When running a predominantly online business, it is likely you struggle with online storage. It doesn’t take many documents and software to fill your computer’s internal hard drive and storage facilities. So, what are some other options for these online businesses with lots to store?

External Hard Drives – For these businesses that need more online storage, an external hard drive is going to be one of the best options. These allow you to store files that you do necessarily need daily access to somewhere that is easy to access. With it being external, it is not going to clog up your computer or make it run slower.

Cloud Storage – Another option is to invest in cloud storage. This is more predominantly for Apple products but there are alternatives available for other software. This offers another storage place for our files but keeps them directly on your computer.

Memory stick and portable hard drives are both fantastic ways in which data can be moved from computer to computer. They are both useful devices and serve the same purpose, but the differences between the formats may mean that one is better suited to a certain task than the other.

Memory Sticks

These are small, portable storage devices. Data can be quickly accessed via a USB connection and can be ready to work on the computer you’ve connected it to in seconds. They are considerably smaller than portable hard drives, but because of their smaller size they have less memory to store data on.

Portable Hard Drives

Larger than memory sticks, but not by much. They are still just as portable and work via a USB connection. Older portable hard drives also require a power cable to be connected to them but these older models are being quickly replaced by USB only formats.

Solid State Drives or SSD’s are becoming increasingly common, in business and personal use alike. This relatively new storage technology is being incorporated into many computer systems and is perhaps the main way we will all be storing our data in the future.

A SSD replaces a hard drive in a computer. It provides the same function, just in a different way. They provide data storage silently, with no moving parts and by taking up less space. SSD’s seem to be advantageous over hard drives in almost every way except the price.

SSD’s usually cost six to seven times more, per unit of storage than consumer-grade hard drives. This is probably the biggest deterrent against them at the moment. Although prices are dropping and over time we will see this price difference fall.

They are much faster than hard drives. A standard computer with its operating system installed onto a SSD will go from off to desktop ready in several seconds. Compared to the minute or so it takes a hard drive ready computer.