A significant portion of our lives now revolves around the internet. And for those who use the internet to promote their brand, put up videos, craft social media profiles, or run a business, it is even more important to ensure that data is being managed and archived appropriately. Even if some of that data seems irrelevant to you right now, there is a good chance you will need to see that data for some reason or another in the near future. That is why it is important to figure out the best method for backing up and preserving your data forever.
Data Archiving Options
There are two major choices that you have to decide between when you are deciding to archive a large chunk of data. You will either complete this process using physical media, or you will do everything on the cloud. If you are going with the physical option, here are some choices that you may want to know about.
- Optical Disks: When using writable CDs, DVDs or Blu-Rays, you have the chance to get a large amount of data in physical form in quick time. If you are storing pictures or regular files, DVDs seem the best bet, as you are getting close to 5GB worth of space on a single disk. If you are going with video files, or other types of files that have very large sizes, you may want to go with a Blu-Ray. With a Blu-Ray, you get up to 25GB of space, which is a significant amount.
- Hard Drives: If you want almost all your data in one physical place, then a hard drive is the way to go. It is inexpensive to buy quality external hard drives, and you can choose between 1 to 4 TB in file space. We recommend going with multiple 1 TB hard drives, instead of the 3 TB or 4 TB models.
- Flash Drives: Similar to regular hard drives, a flash drive will get you less file space for the money, but more security. Whether you choose a SSD or the types of flash drives that you can place into mobile phones and cameras, you will have to spend more money to get a significant amount of data stored using this method.
Going Digital
If you do not want to worry about anything, we suggest that you check out the services related to compliance archiving by Erado as they can help you with this process.
But if you want to store all your documents and files on the cloud, and you want to do it yourself, it is all about finding a service provider that offers the best value. You will need proper security, good file space, decent speeds, and a solid monthly rate.
The only problem is that it can get expensive if you are going with cloud storage. Most sites will offer up to 10 or 20 GB free, but then you will have to pay a monthly fee. The best way to bring down that fee is to pay annually, as you get a discount.