Desktop & Portable Storage

When buying any PC, memory and storage are important. With a laptop, even more so, since upgrading after the fact may not be an option. You want to get it right, but there are lot of acronyms, numbers and technical terms in play. In this piece I’ll cover off what you should know about memory and storage when buying a laptop, including RAM, VRAM, ROM, SSDs and cloud storage.

SSD and HDD: Two acronyms you’ll frequently see during discussions of computers and their specs. What’s the difference between the two, which one is better and why is SSD showing up more frequently these days? In this post, I’ll tackle those questions and provide the details you need to make an informed choice when it comes time to choose between the two computer storage options.

Many of us have more data than we know what to do with. Digital photos, digital movies, MP3s and old school stuff like documents and spreadsheets can start to take up a lot of space on your PC. On your smartphone or tablet, it’s even worse —a lot of those photos get snapped on a smartphone and with limited storage, it doesn’t take long to fill them up. Cloud storage is always an option, but then you’re at the mercy of the provider and there may be charges associated with the service. Western Digital offers a compelling alternative —a “personal cloud”— with its My Cloud series of network hard drives. I tested a 3TB My Cloud drive and came away convinced that this is the best thing to happen to hard drives since USB.  

You might forget how painful it is to deal with missing data. On March 31 (world backup day) remember that pain and take steps to keep your data safe.

One of the most used features on any smartphone is its camera. Photo sharing site Flickr published stats showing the three most frequently used cameras among its members for 2014 were Apple iPhones. And if you own a smartphone, you are no doubt aware of the cloud-based photo storage and sharing your platform offers for free. You’ve also likely heard about related security concerns. Enter the Lyve Home, an innovative device/app combo that automatically backs up all your digital photos (and videos) to a secure hard drive, organizes them into a single library, displays them (think digital photo frame) and lets you share them as well.

Everything you need to know when choosing between SSD or HDD for essential, external storage for your computer or laptop.

When we talk students and technology, we often focus on the big stuff like laptops, tablets and smartphones. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned as part of having three kids work their way through elementary school and into high school, it’s that a little piece of inexpensive technology is indispensable: a thumb drive. From “sneaker-netting” assignments between school PCs and home to collaborating on assignments with other students, USB thumb drives are indispensable. Here’s what you need to know.  

Don't lose your important data in 2018! I'll show you why a PC backup plan should be your New Year resolution.

If your PC crashed tomorrow, would you easily be able to recover the data and restore it exactly to its pre-crash condition? What about if its hard drive died, or the computer was stolen. What if you were locked out using ransomware? In this post I’ll explain the importance of data backup and show you different options for protecting your data using PC backup software.