rather | | | | expenditures will largely depend on how often you |
| transfer to a remote location, such as an FTP server, | | | | are going to back up, and how large a volume of |
| for more security. | | | | backup. Figure the cost per MB of media for each |
| Figure out the sizes of the documents and | | | | drive you are considering. Zip drives are cheap, while |
| applications that you want to archive permanently to | | | | disks are not. Buy a Jaz drive or tape backup drive, if |
| a backup storage device or removable media. Keep in | | | | you are going to back up large amounts of data |
| mind that this amount may grow in the future. Think | | | | regularly. You might as well do some estimates of |
| of how quickly your document or photo archive can | | | | the future expenditures. So buy an external hard |
| grow, and then make sure you can expand your | | | | disk, if you need a lot of space, won't be keeping old |
| backup storage accordingly. Buy a CD-RW drive, if | | | | backups and you don't need portability. |
| your backup storage needs are moderate, and you | | | | The lifespan and the reliability of the selected backup |
| will regularly back up no more than 500 MB of data. | | | | storage device should also be considered. Buy a |
| Another thing to consider is the portability and | | | | DVD-RW drive to backup to DVD, if you expect |
| accessibility of the backup data. Would you like to | | | | your data to quickly multiply overtime. Specifically, |
| always have those data at home, or would you | | | | you need to make sure the device will be in a |
| rather appreciate the opportunity to carry the data | | | | working state when it's time to do the recovery. This |
| with you, if you have to travel. An external | | | | is kind of hard to figure this out because you never |
| parallel-port or USB Zip drive provides the most | | | | know when data loss is going to happen. Still, it |
| versatility and portability. Buy a 100MB Zip drive, if | | | | makes sense to find out the projected lifespan of a |
| you need limited storage capacity (less than 1 GB). | | | | specific device. |