That is, buy a Flash Drive
I don’t know about you, but I dread the thought of losing computer data; that could be important emails, irreplaceable digital photos, important work-related documents, etc.
If you have the slightest concern about losing important data, buy a USB flash drive. They’re portable, light weight, easy to use and about the same size as the one pictured here.
A USB flash drive is a removable data storage device that you can connect to a standard computer interface such as a USB jack. And because it’s portable, you can access stored data from any computer with a USB port. You will likely find at least one USB port on any modern computer. Once the flash drive is plugged-in, the drive is immediately available for use.
I picked up a generically-branded 2 GB flash drive at Office Depot for about $8. If you’re wondering how much data you can fit on a 2 GB USB Flash Drive, check out this online tool to calculate how many files, mp3s or movie files you can fit on your flash drive!
For added security, and this is entirely optional, I use TrueCrypt to password-protect data stored on the flash drive. TrueCrypt is a free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. Once you download the software, you will be presented with a Beginner’s Tutorial.
Note: If you set up your flash drive using TrueCrypt, you will need to run TrueCrypt on any computer that you plan to use to access the data.
It took me a few times to get the TrueCrypt software set up properly to where I was being prompted for a password before I was able to access the drive, but I eventually figured it out and it was well worth it! I backup a specific group of work-related files regularly and I’d say the whole process takes me less than about 2-3 minutes to complete.
It’s cheap, fast AND easy!
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