External Hard Disk Drive: The Best Backup Medium

Want to backup quickly and easily? Backup to external hard disk drives.

As a hard disk is the fastest and largest backup medium you can get, you may want to backup all your important files to an external USB hard drive. You can backup literally everything: your Outlook and Outlook Express files, your bookmarks, your favourite save games, and of course, your important work documents, photos, images and maybe even videos.

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As an external HDD is detached from your system and, combined with a strong encryption algorithm, like blowfish or 3DES, you can get maximum security. Just make sure you actually remember the encryption password. You can also store your external hard disk offsite (at a friend's house, a paid locker or specialized fire-proof storage place) in case your information is very important (well, generally, anyone can do that and it can't hurt for sure).

External Hard Disk Drive: The Best Backup Medium

As external USB drives have the cheapest storage volume (about 200Gb for 0?) and you can reuse them for several years, you may as well get the cheapest backup medium at your disposal. When using a backup schedule, you can simply backup the backup program run when you are absent (or maybe even at night) to backup everything without supervision. If you need two or more backup disks, you may as well get another external HDD.

Also, now there are quite large mobile hard drives, which can admit all the necessary data: work documents, e-mail files, etc. You can also carry your data anywhere you want and feel safe, because some external USB HDDs are now hard to break by dropping.

So, go with external HDD and backup as fast as you want, as much as you want, secure your important data, get the cheapest backups and even be able to carry your backups anywhere you want.

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Computer Forensics, Data Recovery and E-Discovery Differ

What's the difference between data recovery, computer forensics and e-discovery?

All three fields deal with data, and specifically digital data. It's all about electrons in the form of zeroes and ones. And it's all about taking information that may be hard to find and presenting it in a readable fashion. But even though there is overlap, the skill sets require different tools, different specializations, different work environments, and different ways of looking at things.

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Data recovery generally involves things that are broken - whether hardware or software. When a computer crashes and won't start back up, when an external hard disk, thumb drive, or memory card becomes unreadable, then data recovery may be required. Frequently, a digital device that needs its data recovered will have electronic damage, physical damage, or a combination of the two. If such is the case, hardware repair will be a big part of the data recovery process. This may involve repairing the drive's electronics, or even replacing the stack of read / write heads inside the sealed portion of the disk drive.

Computer Forensics, Data Recovery and E-Discovery Differ

If the hardware is intact, the file or partition structure is likely to be damaged. Some data recovery tools will attempt to repair partition or file structure, while others look into the damaged file structure and attempt to pull files out. Partitions and directories may be rebuilt manually with a hex editor as well, but given the size of modern disk drives and the amount of data on them, this tends to be impractical.

By and large, data recovery is a kind of "macro" process. The end result tends to be a large population of data saved without as much attention to the individual files. Data recovery jobs are often individual disk drives or other digital media that have damaged hardware or software. There are no particular industry-wide accepted standards in data recovery.

Electronic discovery usually deals with hardware and software that is intact. Challenges in e-discovery include "de-duping." A search may be conducted through a very large volume of existing or backed-up emails and documents.

Due to the nature of computers and of email, there are likely to be very many identical duplicates ("dupes") of various documents and emails. E-discovery tools are designed to winnow down what might otherwise be an unmanageable torrent of data to a manageable size by indexing and removal of duplicates, also known as de-duping.

E-discovery often deals with large quantities of data from undamaged hardware, and procedures fall under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ("FRCP").

Computer forensics has aspects of both e-discovery and data recovery.

In computer forensics, the forensic examiner (CFE) searches for and through both existing and previously existing, or deleted data. Doing this kind of e-discovery, a forensics expert sometimes deals with damaged hardware, although this is relatively uncommon. Data recovery procedures may be brought into play to recover deleted files intact. But frequently the CFE must deal with purposeful attempts to hide or destroy data that require skills outside those found in the data recovery industry.

When dealing with email, the CFE is often searching unallocated space for ambient data - data that no longer exists as a file readable to the user. This can include searching for specific words or phrases ("keyword searches") or email addresses in unallocated space. This can include hacking Outlook files to find deleted email. This can include looking into cache or log files, or even into Internet history files for remnants of data. And of course, it often includes a search through active files for the same data.

Practices are similar when looking for specific documents supportive of a case or charge. Keyword searches are performed both on active or visible documents, and on ambient data. Keyword searches must be designed carefully. In one such case, The Schlinger Foundation v Blair Smith, et al the author, computer forensics expert Steve Burgess uncovered more than one million keyword "hits" on two disk drives.

Finally, the computer forensics expert is also often called upon to testify as an expert witness in deposition or in court. As a result, the CFE's methods and procedures may be put under a microscope and the expert may be called upon to explain and defend his or her results and actions. A CFE who is also an expert witness may have to defend things said in court or in writings published elsewhere.

Most often, data recovery deals with one disk drive, or the data from one system. The data recovery house will have its own standards and procedures and works on reputation, not certification. Electronic discovery frequently deals with data from large numbers of systems, or from servers with that may contain many user accounts. E-discovery methods are based on proven software and hardware combinations and are best planned for far in advance (although lack of pre-planning is very common). Computer forensics may deal with one or many systems or devices, may be fairly fluid in the scope of demands and requests made, often deals with missing data, and must be defensible - and defended - in court.

EZ

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5 Best Android Tablets for Under $200

Stop rushing and fretting because you are about to hear the best news you ever want to know in your whole life. The good news is that you can now afford to buy Android tablets in the market for less than 0!

Care to read below the best Android tablets sold in the marketplace - all for under 0:

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1. Sumixe 7-inch Android 2.1 Tablet (4)

5 Best Android Tablets for Under 0

It is not uncommon for people to say that cheap gadgets, more often than not, carry cheap features. But this gadget is one big exception. For only 4, you can get in here everything you want to expect from a modern tablet. The Sumixe comes with a 7-inch resistive and multi-touch screen, a 256 MB DDR RAM, a 4 GB internal memory, and a 0.3 MP camera. It also supports USB flash drives of up to 16 GB in size. And the winning feature is that this gadget is supported with Android OS 2.1 version. Can you believe that? For 4, you get to have access to the Android marketplace! If you belong to the I-want-nothing-but-cheap group, then this tablet will surely be your perfect match.

2. Corby Kyros Mid 7024 7-inch Android 2.2 Tablet (0)

Small but terrible? Well, you can say that to this new 7-inch Android tablet hitting in today's techie market. The Corby Kyros Mid7024 comes with a 1 GHz CPU, an ARM Cortex A8 especially made by Samsung, a 4 GB internal storage which is expandable up to 32 GB, and a screen resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. Also, it has an HDMI port which allows connection to HD devices. This tablet comes with an Android OS 2.2 version and is compatible connecting to Windows, Mac and Linux OS. Physically, the gadget's package is pretty slim at 4.75" x 0.53" x 7.68" and its weight at 0.87 pounds is quite very competitive. The Corby has two pre-included apps, the Aldiko E-book and the AppsLib. You can get all these features for only 0.

3. Velocity Micro - Cruz T301 7-inch Android 2.2 Tablet (2)

The Velocity Micro™ - Cruz Tablet T301 is a classic 7-inch tablet with 800 x 600 screen resolution. It comes with a 4 GB hard disk, a 256 MB RAM, and a 4 GB SD card. It also has a built-in Wi-Fi which supports 802.11n networks and a battery life which runs to a maximum of 6 hours. The gadget has media and eBook formats and more importantly, it is supported by Android OS 2.2 version. Its pre-loaded apps include the Kindle bookstore and Amazon AppStore. Be sure to control yourself from future eBooking then. You can enjoy all of these for only 2.

4. Zenithink 2 ZT-180 10-inch Android 2.2 Tablet (0)

If you're not on with the 7-inch tablets but with a budget to consider, then this gadget might just work well for you. The new Zenithink 2 ZT-180 is a 10-inch touch screen tablet with a 1 GHz ARM 11 processor and a 4 GB hard disk. It also comes with a built-in 1.3 MP camera, an HDMI port, a USB port which can support 3G internet modem, and an upgradable memory of up to 32 GB. Add to that its supporting Android OS 2.2 version and you sure have a solid cheap tablet right in your hands. In terms of design, the Zenithink is almost an exact replica of the iPad-and this you can get for only 0.

5. Archos Arnova 10-inch Android 2.1 Tablet (8)

If you're looking for a much cheaper 10-inch tablet, then try having a look on this one. You might just be blown away. Archos, the famous French manufacturer of multimedia devices, released the most recent 10-inch Archos Arnova. This gadget has a 1024 x 600 screen resolution, a 4 GB internal memory which is upgradable to 32 GB, and a USB host connection which accepts mouse, keyboard, and any other external mass storage. Moreover, it has a video playback feature of up to 6 hours, an audio playback of up to 40 hours with the screen off, and a photoviewer. The bonus point is that this gadget comes with an Android OS 2.1 version, which allows you browsing and gaming, in addition to movie-watching. This is really one of the best multimedia tablets which won't cost you much. By letting go of your 8, you will surely get a tablet which is more than what it's worth.

So, have you already decided which one you want to buy? Will you go for the 7-inch or 10-inch tablet PC? Will you go for the gadget that runs on an Android 2.1 or Android 2.2 system? Depending on your needs, you would not be disappointed with this cheap line of Android tablets. If you need a piece of advice, just choose wisely.

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How IP-based Video Surveillance Works -- Way Beyond Analog

When you're shopping around for an IP-based video surveillance system, you will need to be particularly cautious about what exactly you're looking at and what the individual terms mean. How IP-based video surveillance works is open to interpretation as far as some video surveillance and security salespeople are concerned -- not because they are trying to confuse the issues, but because there is no genuine consensus on what the term "IP-based" or related ones such as "networked" or "web-based" means.

Originally video surveillance was done based on analog technology -- closed
circuit television (CCTV) and recording on video tapes. This was fine for
recording what was going on, but it didn't broadcast actual live information, so
it wasn't practical for monitoring stores, for instance, from a remote location.
It simply provided what happened after the fact. The picture quality wasn't
great and it relied on human reliability as well -- someone had to remember to
change the tapes regularly, etc.

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Digital revolutionizes video surveillance

How IP-based Video Surveillance Works -- Way Beyond Analog

With the Internet revolution and the ever-increasing presence of Local Area
Networks, technology took great strides in video surveillance in the 1990's.
Analog camera tubes were replaced with CCD (Charged Coupled Devices) and digital
cameras became affordable for most people.

This combination meant that video surveillance could do two things: go live
over the Internet or a closed network for surveillance and provide clearer,
crisper images that could be tracked and manipulated easily. For law
enforcement, digital surveillance meant it was much easier to zoom in on images,
track particular scenes and enhance features.

The basics of IP-based surveillance

A digital camera "views" the scene in front of it, broadcasts the video
images as a digitized signal over a LAN line (Local Area Network) where it's
then transmitted to a computer or server. The server in turn manages all of this
information. Depending upon the software used to manage the digital images, it
can record, display or retransmit the images to anywhere in the world.

The software package can easily be upgraded to allow for analyzing data,
selecting specific "flagged" items to watch for and a host of other functions,
making it a truly customizable security tool.

True IP-based digital surveillance uses CCD cameras that use signal
processing that send packetized video streams over the LAN through a Cat 5 cable
rather than a coax cable network, utilizing greater bandwidth and standard
TCP/IP communication.

It also provides more intelligent data mining and information retrieval. If
security is an issue, full digital surveillance also offers the added advantage
of data encryption opportunities to protect against image tampering -- something
not possible with analog recording.

Recently, a few companies such as D-Link and Linksys have also developed fully
digital cameras that actually have completely integrated, built-in web servers
so that no external computers are needed for operating them. The signal is
transmitted directly to the terminal location for storage or play-back.

Halfway there...

The "middle of the road" of video surveillance is upgrading video
surveillance by utilizing a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). A DVR system is not
really fully IP-based, but is step toward the more advanced IP technology. In
actuality, a DVR system uses the same camera and structures for cabling as the
older CCTV analog systems, but the old VCRs have been replaced with DVR for
storage of the data. The data is converted to digital so that it can be stored
on hard disks, but the quality of the images captured remains analog since this
is how it originated.

When shopping for a system, be sure to ask if the system is digital based on
the recording (DVR) or on the camera, since many manufacturers consider a system
digital by virtue of the DVR storage system even if the camera recording the
images is still analog.

Going all the way

Some people will move to the hybrid models of a CCTV/DVR system when they
first move beyond an analog system because it seems like the next practical
evolutionary step in video surveillance. However, shifting to this method
largely ignores how IP-based video surveillance works.

With CCTV/DVR surveillance you have actually simply delayed the inevitable by
adding on a relatively new technology (hard disk, digital storage) to an old
technology (analog video over coaxial transmission lines). Rather than moving
forward into something new, you have prolonged the demise of the old.

Advantages of IP-based video surveillance

The leap into completely IP-based technology is the best bang for your buck
both monetarily and in terms of security by far. Digital surveillance can be
done over a LAN network, of course, but TCP/IP transmittal of surveillance makes
sense for remote monitoring of multiple locations and for remote recording of
data onto back-up servers and hard disks for long-term storage.

With IP-based video surveillance, you can connect your surveillance camera or
cameras to any network or wireless adapter, and you are extremely flexible in
your placement of the camera itself. A typical PC-attached video camera, while
providing digital picture image quality, still has to be within approximately
ten feet of the computer itself.

Set-up of an IP-based video system is easy -- once you've set up an IP
address, you're up and running and it's extremely stable and reliable. Because
this is the technology of the future, it is also upgradeable. You won't be
outgrowing an IP-based video surveillance system any time soon because new
developments are based on improving this market. Therefore, you will be able to
add on and improve this system for years to come while older, CCTV+DVR hybrids
will dead-end and become obsolete.

Comparing analog and IP-based video surveillance

A better way to understand the differences between analog and IP-based video
surveillance may be to compare the two and how they work:

Analog or CCTV+DVR video surveillance

o Easy to use -- operates like a VCR

o Changing cassettes and rewinding regularly means human error frequently interferes with effectiveness

o Image quality is poor

o Storage tapes wear out over time

o Broadcasting images live isn't practical

o Storage is bulky

o Uses analog recording, recording in low-grade picture quality and inability to search and track easily

o Adding DVR systems must be done in 'blocks' of 16 channels

IP-based video surveillance

o IP-based recording means instant transmittal of images anywhere in the world

o Can monitor multiple cameras from one remote location

o No decrease in recording quality over time or with repeated replays

o Digital picture quality far superior to analog

o IP-base recording is highly compressed for easier storage and can be transported over a variety of media

o Digital images can be encrypted for security purposes

o Updates and add-ons are relatively inexpensive through software packages and Internet computer networking

o Adjustable frame rates

o Remote or shared viewing may be done over the Internet or a wireless connection

o Standard IP video compression techniques are used

o IP surveillance cameras may be added individually or in groups according to your needs

If you are contemplating increased or upgrading video surveillance for your
company or home, understanding how IP-based video surveillance works will make
your decision easier. It is the future of video surveillance and, although in
the short term may be a bit more expensive, is obviously an investment in
superior quality and flexibility.

This article on "How IP-based Video Surveillance Works" reprinted with
permission.

Copyright © 2004-2005 Evaluseek Publishing.

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How to Recover Deleted Files From a Removable Drive

Have you accidentally deleted a file from your removable USB drive? Or maybe you are browsing the photos stored in your SD card and you accidentally clicked the delete all button.  These scenarios can happen to everyone including you.  That is why you need to know how to recover deleted files from removable drive to prevent permanent data loss. 

It is very heart breaking to lose valuable photos and videos stored in your removable memory cards.  There is no way that you can not capture those happy moments again.  But you can face much bigger problems if you accidentally deleted important work or business related files.  Such accidents could result to great financial loss for you and for your business. 

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You are probably asking if there is quick solution to recover these files from a removable drive.  There is good news for you.  You can quickly recover erased files from removable drive automatically with the help of data recovery software. 

How to Recover Deleted Files From a Removable Drive

Why Is It Possible to Retrieve Deleted Files from Removable Media

A removable drive is similar to the hard disk in your computer.  It has file sectors where the digital files are saved.  A USB drive for example has its own file system and file sectors.  Saved files are stored in specific folders.  

If the files are deleted, they will be removed from the folders but not from the file sectors.  These files will remain in the removable drive unless you over-write them.  So there is no need to bang your head against the wall if you accidentally deleted an important file from a removable drive.  The erased files can still be recovered no matter what type of removable storage you have. 

Steps to Recover Files with Data Recovery Software

You do not have to be a computer geek to recover deleted files from removable drives.  There is also no need to waste money on expensive data recovery procedures.  Simply use reliable data recovery software. This is the easiest, fastest, and cheaper approach to data retrieval. Even the biggest data recovery companies use software to retrieve deleted data.

So here are the concrete steps you need to do if you want to recover deleted files automatically:

1.  Look for a trusted data recovery tool that can retrieve deleted files from removable storage devices.  This is a piece of software that you can install in your computer.  You have to read software reviews, compare different features, look for good deals, and compare prices. 

2.  Purchase the most suitable data recovery software from a reliable vendor.  Once you have the software immediately install it in your computer so you can start retrieving your lost files. 

3. Plug the removable drive to your computer. Run the data recovery software and choose the target drive.  The software will automatically search and restore all deleted files in the drive.  You can also manually choose files that you want to recover. 

And you are done.  As you can see, learning how to recover deleted files from removable drive is a no-brainer.  Just use data recovery software to retrieve deleted files within seconds.

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Hacking a SNAP Server 2200 - How to Replace a Failed Drive

I had a Snap Server 2000 with 2x250GB hard drives in it. The drives were set to
mirror for data redundancy. Luckily, I did as after about 18 months, one of the
drives failed! Had this been setup as a stripe, all the data would have been lost. (I
know all about drive failure so the SNAP Server was also backed up from another
workstation as another layer of redundancy.)

The drive that failed was the boot drive, but the SNAP Server switched right over to
the mirror drive and kept on running. Fixing the SNAP Server 2200 was a lot more
trouble than I thought it would be! I assumed I would be able to simply swap the
bad drive with another good drive, and it would rebuild all by itself. I was wrong! I
did finally get it to working but it took some tome and research. The steps below
were what I had to do to get the SNAP Server back up and running.

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The first thing I had to do was to determine which drive was bad. I simply took the SNAP Server apart and disconnected each of the drives until the server wouldn’t
boot. It would have been much easier to go into the web interface to see the disk
status to determine the failed drive. But when I did this, it said that the boot disk,
disk 0 had failed. Looking at the hardware gave no indication which was the boot
drive and which was the secondary drive! As it turns out, disk 0, or the boot drive is
the top drive. The secondary drive is on the bottom.

Hacking a SNAP Server 2200 - How to Replace a Failed Drive

I removed the bad drive and ordered an exact replica of the failed drive. It is
important for a mirror to have an exact replica of the good drive. I ordered two of
the drives right away in case the good drive fails in the near future.

I put the new drive in the SNAP Server (both drives need to be configured as
“Master” IDE drives) and I powered it on. The SNAP Server would not boot! It would
enter reset mode (the power and disk lights would blink in tandem) and go no
further. I cold not even communicate with the server. So I called Adaptec tech
support (Adaptec purchased SNAP.) and they told me there was no way to do what I
wanted to do and that the server needed to be returned for repair! How untrue!
What I discovered from research is that the SNAP Server will boot off the mirrored
drive (bottom drive) but it won't rebuild a new drive from there! The SNAP Server
must boot and run the operating system from the master drive (disk 0 or the top
drive) in order to rebuild a mirror.

I put the new drive in the bottom slot and moved the good, original bottom drive to
the top slot. I powered on the SNAP Server. Only then did I eliminate the blinking
light, reset mode. I accessed the SNAP Server via the web interface and looked at the
Disk Status page. It showed that I had two drives! My boot drive as logical disk
10000 and the new blank disk was logical disk 10010.

Once I had the backup mirror drive (the one with all my data) on top (it was now
drive 10000), the Snap booted up. Now it was time to rebuild the mirror. However,
disk status showed a cracked mirror. I could not rebuild the mirror because it saw
the new drive as a separate drive and was still looking for the rest of the mirror. So I
had to break the mirror by making both drives individual drives, then re-establish
the mirror. This started the rebuild with no loss of data.

The exact steps are below.

1. Put good drive in top slot of SNAP.

2. Put new drive in bottom drive of SNAP. Turn on SNAP.

3. Reformat the new drive by executing the following command from the ipaddress/
config/debug web page. (For example [http://192.168.1.1/config/debug])
Note: DD is the number of the problem hard disk.
co de format 100DD /reinit
In my case it was
co de format 10010 /reinit
(After reboot, this configures 100DD as a SINGLE drive and FORMATS it.)

4. Reboot the Snap server.

5. Now break the mirror with this command
co de config individual 10000 10010

6. Reboot.

7. After the orphaned disk is formatted and the drives are converted to individual
drives, execute this command from the ipaddress/config/debug page. (For example
[http://192.168.1.1/config/debug])
co de config mirror 100SS 100DD
SS is the source disk, DD is the destination disk.
In my case the command was
co de config mirror 10000 10010
(This step mirrors the drive with data to the drive without data.)

5. Reboot the Snap. If everything works according to plan, the View Disk Status
page should report “Rebuilding backup disk” when it comes back online.

Once I went through this entire process, the mirror was re-established and all the
data was rebuilt. The whole 250GB drive took around 5-6 hours to rebuild. But now
I have a SNAP Server 2200 with a new drive. The server is mirrored so I can be rest
assured that my data is safe.

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The Trend of the External Hard Disk in the Future

All kinds of digital electronic products more popular with the widespread application of Internet, and mobile concept continuous develop from business to personal entertainment and other fields, storage needs for personal data, especially for mobile storage becomes faster and faster. In past three years, external hard drives are finally getting a much-needed makeover by consumers and business users in the mobile storage market, because it have higher access speeds, easier access to the process relative to the optical storage medium (such as CDRW DVDRW, etc.), and more large-capacity, lower prices and other advantages relative to the flash memory (U-disk), the market space is also growing. But the external hard disk market has shown the direction and development trends that can be grasped in a highly competitive market.

Trend 1: The volume minimized, Maximum capacity

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It means easy to carry and lots of space. IBM released the first 1-inch micro hard drive which capacity is 340MB in 1999, but in 2000 it creased to 1GB, now the product of 1-inch micro hard drives already can provide more than 4GB storage space, while the disc body is very small and slim enough to apply in a variety of consumer electronic products. Currently configured as a removable hard disk standard, 2.5-inch notebook hard drives also reached the maximum capacity of 120GB, almost equivalent to the current mainstream desktop hard drive capacity.

The Trend of the External Hard Disk in the Future

Although 1.8-inch hard drive come into the mobile storage market later, but it perfectly solved the contradiction between size and capacity.

Capacity of 1.8-inch hard drive approximately is 50-75% of 2.5-inch hard drive, but compared with the 2.5-inch hard drive, it more thinner, smaller and lighter. Silicon Pa's smallest and the latest mobile hard disk Buslink launched to the global market, 1.8-inch, compact structure, exquisite design, ensuring the best operation, the volume of the entire product is 68mm × 91mm × 15mm, equal to 1 / 2 of the traditional 2.5-inch external hard disk, is the world's smallest external hard drives. As more small portable devices to market with dozens of GB of internal storage space required, we will see 1.8-inch mobile hard disk will be more and more applications.

Trend 2: speed - the access speed of data

The access speed of mobile storage devices are still have great space for acceleration. First, the standard of mobile hard disk interface upgraded from USB1.1 to USB2.0, this is an important milestone on the development of external hard disk. The traditional USB 1.1 specification is specifically designed for low-speed communication equipment, which determines its maximum data transfer rate can reach 12Mbps, but due to extensive use of large files such as various video and audio, database and game software, the access speeds of external storage products has been challenged.

USB2.0 interface, data transfer rate can achieve 480Mbps, substantially increased data transmission speed. Currently a growing number of mobile storage products have begun to support the USB2.0 interface on the market.

Is it USB2.0 interface standard has achieved the limit of mobile transmission speed yet? Are there any possible to be faster interface standards in the near future?

Trend 3: Practical - integration of multiple technologies

In 2009, multimedia external hard drive have already integrated features suitable for mass consumer, such as play high-definition movie, directly download high-definition movie players. A good combination of data storage and audio video entertainment!

Trend 4: Secure Storage

Data confidentiality, stability as a product selling point is a direct and can not be missing. And this trend is an important guarantee of an external hard disk creating a niche in the mobile market, but compared with flash memory, external hard disk is temporarily at a disadvantage in earthquake and safety, but HDD makers has never stopped exploration on earthquake and security. Meanwhile, in the market, there are also a growing number of products in the direction towards the development of hardware-based encryption.

Trend 5: Fashion Appearance

As the development of any electronic products, external hard drives users has the same requirements to stylish appearance of products, especially when it is a portable consumer durables and could show to others.

In addition to the appearance of external hard drive is more smaller volume, lighter and cuter, its material properties, handle, decoration, color, product shape, the same as consumers demanding conditions. Mini (mini) represents not simple, but the quality of simultaneous promotion, internally and externally aesthetic.

While the future market competition will become more intense, but external hard drives advances in technology will give users a better experience: smaller size, more space, more stylish appearance, more secure, feature more diverse, external hard drives market share will be steadily increasing in the mobile storage.

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Recover Lost Data From External Hard Disk

The external drives have advanced features that provide extended storage space for your data, easily transfer information from one computer to another, and backup your internal drives stored data. Though the device is compact and light weight, still you can save a huge amount of data on it. Due to its high portability and accessibility, you can carry your important files everywhere you go and can access it on any computer. These devices are available with several models and with a wide range of storage capacities.

The mass storage device external hard disk drive can be easily attached to the computer using different ports and can be used to store information. The most commonly used interfaces to connect the device to computer are USB, FireWire, Ethernet and eSATA port. In order to store and transfer large amount of files, the external hard drives are highly useful. No matter how reliable is your storage device; these can be crashed at some point of time and you may not be able to access the files stored on it. Even though you are systematic and caring the disk properly, data loss on external hard drives quite frequent.

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There can be various reasons that cause data loss from the external hard disk. Accidental deletion of files, physical damage, bad sectors on the device, deletion of logical drives or partitions, virus attack, unintentional formatting, backup corruption and power failure are some of the reasons for losing important information. The physical damage of the device can be solved with the help of a professional hard drive service center. If the reason for data loss is logical, you can get back your valuable data from the device by using a powerful data recovery software.

Recover Lost Data From External Hard Disk

The simple and easy way to retrieve deleted or lost files from external hard drive is by using the data recovery tool. Most of the data recovery utilities are capable of recovering information in almost all data loss situations provided the data is not overwritten by new files. In order to make sure the best data recovery results, stop using the device immediately after you lose data. Never try to store new data or restart the device after data lose, as it can cause overwriting the previous data. Ensure that the recovery software that you have selected is read only and can retrieve lost data without damage. Evaluate the capabilities of the software that you have chosen by downloading the trial version from the respective website.

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Replacing Computer Hard Drives

Have you run out of storage space in your computer?

Perhaps it's time for a bigger hard drive!

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In this article you'll find out how to replace your current hard drive.

Replacing Computer Hard Drives

In actuality the computer wouldn't even run without a hard disk drive, its BIOS or basic operating system would be looking for it the minute you turned it on.

The hard disk drive is a sealed unit with multiple rigid magnetic disks inside.
It is sealed to prevent any foreign particles from entering inside it, which would render the drive useless.
Hard disk drives come in many sizes, anywhere from a few hundred megabytes to several gigabytes.

Now that's what I call a memory bank!

I wish I had one of these babies in my head, then I'd never forget anything again.

Obviously you'd want to get a large enough hard drive for your needs.

Like memory modules, the bigger the better.

But remember, the larger the hard drive the more it will cost you.

There are currently 3 types of HARD DRIVES:

IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics).

EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics) and,

SCSI (Small Computer Serial Interface) - A SCSI expansion card is needed.

The most popular being the EIDE drive.

Most current motherboards support EIDE drives, but check your motherboard owner's manual to be sure.

On the back of the hard drive you'll notice 2 connectors.

The smaller one is to supply DC power to the drive.

The larger one is used for data communications to and from the computer.

You'll also notice there are jumpers, much like your motherboard and expansion boards.

If this is the only hard drive in your system you'll want to set it as your master drive.

Most of the time the drive will be already configured at the factory for master drive # 1.

Connect one of the remaining power leads from the power supply to the DC power connector on the drive.

The power connector is keyed so it will only fit one way.

Connect the larger flat ribbon cable to the motherboard and to the data connector on the drive, making sure the dotted colored edge goes to pin # 1 (usually near the power connector).

Slide the drive into one of the bays and secure it with 4 Phillips screws using a non-magnetic screwdriver only!

To remove or replace the drive, simply reverse the procedure.

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New Computer - Old Email, or How to Back up and Transfer Your Email

If you have a brand new computer, or are thinking about buying one in the near future, one of the things that you will need to consider is how to transfer your emails from the old system to the new system.

At least once a week in my job as a help desk analyst, I am helping a customer set up Outlook Express or Outlook (there are other email clients that are used, but these two are the most popular) on their new computer. Once we are finished with the setup and they open it up to the Inbox the question is asked "where are my old emails?" The simple answer; "on your old computer". Then of course the follow up question is; "how do I get them to the new computer?"

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Easy or Hard

New Computer - Old Email, or How to Back up and Transfer Your Email

The easiest way to do this is to back them up to an external hard drive or a compact disc before you make the switch to the new computer and then copy them over to the new computer in the exact same directory. The harder way is in the case of a crashed computer or the inability to access the files normally. I cover a bit of that in another article called 'Got Backups?' which you can find at my website.

Outlook Express

With Outlook Express your emails/email folders are stored on your hard drive in a directory that is buried way down deep in the Operating System. Instead of me giving you the full path to get there, it's easiest if you have Outlook Express open, click on Tools then Options.

Copy/Paste

Once you are here, click on the Maintenance tab and then click on the Store Folder button. This will pop another window with the location of your emails. Using your mouse, highlight the path and then right click and copy it.

You will then click on the Start button, then click Run, and then right click in the Open box and Paste the path. Click Ok.

This will open another window with your email files. Unless you have added other folders to your Outlook Express, the default folders will be here with a .dbx extension (Folders, Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, and Drafts).

Backup

If you are going to write these files to a CD, you can burn them at this time by using your favorite burning software (providing that you have a CD burner installed in your computer).

To copy them to an external hard drive, you must now connect that device to your computer, create a folder on that drive (I usually call it Email Backups), copy the files from the old computer then paste the files into the Email Backups folder.

Import

Once you have the files copied to the CD or external drive, then you will go to the new installation of Outlook Express and import the messages. It would be nice if you could just copy them to the new OE and be done, but Microsoft doesn't like you to do it that way.

Open up OE and then click on File, Import, Messages. This will open a new window called Outlook Express Import. Choose Microsoft Outlook Express 6 then click Next. Click in the circle that says 'Import mail from an OE6 store directory'. Click OK. Then click 'Browse' and navigate to and select the directory you have saved them to. Click OK. The next window will give you a list of all of the email folders you have previously saved. Keep 'All folders' selected and click Next.

This will begin the process of importing all of your 'old' emails into your 'new' Outlook Express. Once it has finished you will have all of your old emails back! Cool, huh?

Outlook

The procedure to save and then import your emails in Outlook is similar, but different.

To start with, Outlook uses a file extension called pst, or Personal Folder File. Don't ask me why it's called that. Call Bill Gates and ask him.

Export

You will start on the old computer and with Outlook open, click on File, then 'Import and Export'. This opens the Import and Export Wizard. Choose 'Export to a file' then click Next. Choose 'Personal Folder File' here and then click Next. In the Export Personal Folders dialogue box you have your choice of what you want to do. The easiest is to keep the default choice of just the inbox, but if you want your sent items and all the other folders, choose the top item (Personal Folders) and then choose the 'Include subfolders' option and then click Next.

The next window will have a default location listed
(usually C:Documents and Settings'your computer name'Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlookbackup.pst). I would suggest following the same procedure as for OE (see above). Then click 'Finish' and let it do it's thing.
Once you have your pst files backed up, move to the new computer and the import process will again be similar to OE.

Connect your external hard drive to your computer or insert the CD into the drive.

Import

Open Outlook, click on File, then Import and Export. In the Import and Export Wizard, this time choose 'Import from another program or file' then click Next. In the 'Import a File' window, scroll down and select Personal Folder File (.pst) and then click Next.

In the 'Import Personal Folders' window, click the Browse button and navigate out to the location of your backed up pst file, choose it and then click Next. Click 'Finish' and it will import all of your messages.

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Tips To Select Proper Hard drive

Day by day computers are getting advanced. Capacity and performance are increasing with every passing year. This is true for the primary storage also. Latest Hard disks are getting bigger in capacity and with higher rotational speed can access the data faster. This is good news for computer users.

The digital revolution has brought with it the need to store vast amounts of data. The new Hard disks are ready to take the challenge. The good news is, these Hard disks with higher capacity are affordable. Thanks to a very competitive market and demanding consumers.

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Hard disk technology is suitable for the bandwidth demands of today's applications. The 7200 rpm hard disk drives with a minimum storage space of 40 GB and above are now more common than ever before.

Tips To Select Proper Hard drive

The demand for storage in PCs has boomed. With a lot of multimedia files being used today, including MP3, Flash files and movies--even today's entry level 40 GB hard disks aren't enough for users. On the other hand, 80 - 400 GB, 7200 rpm drives are also available and are preferred by professionals.

Depending on your need, you should select the proper hard drive. Ask yourself few questions, before going for the selection of new hard drive. This strategy will be useful in long run.

Think of the following points.

Hard drive storage capacity, speed, brand and price.

First select the Hard drive storage capacity.

1) Also what software, you will loading in your computer.

2) What type of files, you will be loading.

If you are a basic computer user, go for the 40 GB hard drive which is sufficient for OS and file storage. The text files require very less storage space however multimedia files require large storage space.

If you are a gamer or a graphic designer, go for minimum 80 / 120 GB hard drive.

If you are movie or song lover who would be storing lot of movies then go for higher capacity of 240 GB depending on your budget.

Let us select the proper speed. The most common speeds which are available in the market are 5400 and 7200 RPM. The 5400 RPM means hard disk will be rotating at a speed of 5400 revolutions per minute.

Now there is not much price difference between 5400 and 7200 rpm. It is better to go for 7200 RPM hard drive.

It is better to go for standard brand. Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, Samsung & Hitachi are the standard brands available in the market.

The above suggestions are for your internal hard drives.
If you have to carry data frequently, you can go for external hard drive. These drives can be connected to computer through USB port. There is absolutely no difference between external hard drive and internal hard drive if you consider the operation or drive mechanics. USB interface has made external hard drive installation very user friendly.

External hard drives give lot of portability. However these external hard drives have higher access time compared to desktop drive because of USB interface. But because of USB interface, CPU utilization is less in the range of 8.4 to 10. This means less load on CPU.

Iomega, Freecom, Transcend are some of the manufacturers of external hard drives. These drives require external power supply and are most suitable for desktop use. When you are selecting external hard drive, check whether the manufacturer is offering a carry bag, data cable and power supply if it is externally powered.

Also check the warranty offered by the manufacturer. Now a days, some of the manufacturers offer warranty for 3 years.

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A Brief History of External Storage Devices - From the Floppy Disk to the Hard Drive

From the very beginning of the personal computer (PC) people have needed external storage. In the following material we will discuss the beginning of the external storage (floppy disks) to the current technologies. In the beginning of the PC there were only floppy disk drives that were 5 1/4" wide. The operating system and applications needed to be loaded into the floppy drives just to run the computer in the early 1980's. The computer hard disk allowed the applications to be loaded into the computer without needing the floppy drive. During this timeframe people could store their information on these floppy disks and keep it offline to be reloaded into the computer later.

The original 5 1/4" floppies held 160KB (kilobytes) of data but quickly improved to 360KB. To put this into perspective 1KB is about half a page of text. The floppy drives were made from a vinyl like a record in that you had tracks where the data was stored. The 5 1/4" drive topped out at 1.2MB (megabytes) but were still contained in the fragile floppy disk that was prone to environmental contamination. The next format to come out were 3 1/2" floppies. These not only were smaller but they had a plastic case protecting them. Though they began holding only 720KB of data, they were soon able to hold 1.44MB of data and were far easier to store in cases and off site. By the late 1980s the 5 1/4" floppy disks were replaced by the 3 1/2" format.

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During the same timeframe in the 1980's the internal hard disk drive was becoming a standard for the PC as well. There are distinct differences between the hard disk storage (think library of information) and memory (RAM - random access memory) and the floppy drive (used to take the information with you). The hard drives started out in 5 1/4" format storing 5MB (megabytes) of data growing steadily throughout the 1980's up until the Quantum 1.28GB drive. To put this into perspective 1GB is about 250 MP3 songs. Unlike floppy disks, hard drives were installed inside the computer. Hard drives continued to progress shrinking their form factor to 3 1/2" in the 1990's. These hard drives were referred to as half-height drives. By the 1990's the hard drives were growing rapidly starting around 40GB (gigabytes) of total storage all the way up to today's 3TB (terabytes) drives.

A Brief History of External Storage Devices - From the Floppy Disk to the Hard Drive

Hard disk drives continue to shrink with the laptop models standardizing on 2 1/2" form factor. Hard drives inside an exterior enclosure, while around technically for some time, were becoming available in the consumer market in standard formats like USB (Universal Serial Bus), FireWire, and SATA (Serial AT Attachment) though the 2000's. These new formats allowed these enclosures to be fairly portable with a standardized interface (like USB) allowing you to connect to another system painlessly. USB provides a more generic plug and play capability allowing the system to identify the drive as soon as you connect it. There are some enclosures on the market that can hold multiple drives and even offer RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) capabilities. RAID provides the ability to either mirror your data from one hard drive to another or stretch (stripe) the data across the drives you have. What this provides is a failsafe in case you loose a hard disk drive due to failure the computer will not notice any difference in accessing your data as the other hard drives take over.

Although disk drives remained standardized by form factor (full height or half height) the floppy drive diversified into a full field of products including today's USB drives. In late 1980 there came a new format called CD (compact disk) which offered data stored onto a plastic disc with reflective backing. These CD drives were 5 1/4" form factor and fit easily into existing expansion bays in the PC. CDs began storing 680MB of data holding around 74 minutes of music and have topped out at 700MB of data. CDs became the standard format for removable storage and are still widely used today. In the early 1990's Iomega came to market with the Iomega Zip drive. This external storage device started at 100MB and grew to 750MB densities. It was cartridge based continuing the 3 1/2" floppy innovation. This new type of storage had different connections to the PC.

In the beginning the connection was SCSI (small computer system interface) but later on it developed into a USB (universal serial bus) connection. By 1995 SmartMedia had arrived on the scene from Toshiba Corporation. SmartMedia was a small (45mm) plastic card with a flash memory module inside allowing 2MB of direct storage but this quickly grew to the 64MB/128MB. These cards were used in digital cameras and other devices allowing the ability to remove the storage and read it on your PC. Today you can find various sizes up to 32GB on a single card. By contrast to older technologies these new devices were far more rugged than the floppy drive and much more portable. During this same timeframe the DVD (digital video disk) arrived to the market to replace the CD. This format provided 4.7GB (8.5G double layered) of storage space on the same optical disc format that the CDs were based on. As density increased Blu-Ray DVDs arrived to provide 50GB of storage space with dual layer discs being the most common. Blu-Ray provides the best high density video format available today commercially with 100GB of data being the standard.

Flash forward to today as the hard drives and portable external storage have progressed to SSD (Solid State Disk) technology. This transformed portable storage allowing for those ubiquitous USB flash drives people carry around with them. Internal hard drives based on SSD technology allow you to use SATA to connect the drive internally to your PC or laptop. SATA is the common standard for connecting hard drives. These drives are more durable and have a lower access time. As new emerging technologies arrive like cloud computing there will be less demand for portable storage and hard drives. Cloud computing allows you to run your application on the web while your data resides elsewhere (the cloud). Make no mistake your data is being stored, just not on your hard drive or floppy.

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Data Recovery On External Hard Drives

Perhaps you are already aware of the fact that the data on your computer can be stored in many different ways, such as CD's, removable disks or DVDs and so on. I may also agree with the fact that all machines reach a point where they crash, with or without any obvious reasons. Floods, fires or human mistakes can be among them, if you were looking for actual examples!

Loss of data is one of the major negative effects these break downs can cause, therefore one must try to prevent them as much as possible. You may always simply want to delete a file, but you do it on another one by mistake. On the other hand, the hard drive may fail in an attempt to open a file, or the whole operating system can crash and leave you with nothing!

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In order to solve any of these problems and be safe from any computer break down, the best option you have is contacting an external hard drive data recovery specialist.

Data Recovery On External Hard Drives

In case you are wondering what external hard drive data recovery means, it is simply the method of recovering the damaged data that has been lost from external hard drives, such as Fireware or USB. Generally speaking, this is not a very difficult process, just that there are times when it may get more time consuming.

The process of recovering data from external hard drives starts by a thorough analysis of the external hard drive in question. There are many external hard drive specialists who can easily get to solution of your problem and set the scope of the damage. They are the ones to decide the part of the data that can be recovered, but also establish the best way to take in order to successfully retrieve that particular data. This first evaluation is said to be rather expensive, but if you investigate the market a little, you will surely find the companies which actually do it for free.

Unfortunately, the rest of the recovery process is not cheap at all. The company will provide an amount of money that covers the full costs of the project. This figure must cover for the service the company puts in to obtain your data and the amount of data restored, therefore don't expect it to be a bargain!

There is nothing more for you to do now, than expect the specialists deal with the damage and recover your data!

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What You Need to Know About External Hard Drives & Data Recovery

External hard drives, also called portable hard drives, are a popular choice for data storage among consumers for both business and personal use. External drives offer the convenience of allowing for expanded storage capacity for your data, the ability to back up your internal drives and the ability to easily move files from one computer to another. They are particularly convenient for laptop or notebook users. They are usually relatively light weight and compact, while still able to store a significant amount of data.

An external hard drive is a hard drive that connects to your computer from an outside port. There are a number of popular interfaces for external drives, including:

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Firewire (a popular interface for Mac users) Universal Serial Bus or USB. USBs are able to connect a large number of devices, including MP3s and PDAs as well as external hard drives. eSATA is the newest interface for external hard drives. eSATA external drives follow the same protocol as internal drives, which allows for better performance from your external drive. Ethernet connections. These are less common, they act like file serves to store your data.

What You Need to Know About External Hard Drives & Data Recovery

External drives are relatively inexpensive, allowing you to take your data with you anywhere you go and access it on almost any computer, due to their portability and ease of use. These hard drives come in a wide range of different models, all with different speeds and data storage capabilities.

In selecting the right model for you, you need to know the amount of data you need to store, as that will determine the storage size of the drive that you require. Keep in mind that your data storage needs will almost certainly increase over time, and be sure that you buy one that will cover not just your short term but also your long term needs.

You'll also need to consider the cache size of the drive. The cache size controls how quickly you can store data on the drive. The larger the cache, the faster you can copy files to your drive. The higher the cache size, the more expensive your drive will be, so let your individual needs and situation determine your purchase.

One of the benefits of using an external hard drive for data storage is that it you can add to size of your backup drive as your storage needs increase. You can add more storage as the amount of your data increases. As the size of the drive increases, your device will likely need its own power source as it won't be able to draw enough power from the USB or Firewire connection alone.

Recovering Data From Your External Hard Drive

Data loss on external hard drives is fairly rare as long as you care for your drive properly, but it still can occur. There are several reasons that might cause your external drive to lose data, such as:

Physical damage Deleted partition or logical drives Files written to bad sectors Virus attacks Accidentally deleted files Corrupt backup or application data Accidental reformatting Power surges

Always keep in mind that the more important your data is, the more likely that you should take the failed drive to a professional data recovery lab to retrieve the files. But if any of these happen to you, there are some steps you can take to recover data from your external hard drive.

Boot your computer as you normally would, with the external drive attached to your computer. Download or run a data recovery program and install it on your main computer drive. Make sure that you don't install any programs on your external drive, as this may write over some of your lost data. Run the data recovery program. You will likely get options to recover deleted files, find your lost hard drive if it is not responding and recover data lost due to formatting. Select the drive containing the lost data and scan for the files. Save all recovered data on your internal hard drive. Send your external drive to a professional computer technician or company to have it repaired. It isn't likely that you will be able to repair it yourself, particularly if there is significant physical damage to the drive.

The best protection against data loss is to regularly back up your system and protect your external hard drive(s) from extreme heat, moisture and physical damage. Be sure to protect your drives against power surges or other electrical problems. Taking good care of your equipment could save you the time, money and hassle of having to recover lost files.

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How Does the Hard Disk Function?

The hard drive is a device that is used for reading/writing digital data. It is a general section of every computer. The HDD keeps all the information we have. The hard drive might basically be separated into 2 general pieces - the mechanic one and the electronic one.

The mechanical part of the hard drive contains the following: plates, heads, spindle, arm and slider. The plates of the hard disk drive are produced from aluminum alloy or from glass. They are very smooth and are manufactured in special areas with no dust. In order to achieve the magnetic covering they are wrapped with cobalt alloy. On the plates is stored all the digital information.

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The plates are being rotated with a very high speed by the spindle. It uses 12 volts. Ordinary hard disks (their plates) are rotating with a pace of 7200 RPM (revolutions per minute).

How Does the Hard Disk Function?

The plates have numberless very microscopic sectors which include a number of even tinyer bits of data - every bit is 0 or 1. When the digital data is being written or read the small bits are accessed by the also so tiny head. The head is being floated just above the correct bit by an arm and slider which are pretty precise. There are trully complex systems that command this operation and secure the accurate spot.

The read/write operation is very complicated. The most easy explanation is that the head and all the bits of information are magnets. When the head is right overhead a bit, and the data needs to be changed, the microscopic magnet bits shift their direction of their magnetic poles.

The electronic part is getting increasingly complicated with the years. It includes now a its own memory, separate processor and its own software. The electronics of the HDD manage the spinning of the spindle, the movement of the arm and the exact positioning, controlling the write/read process and even others.

The electronics also contain the HDD's cache. This is chip of pretty fast memory that plays the role of a buffer between the information on the plates and the random access memory of the PC.

This is pretty much what the HDD is. There are also portable hard drives (also external hard drive) and they operate by the same rules. They just have divers interface for creating communication with the PC.

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Add an Extra Hard Drive to Your PC - Internal or External?

If the decision is to be an internal hard drive, then a little research is required. The first thing you will need to do is to find out what kind of extra hard drive is required.

To find this out you will have to either check out the specifications in your computers manual. Or you can open up the case and take a look inside.

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Before you enter into the workings of the computer, you must be aware of the dangers of static. One of the ways to reduce the risk would be to wear an anti static wristband.

Add an Extra Hard Drive to Your PC - Internal or External?

Most machines only have one hard drive, therefore it should be fairly easy to add another.

The cable system is very important when adding an extra hard drive to the computer. There are two common cable systems used to connect drives to the motherboard. One system includes the IDE drives, which are also known as PATA or Parallel ATA. These cables are flat or thick and are as wide as your finger.

The other system has the SATA drives or the Serial ATA drives. For these drives the cables are thin and are about the diameter of a pencil.

The common and mass-market computers will generally have the PATA or the SATA drives. Although is also possible that your computer has SCSI hard drives, in which case you will need SCSI cables.

If your machine already has two drives, then it becomes a little difficult to install a third one. it is much simpler to add an external drive.

An external enclosure system is probably the easiest way to add an extra hard drive to your computer. The system is fairly simple here a standard hard drive is enclosed within a desk-friendly case and then plugged into your computer usually via USB. You only have to format your new hard drive and it immediately registers as an extra hard drive on your computer. Now you can perform normal actions like adding, changing, creating and deleting files.

The biggest advantage of an external enclosure system is that it is possible to change the extra hard drive without any trouble if you need even more space. You can also transfer the hard drive to another computer. The biggest advantage is that you don't even need to open up the old machine and it also removes the risk of static.

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Backup With External Tape Drives

Backing up valuable information is a very important part of running a business or a group successfully. Depending on the type of business being run, it may even be a requirement by law... hence the external tape drive.

As more time passes, it is becoming smarter to save records of all the transactions and paperwork which go through the system in order to have protection against any discrepancies which may arise in the future. The question remains, which is the best way to save these records.

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There are two main schools of thought when it comes to the best preservation methods. Most people are more familiar with the use of disc space to record and store all of their records. What many people don't realize, however, is that the use of magnetic tape outweighs disc space by far.

Backup With External Tape Drives

Magnetic tape costs nearly 25 times less to record the same amount of information as it would cost on hard disc space. It also has the ability to last for over 30 years, making its shelf life incredibly valuable. The only issue comes in the form of the fact that most computer systems normally do not come with magnetic tape decks.

This means that if someone wanted to use magnetic tape to backup all of their documents, they would need to install a tape drive into their system. Thankfully, an external tape drive is available, making the use of one of these systems incredibly easy for any user.

By installing an external tape drive, one simply needs to hook the unit up to the computer and run some software to make the unit compatible.

Sticking a blank magnetic tape into the external tape drive makes it then available for the unit to record and store the data necessary, with only a minimal amount of work on the part of the computer user. These external tape drives can be a lifesaver when it comes to the storage of all of the important data.

External tape drives will often end up saving the company a great deal of money as well, when compared to saving the equivalent amount of data on discs. The cheapest of these drives can be found for a little over 0, while some of the more quality, top-end brands can go all the way up to 0.

Whichever external tape drive is purchased, however, the company will quickly begin to save money. The tapes which are required to store the information are much cheaper and will hold much more than the disc space that could be required. In this manner, it will not take long for the company to make up the difference they would have been spending on all of the disc space and begin to save money, therefore killing two birds with one stone, with the external tape drives!

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Top External Hard Drives - Best Storage Solution

If you're looking for the best external storage for you, there are several good options out there. To find the one that is best suited for you, you need to look at several factors including your budget, the capacity you desire, the drive speed and more. You also want a reliable brand and model, so those are also considerations to keep in mind when choosing your new hd.

What to watch out for is poor quality of casing, hard disk itself or components. Here is a list of top-rated hard drives based on a compilation of reviews from top review sites. You're likely to find one here that will suit your needs well.

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Western Digital My Book
Western Digital's "My Book" line of drives is one of the oldest manufactured external hard drives to date, and the line is currently in its 3rd generation of offerings. My Book 3.0 has in-built USB 3.0 capabilities, making it a sensible choice if you're looking to stay updated with computer technology standards. Since USB 3.0 hasn't even been released yet at the time of this writing, investing in this hard drive is a surefire way to make it last well into the future.

Top External Hard Drives - Best Storage Solution

Western Digital is a well-known brand reputed for producing reliable internal and external hd. Although there aren't many reviews yet for the My Book 3.0 because it's so new, previous generations have garnered enthusiastic positive reviews from both professional and consumer-driven review sites.

The My Book drive is available in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities, and will likely have more capacities available once demand increases.

Iomega Prestige
Iomega has also been manufacturing all kinds of storage devices for a long time. They were the original manufacturers of the Zip drive back in the day, which eventually became an industry benchmark of computer storage devices. Iomega are using their knowledge and experience to now make high-quality external hd.

The Iomega Prestige is a stylish and elegant drive, boasting an attractive brushed aluminum finish. Its current capacities include 500 GB, 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB.

The Prestige has received good to excellent reviews from professional and consumer review sites.

Lacie D2 Quadra
The Lacie D2 Quadra series external storage are designed to be stackable, and are known for their expandability. You can purchase them sequentially as your storage needs change, and keep stacking them together. They are connectable via USB as well as Firewire 400 and 800, and ESATA as well.

The D2 Quadra is available in the following capacities: 500 GB, 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB.

This model has gotten favourable reviews overall from professional and consumer review sites.

Worthy Mention
Amongst all the many good external storage out there, the hard drives mentioned above are the ones that have consistently gotten the best reviews from major review sites. There are a few more that also deserve to be mentioned:

Western Digital Passport
Toshiba Portable
Seagate FreeAgent Go
Western Digital Element
Seagate Desktop

Conclusion
In general, the brands Western Digital, Toshiba, Seagate, and Lacie are at the forefront of the external hard drive market. These brands have a consistent record of manufacturing reliable, high-quality hard drives.

Which one is the best for you? It's a matter of preference, really. Once you know the features you're looking for, you'll be in a better position to choose from the options available.

Also consider building a hard drive of your own, or upgrading your existing internal HD- which is easier than it might seem.

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How to Recover Data From a USB Hard Drive

With the amount of media that people like to carry around with them these days, a USB hard disk has become a nearly essential piece of equipment for computer users. However, because these kinds of disks are carried around so much and subjected to so much use, they are vulnerable to breakdown, which can lead to an irretrievable loss of mountains of data. But with the proper techniques, it is possible to retrieve precious data from a broken USB hard drive provided It is still being detected by your computer.

First Thing First: Determine the Cause

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If you suddenly find your hard drive malfunctioning, it may be for reasons that will fall under two categories: mechanical or logical disk failure. Mechanical failure is happens because of wear and tear that can be brought about by any number of things. When trying to figure out the cause of your hard drive's failure, try to remember whether you have recently dropped, hit, shaken, wet or heated (overused, left in a car on a hot day, etc.) it. If you have, then the problem is probably mechanical. If not, then it's possible that you're looking at a logical disk failure. You'll know this is the case if your computer recognizes the hard drive but simply cannot read the files. You should be relieved because recovering your data will be much easier than if your drive had failed mechanically.

How to Recover Data From a USB Hard Drive

What to Do in Case of Mechanical Failure

If you plug your hard drive into your computer through the USB port and your computer doesn't read it, don't panic just yet! Stay calm, and try attaching your drive internally, like a regular hard drive. If the computer is then able to read the drive, then your data should be intact. All you need to do, then, is transfer your files to a backup and then have your hardware repaired.

But if your computer can't read the drive even when it is internally connected, then you should turn to professional data recovery services (unless you happen to be experienced in this kind of thing, in which case you wouldn't be reading this article).

What to Do in Case of Logical Failure

An example of logical disk failure is when the Master File Table or MFT in Windows has been corrupted. In this case, your disk still retains your data, but is unable to properly access it. If this is the case, then follow these steps to recover your files:

Don't load any more data. This may seem obvious, but is nevertheless important to say. You might be tempted to just accept the "loss" of the files and start using your hard drive again without fixing it, but this will only lead to more problems for you. Prepare another hard drive. You will use this to store your recovered files. Purchase or download for free any reliable data recovery software. Normally, this will get the job done. All you need to do is, scan your USB hard drive for deleted files and the software will show you a lit of files you've deleted before. You just need to select those files and start the recovery process.

If you've done all this, and are still unable to recover your files satisfactorily, then you should think about availing of professional services.

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Definition of a Hard Drive

The computer hard drive, which is simply a component within your system, stores your data for you permanently. When you want to locate a document or look at your pictures, your computer operating system locates them on your hard drive and then displays them on your monitor. A simple definition of a hard drive is a sealed device which has the ability to store digital data on self contained magnetic disks, called platters, which are written to and read by a special head at the end of an arm which operates very similar to a household record player. If you picture in your mind a record player, also called a turn table, it has a needle at the end of an arm that plays the music as the record spins. The part in your fixed disk which reads the data is positioned extremely close to the spinning platter and moves very quickly to different areas of the platter where the data needed at that moment in time is stored.

When you are using a laptop or desktop computer, and you double click on a folder you want to open, the operating system, such as Microsoft Windows XP or Vista, actually tells the fixed disk that it would like to see the contents of the particular folder which you double clicked on. The platter within your system must spin around to where the head is able to retrieve the data which is magnetically stored on the hard drive and then send it to the operating system so that Windows can display the contents of the folder on your computer monitor. Now, this is a very basic definition of a hard drive in action because in reality there are many components involved in this process such as the CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access Memory), the motherboard, etc.

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Basically the hard drive stores all of the computers information such as documents, pictures, and movies for example. When the computer itself is powered off, and eventually powered on again, the data on the hard drive remains intact exactly as should be expected. This is called permanent storage. The data will remain intact on the hard drive until the computer user deletes the permanently stored data. Without this important system component there would be no way for us to permanently store large amounts of data.

Definition of a Hard Drive

The hard drive is also often referred to as a fixed disk because once it is mounted inside of a desktop, external enclosure, or a laptop computer, there is no need to remove it. If you think about a CD (Compact Disc) or a DVD (Digital Video Disc), they are each capable of storing digital data but they are obviously not fixed in any fashion. Also, they are dependent on an optical drive in order to have their data be read by a computer. In the case of a laptop computer or an external enclosure, the hard drive is certainly portable, but the disk itself stays securely fixed in the laptop or the enclosure.

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Secure Hard Disk Delete

Secure Hard Disk Delete is important for all. Some of us consider sending back the disk back to manufacturer for removing the data the most secured way. But it is not. There have been instances reported where data of some one's get transferred on your disk and vice- versa. To avoid being in such a situation people thought it is wiser to buy a new disk and totally destroy the existing disk. Okay it would be wiser but when there is already so much e waste, then you think it's a wiser option. No would be the answer but then what are the other ways for securely deleting hard disk. Well you can either try for a disk degauss.

For degaussing the disk there are special machines that help in creating the magnetic fields that help in deleting the data completely. If you don't have the machine, then take the help of a data deletion company.

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Another inexpensive method for hard disk erasure is to buy a safe data deletion software program available online. These programs are available at economical prices online. The step by step easy to understand procedure helps you to delete the data permanently without any problem. For PCs this is something good & as a safe option as well.

Secure Hard Disk Delete

Many small and big business houses badly require hard disk delete program to protect the interest of the customers, and employee. For them it is recommended to use the help of professional. This will highly eliminate the chances of data leaving any imprint on the disk and ultimately help in secure hard disk deletion. For more tips visit erase your hard drive [http://www.eraseyourharddrive.com].

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WDBAAR5000ABK Western Digital WD Elements 500 GB Portable External Hard Drive

I have used several portable hard drives but most of them are not reliable. I lost my information because I did not use the good external hard drive. I struggled finding the new and reliable portable hard drive until my friend told me about Western Digital WD WDBAAR5000ABK, which is 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive.

I did not have the external hard drive manufactured from Western Digital. I've used only internal hard drive from Western Digital, and I am impressed with it. For the external hard drive, I did not make a decision to buy until I researched about it first. I did not want to get disappointed the same as my previous portable hard disks.

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I keep searching and reading all technical information and review from the internet. Moreover, I also asked a couple of my friends about it. They said that the WDBAAR5000ABK is the most reliable hard disk and easy to use. After doing my research for a week, I decided to buy the WDBAAR5000ABK.

WDBAAR5000ABK Western Digital WD Elements 500 GB Portable External Hard Drive

I've used it for few months, and I am very impressed with its performance. Therefore, I would like to share my reviews as listed below:

Pros of WDBAAR5000ABK

Appearance - It is a modern and simple design, and it has light weight. Additionally, it is incredibly small and its plastic case is very strong.

Ease of installation - I use it with my Window-based computer, and I don't need to format or do any other special operations prior to using it. Only thing I do is just plug-and-play. My computer and my hard drive match perfectly with each other. For my first time use, a computer may take few seconds to recognize.

Ease of use - This unit has a standard USB connection cord which supports v. 1.1 and 2.0, and it also used for transferring data, powering the unit. There is no other external power supply required. Moreover, an operating manual is included in the package. It shows how to use the hard drive. If you have experience about previous hard disks, you do not need to read it.

This unit comes with NTFS format. If you want another format as FAT, you need to reformat it, but it is not hassle. It takes few minute to reformat this portable drive. When it is being operated, it is very quiet. Furthermore, it supports several operating systems as Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X, Tiger and Leopard. My friend uses it with his mac book without any problems as well.

Reliability - I transferred a lot of my document, photos, songs, etc and there is no problem at all. All of my data is not crashed during data transferring.

Cons of WDBAAR5000ABK

The USB cable is very short, which is less than 2 feet, and it will be great if there is a carrying case to protect it.

How can you find affordable price of Western Digital WDBAAR5000ABK?

You can get it from either electronic malls or online web sites. I would personally suggest you to buy from the internet because you will have several price ranges that you can compare. This is really save you both time and money.

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How Long Do External Hard Drives Last For?

What is the age of external hard drive?

Before I went to purchase an external hard drive, the first thing I thought of was the age they last. I asked this question to one of my computer expert friends and he replied me like this:-

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"My friend, the age of the external hard drive doesn't depend on one factor. It can be last long to you if you take proper care of it. There are many other factors like if there is any virus in the drive, sometimes overheating problems, ventilation problem, mishandling of the device etc. If you take proper steps to maintain it then it will be last long for you. But it cannot be more than MTBF stats."

How Long Do External Hard Drives Last For?

So when I listen to this answer I searched for the best portable external hard drive which can last long for me and  is able to give me good results. After a lot search of the device I found a HP SimpleSave 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Disk. This is amazing and it proves to be 100% suited to my needs. I will explain it how:-

Feature#1-Quality brand

HP is a well known name in the IT industry. Its products are really marvelous and stylish. Company has been awarded many times for its new innovations and designs. The recently launched product HP SimpleSave 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive is one of the new innovations of this company. Provide you a great combination of quality and style this gadget stands top in the list of best external hard drives mac.

Feature #2-Build and design

Sleek and compact design is a good feature of this hard disk. Placing it horizontally it gives a very nice look. Packed in glossy black finish this gives an attractive look. The structure of the box is solid and gives an unbreakable power.

Feature#3-Storage capacity

This is the most important feature you are looking for.  HP SimpleSave provides you the 1.5TB storage capacity which is more than enough. Store million of photos, music, movies, songs and videos of your life to the unlimited extent. It is very good device for those professionals people who do robust computing and need to take more and more backup.

Feature#4-Easy to use

HP SimpleSave  is a portable external hard disk which is very easy to use. It doesn't have any complex function to use on. The working of this device is very simple. Just plug it in computer and start working on it. The backup software runs right from the minute you plug it in USB port from drive. One more additional thing is this that you need not to install any other software to make it work. Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, or Business Service Pack-1, Windows XP Home are the familiar software for this device.

Conclusion

This is one of the best devices I ever used. It is a long lasting hard drive if you take a proper use of it. I am sure if you purchase this device you will consider yourself fine on taking this decision. It is good in every aspect of external hard drive.

Editor's rating 9 out of 10

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A Quick History Of The Floppy Disk

Even though there is a lot to be said about floppy drives, these forms of data storage are mostly mentioned in a historical capacity. While you can do a data backup to a floppy disk (assuming your computer even has a floppy drive) it is definitely not recommended. There are many other methods of backing up your information that are far more reliable and offer far higher capacities.

The floppy disk was the first truly portable form of information storage for computers. Sure, you could move tape drives around at risk of severely damaging the tape, and you could move punch cards from computer to computer, but both of these storage options were unwieldy. When they were invented, floppy disks could store up to 1.44MB of data.

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As you can probably tell already, 1.44MB of storage space is nothing in the world of today where most of the files you will be saving are several or even several hundred megabytes in size.

A Quick History Of The Floppy Disk

The floppy disk was invented by Dr. Nakamats, who apparently did most of his thinking at the bottom of his swimming pool. The floppy disk drive was just one of the many things that he invented while sitting on the bottom of his pool. Almost as soon as it was invented, the floppy disk made punch cards obsolete - they were just so portable, reliable, and easy to use.

The first floppy disks were invented in the 1960's by IBM. The disks were 8" across and were used during the 1970's on the computers of that time. However, it was the smaller floppy disk drives that were commonly used in people's homes.

There were two sizes of these commonly used floppy disks, the 5.25" and the 3.5" floppy. If you did not have a computer during the early 1990's or 1980's, then you probably only know of the 3.5" floppy. These typically came in sizes between 720KB and 2.8 MB - though the 1.44MB floppy disk was by far the most common size.

The 5.25" floppy was the older version and was a bit floppier than the 3.5" version. These could only hold between 100KB and 1.2MB of data.

Most computers do not come with floppy disk drives anymore. The reason for this is that they are no longer in wide use, and most of the important information that was on computers that only had floppy disks for data storage has since been moved onto newer computers or storage media.

You may still need floppy disks if you need to communicate with older technology. Some lab computers at certain schools are so old that they need floppy disks to retrieve data from and store data to.

If you need a disk drive and do not already have one on your computer, you can purchase an external drive at most computer stores. Hurry, though! This type of data storage is so out of date that it is likely that these external drives will not be available for much longer. These drives can be connected to your computer through USB or alternatively with a parallel port.

Unless the computer that you are using is too old to have USB connections, you should not be using a floppy disk to bring information to and from school or work anyway. Instead, you can just use a USB flash memory drive, which is much smaller and harder to damage.

Do not try to back up your computer on floppy disks! The number of disks that you will need will quickly make this into a time consuming and expensive task!

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The Maintenance of HP Hard Drive

The workhouse of the computer is the hard disk. Therefore, it is important to know the functions and working of the hard disk. The files that we save are magnetically recorded onto the platter. The platter is placed inside the hard disk. The platters in most of the hard drives are usually mounted on a spindle. With the help of this spindle, the platter is able to spin faster and the speed can reach up to 15,000 times/ minute. The platter is two sided, and is mounted on a single arm which has a slider.

The head can move across the surface with the help of the platter is two sided. In this way the head can read and access the data. The unit of data held by the platter is tracks/inch. The track is equal to 1 concentric ring around the disk. The track is further divided into sectors, and the sector is equal to approx. 512 bytes. The saved data on the disk is referred accordingly to its sector and track.

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The process of data collection can be made faster by de-fragmenting the hard disk periodically. The de-fragmenting can be done with the help of Windows Disk Defragmenter, which reorganizes the scattered data on the hard drive. Once, the de-fragmentation is done, the files on the hard disk run faster and more efficiently. The de-fragmentation process shifts the files to the beginnings that are used most often. This shifting of files is done so that the hard disk can load these files immediately when they are accessed.

The Maintenance of HP Hard Drive

The SATA (Serial ATA) hard drives are the next generation of ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) hard drives. The HP SATA hard drives have been developed and designed to offer its users the best and optimum prices for the entry level servers. The HP SATA hard drive also offers its customers the affordable solutions for external storage deployments in the environments with low workload.

The hard disk Cleanup

The Windows Disk Cleanup application sorts through the disk and deletes unused and temporary files. In this way space can be made available on the disk which speeds up the operations.

The ScanDisk utility

The files in normal daily routine are regularly read from and written to the disk, often in small chunks. The ScanDisk utility runs when the computer had to restart after a crash or is turned off without properly shutting down the system.

The ScanDisk scans the disk to detect if there are any errors on the hard drive. If it finds any errors on the hard disk, the ScanDisk marks the cluster of sectors containing the error as unusable. In this way no data can be written to or read from that portion of the disk.

ScanDisk should probably be done after every two or three month's time. The ScanDisk can also automatically repair some of the detected errors. If the errors are more severe, then these errors can be repaired by reformatting the drive. The bumps or scratches are known as the hard errors, which are the physical damages to the disk. These hard errors cannot be repaired. If the number of hard error increases, then the hard drive needs to be replaced. The hard drive can run smoothly well past the time it has become obsolete with the help of simple maintenance.

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5 Tips For Buying An External Hard Drive

So you've finally decided to buy an external hard drive as a backup option for your computer. This is a great choice for you because you're making backing up your data faster and easier than you could ever have imagined. You're also making your data far more portable in larger quantities than before.

You'll no longer be limited to storing a few hundred megabytes or even several gigabytes. Nope. Now you can look forward to portable and reliable storage capacities ranging into terabytes. That frustrating desktop computer or network file server backup job just got a whole lot easier.

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If you've never bought an external hard disk before then there's a few pointers here that may help to have on your shopping list before you go and make that final purchase.

5 Tips For Buying An External Hard Drive

1. Buy A Brand

Do yourself a huge favor and buy a brand name that you easily recognize. Sure these may cost a little more than brand x but with computer accessories like this you really do get what you pay for. If a Western Digital 100GB external drive costs 0 and another brand x 100GB drive costs why do you think that is? Because the company likes you? Because they like making smaller profits? No it's because it's a cheaper drive made with inferior parts that's going to break a lot sooner than you might expect.

The other aspect of sticking with a brand is your warranty. For example Maxtor, Western Digital and Iomega are all reliable companies and well known for their external hard disks. If something goes wrong with your drive you can have it fixed. With brand x you'll probably not even be able to find an email address that you can contact the parent company on. Is saving a few dollars worth that risk?

2. Google It

Whatever brand or model you decide on make sure you do some research before purchasing. Always, always Google the exact brand and model of the drive you're considering buying. Look for reviews and especially any feedback on how reliable a drive is. You'll be very surprised to find that some companies have particularly bad reputations in terms of equipment reliability and what's known as the "click of death" in the external hard drive industry.

Spend time in Google checking out your prospective purchase. You'll be glad that you did.

3. Connectivity

When it comes to external hard drives you'll need to choose carefully when selecting your connection types. Your external hard drive will support either USB or Firewire. Firewire is the fastest option available at the moment but your computer may not support this. The vast majority of modern computers will, however, feature a USB port.

The next question now is what type of USB port do you have - USB 1.0 or 2.0? If your computer only has a USB 1.0 port then your external hard drive is going to transfer data VERY slowly. USB 2.0 is the minimum you should consider as connection options for both your computer and your external hard drive. If you don't have a USB 2.0 port (also called HiSpeed USB) on your computer you may need to get a USB 2.0 card fitted.

4. Speed

Now of course we need to talk about speed. The faster your hard drive operates the faster data will get transferred to your computer and vice versa. Without boggling you with comptuer jargon there's a couple of technical things you need to include on your shopping list.

Seek time - this needs to be 10ms (milliseconds) or less

Buffer size - more is better. Get a drive with at least a 4MB buffer.

RPM - higher is better. 5400rpm as a minimum. 7200rpm being preferred.

Stick to the above basic pointers and you'll do just fine.

5. Size

This is the simple part of the whole "buying an external hard drive" equation. Buy as much as you can afford. If you can afford 100GB then get it. However if you can afford 200GB then get it. Then again if you scraped together a few dollars more you could afford 300GB then do it.

This isn't a sales pitch. Far from it. There is simply no such thing as having too much data storage space. The 160GB drive that I have here was filled up in a little under a month. Currently a terabye option sounds good for my future needs.

Always add 50% to your data storage requirements. Honestly. You'll thanks yourself within the first 90 days of buying your external drive.

Hopefully now you'll be better prepared for purchasing your new external hard drive. It's one of the best purchases you'll ever make.

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