Avantages and disadvantages of backing up storage devices
By Julian Hirn and Mattias Rojas
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Hard disk
|
- Consumes a lot of power
- Data error is frequent - It is large - Can be broken if dropped |
Optical disk such as CD and DVD
- CD ROM/DVD ROM
- CD R/DVD R
- CD RW/DVD RW
- DVD RAM
- Blu-ray
|
- Easily broken
- They require special drive to read and write. - It is expensive |
Portable hard disks
|
- Even more expensive than the Optical disk
- Slightly slower than the hard disk |
Magnetic tapes
Various backup capacities available.
Easy to store and transport media. Typically a fully automatic operation, requires no user intervention aside from changing tape cartridges. Long shelf life. Have a write-protection mechanism. |
- Data is not encrypted
- High Failure rate - Fragile - Must be replaced frequently |
Memory stick
|
- Can get infected by a virus
- Easy to lose - Anyone can access your files if the memory stick is lost |
Flash memory cards
|
- Since it is a fairly new technology, they are rther expensive
- Cannot be edited more then 100,000 times, which might not be a problem for a regular user, but it will be for a supercomputer or any other powerful computer. |