With the reality of an ever-increasing number of paperless transactions and the need to store high quality photos and videos as part of your business, not to mention your iTunes library of music, you are ravenous for more storage space. The data is critical to your success and down time can wreak havoc with your schedule. You’re just about out of space. So where are you going to keep it all?

Opening your computer case to add another hard drive can be scary . . . and potentially detrimental to your warranty. Flash drives are mobile and convenient, but limited in size to one or two gigabytes. Now, more than ever, you’re likely to need room for digital photos, gigabytes of music, Web site backup and video editing projects. And the best way to insure recovery from any disaster is a backup copy of your data. It’s more practical to keep an identical copy of all your programs and data on a backup drive. With the large, inexpensive drives now available, you can keep the files you need, saved with the everyday file utilities and applications that created them. The most practical solution is to add some external storage.

The good news is it really couldn’t be easier. External storage devices attach to your computer through a USB 2 or FireWire port. Below, you’ll find a side-by-side comparison of three external devices. Any of them can easily be added to your computer to increase storage space and serve as a system backup. They all use USB 2, which makes them Plug-n-Play. Only the back-up software requires installation. These devices come in many sizes, but a good all-around size would be in the 160 - 200 GB range. They offer the same performance as your regular storage so their use is seamless.

Searching through external storage options can be the hardest part of the process. Many companies make simple enclosures into which you add a hard drive and connect to the computer. While these solutions can save you lots of money, the risk is simply not worth it from a reliability standpoint. The following listed devices are made by the hard drive manufactures themselves. They all carry a one-year warranty. Play it safe. Back up your work.

Features	Seagate Pushbutton	Western Digital Essential	Maxtor One Touch II
Target	Small Office/Home	Small Office/Home	Small Office/Home
Interface	USB	USB	USB
Compatibility	PC & MAC	PC & MAC	PC & MAC
Capacity	200 GB	160 GB	200 GB
Backup Software	Bounce Back	N/A	One Touch
Price	Approx $200.00	Approx. $140.00	Approx $180.00

www.maxstore.com
www.wdc.com
www.seagate.com