The floppy drive has died and the Cd is going the same way as it becomes every more easier to carry around masses of data on USB memory sticks otherwise known as flash memory sticks or pen drives.

Sony patented the term “memory stick” when they came out with a new storage device for their digital cameras and digital files. Original drives were quite small but it was still cutting edge technology, but look where we are today?

It is nothing to have 2,3 or even 4gb of data just sat on the memory stick dangling on the your key ring, but every technology has a down side. Due to there portability even though they are quite robust it is quite common to damage a memory stick even to the point of losing all your data which for many is an absolute disaster.

Fortunately for the unlucky ones (which are more than you would guess) memory stick repair is a viable option so if the worse does happen it shouldn’t be the end of the world, even if your memory stick does contain all your data.

In the worse case scenario a good data recovery company can even retrieve data from a microwaved drive or even one that has be submersed, although there are no guarantees that USB memory stick recovery will work the odds are good so don’t panic if you break your pen drive or memory stick.

We all know we have to backup our computers, but those backups files can get huge. Add that to your existing files and your computers disk will seem to have shrunk overnight. No matter what size hard drive you have, space is a premium. Besides, it’s not exactly a good idea to store your backups on the same disk since you can’t retrieve it when the disk fails.  So what are your options?

The quickest and easiest to understand option is to buy an external hard disk. You can often get a removable drive that is large enough to do the job.But if your out of the office, you need your backup with you.  And where is it when your notebook get’s stolen?  Yup, with the stolen computer.  And, they are still hard disks and at some point they will fail. You may find the external backup fails before your notebook computer does.

Internet Attached Storage  is actually a good idea because dedicated hardware is in the same place as your computer.  Have a fire?  flood?  theft?Suddently, it’s all gone. And when that happens, a Cloud Backup online will always have a copy in a place for you. This is why businesses usually have one backup in the premises and one (or more) off premises. The best thing about Internet Attached Storage is that it’s available anywhere the Internet is. This gives you the convenience of having a backup available both locally (via Cloud Backup’s “mounted volume” option), and is stored remotely.  So when bad things happen to your computers, you can still get your data. cloud Backup is a cost effective way to reduce your risks and recover lost data easily.

Network attached storage can make sense if you have several computers. They allow you to not only backup several computers’ data into one location but also ability to share or retrieve files from that central area. But remember, up front expenses can have serious negative implications in the long term.And if a fire, flood or theft… And it ends up being all for nothing.Besides, CloudBackup can backup your computer, or your whole office full of computers with one account.

CD’s and DVD’s can be an inexpensive (if clunky) solution.But daily disk backups are a bothersome labor intensive chore that is too easily put off or forgotten. It becomes even more hard work when you have a lot of files and your backup spans several disks. The other problem with this method is, backup utilities that come with your computer usually cannot backup to a CD or DVD drive. So you’ll have to fork out extra money to buy a third party backup software that will. And then you have to worry about where to keep piles of these CD/DVD’s where they won’t be scratched, exposed to high temperatures, or suffer the risk of fire, flood, and theft. 

No backup solution is one hundred percent and what you choose of course will depend on how you work. If your data is really important to you, use Internet Attached Storage like OPENRSM CloudBackup.  That way your data is always available, secure, and you don’t have to worry.  CloudBackup has you covered.

Although best known for it’s powerful graphics computers and massive servers, SGI regularly produces related items of high technology. Back in 1998, SGI gave the screen industry a boost by launching the ground breaking 1600SW screen.

The Silicon Graphics 1600SW is a LCD screen with a resolution of 1600×1024. It was, and remains, the only screen to offer a full 16:10 aspect ratio, allowing detailed work for computer effects artists, as well as being able to show two A4 pages of text side by side. The 1600SW won several awards for it’s innovative design, and the screen’s brightness and high resolution still places it at the top end of screen design, over 10 years later.

The screen used the all digital OpenLDI interface, which required custom graphics cards. Several models of SGI workstation had the required connector either builtin, or available as an add-in card. Companies like 3D Labs also produced dedicated graphics cards with the special connector, allowing the 1600SW screen to be used with standard PCs.

Since it’s introduction, many companies have also manufactured convertors, allowing DVI video cards to be used with the OpenLDI interface. Over a decade after it’s introduction, the SGI 1600SW remains a high quality screen that is very desired after by graphics artists.

Back in 1987, AT&T and Sun announced that the two companies were working together to release a new version of UNIX, merging the two most commonly used releases at the time - BSD and System V. This new UNIX version would be named UNIX System V Release 4 - SVR4.

In 1991, Sun announced that they were replacing their existing UNIX OS, SunOS, with a new version based on SVR4. SunOS was based on BSD and Sun were beginning to encounter problems with that codebase, and so with an eye to the future Sun released Solaris 2.

SunOS was then renamed Solaris 1, and each Solaris release was composed of the operating environment (Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7, Solaris 10) and it’s related kernel (SunOS 5.6, SunOS 5.7, SunOS 10). The reason for this odd naming was that Solaris would refer to the complete operating environment, which included the window manager and other code.

Solaris now uses a single codebase for both SPARC and x86 releases. Previous releases had officially been ported by Sun to the PowerPC and Itanium platforms. Solaris is now one of the most common UNIX releases, thanks to it’s power, scalability, and many new technologies Sun include with each release.

With the release of OpenSolaris, Sun have completed the task of open sourcing a powerful high end UNIX, enabling even the smallest Solaris consultancy to build a powerful UNIX infrastructure.

If you were to look at past statistics regarding the information that has been lost in regards to laptop computers, you would find yourself amazed. Even though this information can be astounding, many of us still don’t take the time to back up the information on our laptops.

To put it in simple terms, nothing in the computer industry is fool proof. Hard drives can crash, the laptop can get stolen, or it can even be dropped and rendered useless. To ensure that we are never left without our precious data, we should always create a backup of our information.

There is no mistaken the fact that over a million laptops have been stolen over the years in the United States alone. Anytime a laptop is stolen, chances are that it won’t be recovered. If the information wasn’t backed up, then the owner will be left with no laptop - but more importantly - no backed up data either.

Just like you can with desktop computers, you can also create a backup of the data on your laptop as well. You can use online services, back it up remotely, or use several other methods to ensure that you keep all of your data. Preserving your data is something you should really look into, especially if you have business material on your laptop.

The best way to go about backing up your data and files is to burn them to a data CD. Data CDs can hold up to 700 MB (Mega Bytes) of data, which means a lot of files. To back things up this way, all you need is a CD/RW burner in your laptop, which most of the newer ones come with.

The only drawback to laptops is the fact that they don’t offer near as much storage or security measures as a desktop PC. Desktop computers have a lot more power, and they can also do things (including backups) in a fraction of the time.

The laptop computer was designed for on the go use, which is the main reason why people don’t really think about backing up their data. When the thought finally does come to mind, it is normally too late to do anything about it.

As mentioned above, the easiest and quickest way to backup your laptop data is to use an online backup service. Depending on your connection to the Internet, it can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours. Although it may take you a little bit of time, you’ll have the satisfaction in knowing that your data is there if something should happen.

Whether it’s for your business or personal use, you can’t go wrong backing up your data. You should always create a backup of your data at least once a month, even more than that if you have a lot of important information that you add to your laptop on a frequent basis.