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Computer Services in New York City and surrounding areas

Storage and back-up

Protect your important information: do regular back-up storage from your hard drives..
If you run a business, consider backing up emails in case you need to refer to them in the future (in a law suit, JP Morgan was fined for having lost stored emails). There are specific programs out there for backing up emails.

External hard drives - are useful for ANYONE. Set them up to do daily manual back-ups or automatic back-ups of data, the programs included allow for this. You only have to lose your data ONCE to appreciate the wisdom in backing up.

Flash drives - which are the size of a matchbook or smaller can hold a large amount of data, these "mini hard drives" can be used to transfer large amounts of data from one computer to another or temporarily store data.

Zip drives - are going the way of the floppy, too big for the storage they offer and not as reliable as a flash drive (IMHO).

ipod - use the spare space on your iPod as a last resort if you do not have anything else and need to back up data.

CD and DVD discs are useful for home back-ups and storage:

TAIYO YUDEN is the best media to buy.

CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW drives: Some early computers have CD drives which cannot read the newer CD-R discs. Check what type of CD your computer's disc drive accepts, you may want to upgrade it at some future time. Use blank CD/DVD discs to copy data or images. The drives themselves can be either internal or external USB or Fire wire. e

Combo CD-RW/DVD drives allow you to write CD-R/W and play DVD movies in one machine.

You can open your CD-R or DVD-R discs on computers and other playback devices as long as the recording parameters were set properly when you recorded.

CD-R discs are used to copy files, music and images. If you use the "DiscatOnce" option, you cannot record data again to a CD-R disc, even if it isn't filled to capacity, it is "closed"( not capable of writing to anymore). However using the TrackAtOnce option allows more data to be added later "session by session" to eventually fill the entire disc to capacity.

CD-RW (CD rewritable) discs can be recorded and then erased to allow the disc to be reused, much like a floppy, although there are some limitations that apply to this process.They are useful for saving data on the fly that you will only need temporarily.

DVD (Digital Versitile Disc) discs have 5 to 10 times greater storage capacity than CD-Rs, storing 4.7~ 9 gigabytes compared to 700 megabytes of CD-Rs. Because of this, their use for movies is well known. DVD come in flavors such as:
DVD-RW (rewritable)
DVD-DL (dual layer) theoretically can hold twice as much as a standard disc.

Disc care: Always hold a disc by its rim, any scratches or grease on the shiny surfaces will damage a disc. Never Never rub or clean the surface in a circular fashion as the minute sleeks or scratches caused will render the disc unreadable.

Back-up Tip: Back-up your files onto separate discs rather than everything on one disc. For example, a disc for this year's family photos, another for your home financial information, another for the children's school work, another for important emails...It pays to be organized!