With today's every growing data storage needs, backup technology has never been so crucial. Businesses need cost effective, reliable data storage. Here's our how to choose guide to help you decide on the best data storage for you and your business needs.

Diskettes

Ideal for storing, transferring and distributing your data from computer to computer. They are available in PC and Macintosh format and have a storage capacity of up to 1.44MB.

CD CD-R

has a recording capacity of 700MB and recording speed of up to 52x. They are write-once so ideal for storing data that cannot be erased or altered.

can be re-written up to 1000 times and is speed compatible 4x to 10x.

are write-once only DVDs designed for one off recordings. This ensures that your data is protected as it cannot be erased or recorded over. DVD-RW and DVD+RW are re-writeable over 1000 times. The difference between DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW is the formatting and the software used to record the data meaning that the speed at which they record is different. DVD-R/RW records at 2x speed and 4x and DVD+R/RW records at 2.4x speed. They all have a recording capacity of 4.7GB.

DVD-RAM

There are two types of DVD-RAM: Type I is double sided disk that cannot be removed from the cartridge. It's available in 5.2GB and 9.4GB. Type II is a single sided disk that is available in 2.6GB and 4.7GB and can be removed from the cartridge. Both are re-recordable at 100,000 times.

DVD disks store an average of 7 times more data than CDs.

USB Flash Drives Flash drives

are currently available up to 8GB. With an ultra fast USB 2.0 connection, it's the quick and easy way to share business presentations, digital photos and videos, or other large files. The easy to use plug-and-play format enables you to drag and drop files and transfer data on any computer with a USB 1.1 or 2.0 port. You can fill a 1GB flash drive with hundreds of photos, documents, and MP3s in just 32 seconds..... using a USB 2.0 port, and USB 2.0 flash drive.

Memory Cards

Memory cards come in a variety of formats and are primarily used in digital cameras to store images for easy transfer to a PC. Formats available are Secure Digital (SD), Smart Media (SM), Compact Flash (CF), and XD. Available capacity is currently up to 4GB.

Memory Sticks

Memory stick is the perfect medium for storing and transferring large amounts of digital information, offering compact size and a wide range of capacities up to 4GB. For an even larger capacity use Memory Stick Pro, or the fast read/write data transfer speed of Pro "High Speed". The even smaller Memory Stick Duo is great for applications such as mobile phones or the range of Sony digital cameras.

Blu-ray Disc

Blue-ray is the latest optical media, following on from CDR and DVD and designed to support Sony's HD TV with 490,000 colour pixels. It has the capacity of 10 DVDs and can download data at 36mbs. The 2nd generation is now giving up to 100GB storage on the dual layer version.

4mm and 8mm Data Cartridges

Designed for high capacity network backup and are available up to 20GB.

Travan

Designed solely for computer data backup. They are reliable and cost-effective. Travans also feature the ‘read -while-write' capability that allows Travan drives to cut backup time. Available up to 20GB native and 40GB compressed. A

IT Data Cartridges AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape)

the latest storage tape technology. AITs are designed for high-performance, high capacity, data storage needs. They have a storage capacity of up to 500GB native and 1.3TB compressed.

DLT and Super DLT

Provide high reliability with high capacity. DLTs have a storage capacity of up to 80GB compressed and Super DLTs of up to 320MB compressed. They are ideal for use in the DLT tape drive system used for network server and high end computer data storage back up.

LTO Ultrium LOT

Linear Tape Open - is an "open format" technology. This means that users will have multiple sources of product and media making LTO ideal for backing up, restoring and archive operarions. LTO Ultrium 1 has a high storage capacity of up to 100GB native, 200GB compressed and LTO Ultrium 2 has a massive storage capacity of 200GB native and 400GB compressed. LTO Ultrium 3 has storage capacity of 800GB compressed.