For data centric businesses storage is a prime aspect. Small, medium or big, businesses always depend on data storage to deal with their clients. This data is extremely valuable and it is equal to the money earned. For data to be stored there are a host of options and they are each important in their own ways. To know more about the types of data storage let us have a look:
- Flash memory – these consume very little power and can be the size of a fingernail. They are generally used in mobile phones or as thumb-drives. As thumb-drives they could be connected to a computer or a laptop and data can be added or deleted very easily. Thus these are very handy and provide a lot of easy storage. Some drives are even protected with password security so that the data do not fall into wrong hands. Depending upon the size (1 GB to 256 GB) anything and almost everything can be stored. The small size factor makes it easy to be carried and used with computers anywhere.
- Hard drives – these form an inexpensive option of saving huge amounts of data. In this set up an external hard drive is attached to the computer by means of a cable. This way the data is transferred to the external drive and kept safe. However, for safety purposes, the data present on the external drive should be backed up on to a flash device.
- Online storage – there are several services that provide for storage of data over the internet. There are remote servers that help in storing the data and that data is protected with passwords. Files can be uploaded using a free or a paid service in which even large files can also be uploaded. The clients and employees can share those files if they have access to those files via the passwords. That way the data can remain safe even if the local computer breaks down and can be retrieved from any other computer. However, the transfer of data can be slow if the network speed is slow.
- Network attached storage – if you want a fast, simple and reliable storage solution then go for NAS or network attached storage. Mostly suitable for small and medium businesses, this provides a cheaper alternative for many users to share over the network. From being very simple like using a basic hard drive it can go higher with USB and FireWire ports. Not only storage but also peripheral devices like printers can also be shared through NAS. A more advanced system is using a RAID set up. In this there are multiple hard disks and at the same time the data is written on to 2 or 3 drives as well. This provides for a very good backup of data.
These are the generally used methods to store data. A mixture of multiple methods is used for safe keeping valuable information. For onsite storage solutions the PowerEdge C6100 and the QLE2560-CK are very good alternatives.