With a number of portable storage devices available in the market, the power to transfer data, like documents, photos, music, etc., is now at your fingertips.
Here are the five devices that allow you to do this.
External hard disk
External USB hard disks usually measure about 2.5 inches in width. The USB hard drives are portable, which means you can connect the hard disk to any personal computer. Your PC will recognise the device without installing any driver. These devices come in various storage capacities, starting from a couple of gigabytes to 40 GB, 60 GB, 80 GB, 120 GB and so on. This means that you can store any type of data in bulk in these external hard drives and transfer them to any PC.
Cost
A 40 GB portable hard disk from a good brand costs Rs 3,000 while an 80 GB drive from same brand could cost you less than Rs 4,000. For a little more money, you get double the storage capacity.
Points to note before buying
Connectivity Interface: USB drives do not require any driver installation. These days most external hard drives are USB enabled, so there is not much to worry about.
Speed: The higher the speed at which the hard disk works or transfers data, better the performance. The disks are rated in terms of revolutions per minute, which means the higher the rotations, the faster would be the data transfer rate.
Warranty: Manufacturers usually provide a warranty for a couple of years, but do check out the terms and conditions.
Power consumption: Compare the power consumption of a few devices before finalising which one to buy. If you plan to use the drive with your PC then this should not bother you much as a little increase in power consumption will hardly have much effect on your power bill. However, if you plan to use the device frequently with your laptop then this might be a point to note. In case you are using the battery backup to connect to an external hard disk, then the hard drive will use some of the battery backup.
Pen drive
Pen drives are really small, keychain-sized storage devices which weigh just a few grams and can easily slide into your pocket. These usually have small storage sizes ranging from a few megabytes, say 256 MB, to a couple of GBs.
Like portable hard drives, these pen drives also do not require any driver installation. You can get a 1 GB pen drive of Chinese make for about Rs 500 to Rs 700, while the 2 GB piece would cost you about Rs 1,000. Your computer will recognise the USB device as an external device to which you can transfer data to and fro.
Points to note before buying:
Check out the warranty/guarantee terms and conditions.
Before making any purchase, check out the memory space you would need.
Music players
Most portable digital music players can also double up as portable media to store data (any kind of file or application). Music players come with memory sizes ranging from just a couple of MBs to 80 GBs and come in a number of designs and sizes.
You can get these music players from local manufactures selling iPod lookalike models (Chinese made replicas) at a fraction of the cost, or from well known brands Like Apple, Sony, Creative and Toshiba.
Unbranded MP3 players cost between Rs 600 to Rs 1,500 (up to 1 GB) while branded ones like the iPod Shuffle (1 GB) cost about Rs 4,000 to 7,000.
Points to note:
Portability: Check whether any software or driver needs to be installed in case the device is simply to be used for storing data. Most USB devices are plug and play compatible, so you do not need to do anything special to turn them into storage devices, but you need to check all the same.
Storage limit: A few devices have limited storage capacity and cannot be used to store data other than music. All branded hard disk-based MP3 players have the data storage feature by default. In case of unbranded devices, it would be best to check with the dealer.
Universal Drive Adapter
Cannot transfer files from your outdated PC? Don't worry. Here's a nice little device that can help turn your old computer's hard disk into a portable hard disk.
Usually, the hard disks we use in desktops are connected to the computers through a serial port, which are not plug and play compatible - they need some drivers to be installed.
But with the Universal Drive Adaptor, you can make your serial port hard drive USB compatible by simply connecting your old hard disk to the USB 2.0 and the IDE adapter cable to make it plug and play compatible (only for Windows 2000 and XP). Do remember, you would need to supply external power to this device.
Cost: This hardware is available online for $25 plus shipping charges.
Memory cards
Memory cards are compact storage media (hardware to store data). They come in different sizes and need different types of card readers (devices which read and write data to memory cards). But nowadays you can also get card-reading devices which incorporate card readers for all memory cards built into one. Memory Stick, Memory stick Pro, Memory stick Duo, MultiMedia Card, Multimedia card for Mobile, SD Card and Smart Card are some of the memory cards available in the market. Though memory cards are usually used in portable devices like digital cameras, voice recorders, cell phones and music players to store and transfer data, they can also be used to transfer data between PCs. Memory cards can store from 8 MB to 2 GB of data, depending on the type of card.
Points to note before buying:
Do make sure of the type of memory card used in your mobile phone, digital camera or music player. All media cards have different physical sizes, hence if any of your devices mentioned above support memory cards, then they would have slots of varying sizes for the memory card.
Here are the five devices that allow you to do this.
External hard disk
External USB hard disks usually measure about 2.5 inches in width. The USB hard drives are portable, which means you can connect the hard disk to any personal computer. Your PC will recognise the device without installing any driver. These devices come in various storage capacities, starting from a couple of gigabytes to 40 GB, 60 GB, 80 GB, 120 GB and so on. This means that you can store any type of data in bulk in these external hard drives and transfer them to any PC.
Cost
A 40 GB portable hard disk from a good brand costs Rs 3,000 while an 80 GB drive from same brand could cost you less than Rs 4,000. For a little more money, you get double the storage capacity.
Points to note before buying
Connectivity Interface: USB drives do not require any driver installation. These days most external hard drives are USB enabled, so there is not much to worry about.
Speed: The higher the speed at which the hard disk works or transfers data, better the performance. The disks are rated in terms of revolutions per minute, which means the higher the rotations, the faster would be the data transfer rate.
Warranty: Manufacturers usually provide a warranty for a couple of years, but do check out the terms and conditions.
Power consumption: Compare the power consumption of a few devices before finalising which one to buy. If you plan to use the drive with your PC then this should not bother you much as a little increase in power consumption will hardly have much effect on your power bill. However, if you plan to use the device frequently with your laptop then this might be a point to note. In case you are using the battery backup to connect to an external hard disk, then the hard drive will use some of the battery backup.
Pen drive
Pen drives are really small, keychain-sized storage devices which weigh just a few grams and can easily slide into your pocket. These usually have small storage sizes ranging from a few megabytes, say 256 MB, to a couple of GBs.
Like portable hard drives, these pen drives also do not require any driver installation. You can get a 1 GB pen drive of Chinese make for about Rs 500 to Rs 700, while the 2 GB piece would cost you about Rs 1,000. Your computer will recognise the USB device as an external device to which you can transfer data to and fro.
Points to note before buying:
Check out the warranty/guarantee terms and conditions.
Before making any purchase, check out the memory space you would need.
Music players
Most portable digital music players can also double up as portable media to store data (any kind of file or application). Music players come with memory sizes ranging from just a couple of MBs to 80 GBs and come in a number of designs and sizes.
You can get these music players from local manufactures selling iPod lookalike models (Chinese made replicas) at a fraction of the cost, or from well known brands Like Apple, Sony, Creative and Toshiba.
Unbranded MP3 players cost between Rs 600 to Rs 1,500 (up to 1 GB) while branded ones like the iPod Shuffle (1 GB) cost about Rs 4,000 to 7,000.
Points to note:
Portability: Check whether any software or driver needs to be installed in case the device is simply to be used for storing data. Most USB devices are plug and play compatible, so you do not need to do anything special to turn them into storage devices, but you need to check all the same.
Storage limit: A few devices have limited storage capacity and cannot be used to store data other than music. All branded hard disk-based MP3 players have the data storage feature by default. In case of unbranded devices, it would be best to check with the dealer.
Universal Drive Adapter
Cannot transfer files from your outdated PC? Don't worry. Here's a nice little device that can help turn your old computer's hard disk into a portable hard disk.
Usually, the hard disks we use in desktops are connected to the computers through a serial port, which are not plug and play compatible - they need some drivers to be installed.
But with the Universal Drive Adaptor, you can make your serial port hard drive USB compatible by simply connecting your old hard disk to the USB 2.0 and the IDE adapter cable to make it plug and play compatible (only for Windows 2000 and XP). Do remember, you would need to supply external power to this device.
Cost: This hardware is available online for $25 plus shipping charges.
Memory cards
Memory cards are compact storage media (hardware to store data). They come in different sizes and need different types of card readers (devices which read and write data to memory cards). But nowadays you can also get card-reading devices which incorporate card readers for all memory cards built into one. Memory Stick, Memory stick Pro, Memory stick Duo, MultiMedia Card, Multimedia card for Mobile, SD Card and Smart Card are some of the memory cards available in the market. Though memory cards are usually used in portable devices like digital cameras, voice recorders, cell phones and music players to store and transfer data, they can also be used to transfer data between PCs. Memory cards can store from 8 MB to 2 GB of data, depending on the type of card.
Points to note before buying:
Do make sure of the type of memory card used in your mobile phone, digital camera or music player. All media cards have different physical sizes, hence if any of your devices mentioned above support memory cards, then they would have slots of varying sizes for the memory card.
