USB & Firewire Hard Drives
You plug it into your computer, transfer the files you want to backup, unplug it, and away you go. The advent of external hard drives that connect to your computer through USB ports or "firewires" is an interesting backup option for small business owners. When considering a USB solution, be sure to look at the version: USB 1.1 has an elegant interface and it is a plug-and-play solution, but its speed is slow at just 12 megabits per second, explains a representative from Maxtor.com; meanwhile, USB 2.0 is much faster, and at 480 megabits per second it outperforms firewire backup solutions. With firewire, IEEE 1394 is the standard for PC computers, and backup rates are 400 megabits per second.
Pros: Wide range of storage sizes, from 1 GB to 80 GB, and quite fast backup of large amounts of data. New 1 GB USB drive keychains are an interesting way to take home a large collection of files at the end of each workday.
Cons: As relatively new technology, compatibility problems can crop up between firewire devices and specific firewire cards. Many computers will need to have a firewire or USB 2.0 card added before these drives can be used. Also, you may not be as comfortable carrying around an extra hard drive instead of a case of disks or tapes.
Cost: Prices vary according to the size of the drive, but expect US$100-300 for drives ranging between 10 GB to 80 GB. The cost of a firewire or USB card, if needed, should be in the range of US$50.
