Toshiba Portable Hard Drive! Are All Your Digital Memories Protected?

Memories come along once. Why chance losing those once in a lifetime memories? I used to back up everything on flash drives, CD’s, DVD’s hard drives – you name it. I like to do my research before recommending or purchasing a product, just like most of you do. I am really impressed with the way Toshiba is expanding to just that – helping us preserve and protect our memories; not only memories, but work and everyday life things from spreadsheets, recipes and more. Imagine reviewing an important work presentation or looking through family photos from last year’s vacation in Hawaii — only to have the computer screen suddenly go blank. Shutting down the computer, turning it back on – nothing is working – the computer has crashed and everything saved on it, photos, work documents, music and more … is gone. As panic sets in, you realize that you don’t have a backup. In a single moment, all your files have disappeared. I have lost a hard drive and flash drives. Those were tears that hurt more than a paper cut!

Unfortunately, this scenario happens all too often to consumers who are generating exponential amounts of personal digital content.

According to research by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), adults online create an average of 1,800 digital files a year, for a total of 310 billion files created annually in the United States alone. Yet nearly half of all digital content creators do not have a second copy of these valued digital files. Without a backup solution, cherished family photos, critical financial documents, work presentations and countless other digital data files are at risk for loss. A single computer crash could destroy everything. Portable hard drives can help protect your important files and ensure your work is safe and secure.

The following outlines ten easy steps to give peace of mind in this digital age:

1. Buy a portable hard disk drive (HDD) unit – they can range from $100 to $500 depending on the storage size and bells and whistles
2. Connect HDD to your computer – most use the USB drive, so you don’t need an extra power outlet or more wires
3. Install software – usually requires you to agree to sign your life away or at least not pirate the software
4. Re-start – some software requires you to restart your computer and ensure everything is properly loaded
5. Run the backup software – once you are up and running you’ll need to open the HDD software and get it ready to backup your computer
6. How many clicks does it take? All software is different, so ideally you can find one that offers an easy back up solution, such as the Toshiba Portable Hard Drive that allows you to press an “OK” button, so you can set it and forget it, and know that it is running in the background.
7. Ensure you have complete system backup – When selecting a HDD be sure to find one that offers complete system coverage, as this will help restore your entire computer if your system goes down
8. Are you Techno-savvy? – For those of you who like to fiddle, most drives let you change the settings to personalize your storage preferences, such as timing for back up, security, etc.
9. Install security – Password-protection security is always good, as you never want a burglar to come in and have access to all your tax returns, bank info, etc., so find software that enables some sort of security (and don’t leave the password lying next to your computer!
10. Sleep easy – Once you have set the software in motion, you can rest easy and HOPE you never have to use it, knowing that if/when your computer dies, you are prepared and protected against loss

My one word of advice is:
Do NOT go purchase a portable hard drive based simply on price. This caused a lot of heart ache when I lost my first hard drive. I did my research and went for a better model the next time.

One example of a portable HDD that has it all is the new Toshiba Portable Hard Drive, which offers a myriad of features to help protect and preserve your precious digital memories and important files. The Toshiba personal storage products are designed to meet the needs of any digital enthusiast – from novices to tech-savvy users – offering an easy-to-use solution for backup of important photos, video, music and data files for the growing digital home and home office. Each portable hard drive includes NTI® software for both Mac and Windows to make computer backup easier and more efficient, providing consumers with added insurance that important digital files and photo/video memories are preserved for years to come.

For more information on preserving precious digital memories, as well as what to look for in backup solutions, check out www.toshibastorage.com