Information storage is a topic that has been relevant since the days of cave painting. In the era of rapid technological progress and the diversity of offerings, it becomes even more difficult to find the unambiguously best solution. Depending on the amount of information (data center or PC of the average user), the range of solutions varies dramatically. One can already write textbooks and scientific treatises about data storage on the level of data center architecture, while on the user level it is still possible to give a more or less laconic answer. The user should approach the question of information storage with an understanding of how often it will be in demand and what its privacy level is.
It is worth noting right away that one method of storing information should not be 100% trusted as well as putting all the eggs in one basket. You should use several methods at once, among which backups are worth mentioning – you can’t do without them. Then you can consider certain scenarios.
If we are talking about very important information which is not to be accessed every day, then the most radical solution would be to use an optical disc stored in a fireproof safe. Of course this method has its disadvantages, the prevalence of optical drives is decreasing today and if you need to transfer the data you can’t carry the safe far.
In situations where privacy is important the DataTraveler 2000 (DT2000) USB encryption drive can help. Its main advantage is the ability to encrypt data on the fly, after which it becomes impossible to access it without a password. Even if the media is lost, after 10 attempts to enter a password, the drive is automatically erased. Kingston offers a large number of such devices, a list of which can be found on the manufacturer’s website.
Otherwise, you should act when it comes to information of daily use. Usually it is a set of work programs, games, audio and video content. Most often, such information is stored on the HDD or SSD installed in the user’s PC. Today, the advantages of conventional hard drives over SSD in terms of price per unit volume are not so pronounced, and on write / read speed and response time HDD are inferior in dozens of times. It is worth mentioning, and reliability, which the SSD today for many indicators above – their fault tolerance has long been equal to the average hard disk drive. Do not forget about “cloud” solutions, because part of the important content can be entrusted to network resources. In order to minimize the risks of information getting into the hands of third parties, I recommend encrypting the content contained on the PC. There are already all the necessary tools for this purpose in the operating system itself: for Windows it is BitLocker, for Mac OS – FileVault.
Information on mobile devices is usually stored on SD or microSD cards. The range of such products is limitless, but it is better to give preference to brands that have already proven themselves in this market. The popularity of certain brands is due to an increased level of quality control, because a small manufacturer for the sake of a low price and can forget about reliability. In addition to cards with different write speeds, Kingston has a very interesting solution – cards that meet industrial standards of operation in extreme conditions. They are based on MLC chips and can be used in a wide temperature range. A topical solution for those who are interested in increased reliability of the storage medium.
The task of backing up information on mobile devices can be solved with the help of “cloud” services or by connecting to a PC. But we would like to mention the commercially available tools, which allow making backups even easier. The most popular solution for Android gadgets may be the DataTraveler MicroDuo (DTDUO) flash drive with OTG function. It is a flash drive with two connectors: USB Type-A on one end and microUSB or USB type-C on the other. A very convenient solution for the field, when you need to urgently download information or memory on your smartphone / tablet is not enough. For iOS and other gadgets Kingston has a more radical solution – MobileLite Wireless G3 card reader. By wireless connection you can easily and simply transfer the necessary data to any USB-drive or SD-card. The same method will be relevant for photo/video equipment.