Plan for the Future - Increase your storage with an External Hard Drive

Our lives are increasingly played out through technology. We take pictures on our digital camera, share our experiences on Twitter and Facebook, and build up a digital online life. All our music is now digital, ready to play via the latest MP3 player or smart-phone. Photos, videos, films, music and games fill our computers and overflow our hard drives. Storage is more important than ever when we have so much digital stuff in our lives.

Our laptops and computers can only store a certain amount. Most people have USB flash drives in order to move file between devices, and while these are great for quickly transferring things, they are not the perfect solution for increasing your mobile storage capacity. Collections of files no longer reside in the land of megabytes. We now regularly deal with gigabytes of data, or increasingly with terabytes. USB flash drives are simply not cut out to deal with massive amounts of data. In order to effectively solve your digital storage problems, you will need an external hard drive. Still lightweight enough to easily carry with you, external hard drives offer massive storage capacity.

Now is the perfect time to buy an external hard drive, prices are low and lots of top manufacturers are producing ranges of beautifully designed devices with huge capacities. Samsung, Toshiba, Seagate and Western Digital are amongst the biggest names in the external hard drive market, and the most popular devices store from 500GB to 2TB. Prices are now well under £100, making them much more affordable than in the past.

In the future, our digital collections will continue to grow. Make sure that you are prepared, and purchase an external hard drive now! Check out External Hard Drive Reviews where you can find more information on the latest devices, including the popular Samsung M3 1TB.

What memory card do I need to buy?

Names can be confusing - Memory cards, flash drives, USB sticks, SD cards, external hard drives. What do they all mean, and which device is right for your particular needs? In this article we will try to give you the information that you need in order to make an informed purchase.

SD Cards 

SD cards are ultra lightweight stamp-sized storage devices which are mainly used to save pictures or video to. They are most commonly found in digital cameras, but they are also used in many mobile phones and tablet computers. They come in Standard-Capacity (SDSC), High-Capacity (SDHC) and eXtended-Capacity (SDXC). These relate to storage capacity, with an SDSC only capable of holding up to 4GB, whereas an SDXC can be as large as 2TB.

If your digital camera comes with an SD card, they are very easy to remove and replace if you want to buy one with a bigger capacity. All the leading digital camera manufacturers support SD cards in their products, so there is no reason to worry whether or not certain brands will have compatibility issues. The main manufacturer of SD cards are Sandisk, but there are plenty of other reputable brands making them.

Click here to see the best-selling SD cards

USB Flash Drives 

Unlike SD cards, USB flash drives are not specifically designed for mobile devices. USB flash drives are commonly used for storage, backup and transfer of computer files. They are the modern day floppy disk. Small and easy to plug in and use, USB flash drives are extremely useful for carrying information between places or computers so that you always have your important files to hand. They have no mechanical moving parts, and are very robust.

USB flash drives are really useful for people who use multiple computers, maybe at home and at work. The drives come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with lots of cool colourful designs. They don’t have the storage capacities of external hard drives, but are much more flexible and truly portable.

Click here to see the best-selling USB Flash Drives

External Hard Drives 

If you need to store lots of electronic data, then you need an external hard drive. These are the kings of portable storage, and are available with capacities of up to 2 terabytes. They are typically wallet-sized or slightly larger, and they normally connect to your computer via USB. An external hard drive is an excellent way to backup all your important files, in case you have problems with your computer or its built-in hard drive.

Robust and built to last, external hard drives are a great way to ensure that you can take everything you need on the move with you. We live in a time where most of us have a ton of digital files which are important to us. Family photos and videos, your music library, your documents, all of this can be lost if it is not properly backed up. An external hard drive is an affordable way to ensure that you keep all of your files safe.

Click here to see the best-selling External Hard Drives

Platinum 32GB USB Flash Drive Review

This memory stick comes in a cool looking transparent yellow colour. It also has a protective cover which swivels easily to reveal the USB connector. This Platinum USB Flash Drive can store 32GB of data which will allow you to easily transfer and share videos, photos, songs and other files between computers.

Click here to view the excellent user reviews 

Nice looking and easy to use, this Platinum 32GB USB Flash Drive is currently on offer with Amazon. As of this week it is available for £14.82, which is better than half price of the recommended retail.

Samsung S2 USB 2.0 1TB Ultraslim Portable Hard Drive Review

Hard Drives have come a long way over the past few years, and right now, the desire for portable digital storage has never been higher. We all have lots of digital ‘things’ which we want to carry around with us. We have thousands of pictures, movies, documents and songs, and we want to access them easily wherever we are. External hard drives allow us to carry this information with us, and if you are looking to purchase one, you can’t go too wrong with the Samsung S2.

The Samsung S2 USB 2.0 1TB Ultraslim Portable Hard Drive is light and compact with an elegant design. It has also been designed for easy handling, due to an anti-slip texture for secure gripping. It is smaller than most other external hard drives, meaning that you can carry massive amounts of digital content when you are on the move. The device can store 1 terabyte of data, meaning that you can save thousands of your favourite pictures, videos and music onto the device.

Click here to see what others are saying... 

When you plug the device into your machine, your PC will run a short automatic installation which will allow you to format the device and get on using it. The hard drive also has password and encryption options to ensure that you data is secure. Alongside this the Samsung Ultraslim has an auto backup feature which can be used to automatically backup your PC at set times.

The device has a 1000 GB capacity and using a USB 2.0 cable it can transfer data at 480 Mb/s. It supports Microsoft Windows Vista /XP/2000 Pro/7, Mac OS x 10.4.8 or later.

The Samsung S2 USB 2.0 1TB Ultraslim Portable Hard Drive is reliable and sleek. It is made by Samsung, so you know that you will receive a device of high quality. It is light, simple to use and looks great. If you are looking for a top quality external hard drive, then this may just be the right device for you.

Click here to purchase this product through Amazon

How big is an SD Card?

How big is an SD Card?

Secure Digital or SD is a memory card format made specifically for portable devices. While they do come in Micro and Mini sizes, the most common SD Card is the SDHC. These cards are the same size as SDSC and SDXC cards. As seen in the picture above, SD Cards are not much larger than a postage stamp, in fact they are only 32mm x 24mm x 2.1mm. This means that they are lightweight, easy to manage and easy to store. SD Cards are also very robust in their design, meaning that users can carry them without having to worry too much about damage or corruption.

The above SD Card is made by SanDisk, but there are hundreds of brands out there. To maintain compatibility however, you will find that all SD Cards are made to exactly the same dimensions. Regardless of the brand, SD Cards only come in Standard size, Mini size or Micro size.

In terms of storage capacity, typical SDSC cards range from 1MB to 2GB, while SDHC cards can store between 4GB and 32GB. SDXC cards are the newest SD Cards on the market, and can store between 32GB and 2TB.

Kingston 8GB microSDHC

Having a microSD card is invaluable for most mobile devices now. As with normal SD cards, the bigger the storage capacity, the better. This Kingston 8GB microSDHC card is identical in physical size to today's standard microSD cards, but offers improved storage. The higher storage means that you can take and keep more music, videos and pictures with your mobile device.

Kingston's microSDHC cards use the speed "class" rating of class 4 that guarantee a minimum data transfer rate of 4MB/sec. This speed enables you to get optimum performance from your mobile device. When buying a microSDHC card, make sure that your host device is compatible. Look for the microSDHC or SDHC logo on your mobile phone, PDA or camera to ensure that you can use this Kingston microSDHC card.

This card also comes with an SD card adapter for maximum compatibly across devices. This comes in very useful, as while most mobile devices use microSD now, lots of larger products like laptops and cameras still only take standard SD cards. Plugging your microSDHC card into the adapter means that you can easily transfer files between your mobile and larger devices.

The Kingston 8GB microSDHC is currently available on Amazon UK for £3.50.

Sandisk 32GB Extreme HD SDHC Card

This 32GB SDHC card from Sandisk is designed for advanced performance, ideal for photo and video enthusiasts. With speeds of up to 30MB/sec and 200X read/write speed, this SDHC card is specifically designed to capture continuous shots & transfer data fast.

Built for durability, the SanDisk Extreme SDHC card is temperature proof, water proof, shock proof, and x-ray proof. It is designed to get more professional looking images with your advanced digital camera, and to enable you to capture and share more full HD video.

The memory card reviews are generally very good, with lots of users describing how the SDHC card has enabled their cameras to shoot and record HD video without error messages that can occur, even with other class 10 specification cards.

This Sandisk 32GB SDHC Card is available through Amazon UK for under £40.

Sandisk 8GB SDHC Card

Sometimes we simply want an SD Card that works, that is trustworthy and cheap. Sandisk are a top brand in the SDHC market and well known for producing robust memory cards which are great value for money.

The Sandisk 8GB SDHC Card has a Class 4 speed performance rating and is fully compatible with SDHC compliant host devices. The 8GB storage capacity is capable of storing appoximately 2,000 pictures using a 12 Megapixel camera.

The most impressive thing about this 8GB SDHC Card is the price. It is currently available for £4.50 on Amazon and has great customer reviews. Choosing an SD Card can be a daunting ordeal at times, but this device is reliable, simple to use and a bargain.

What are SD Cards?

Secure Digital Cards are the most popular and common type of memory card out there. They are used lots of electronic devices such as digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players and certain video game consoles. SD cards are small in size, but very robust. They have large capacities and are easily moved between devices, making transferring files very straightforward. They are known for their relative high-speed data transfer and for security they include a mechanical write protect switch.

SD cards come with different storage capacities and a range of write speeds. Having a larger capacity means that you can store more photographs or video footage. A faster write speed, in conjunction with a more advanced camera, can mean that you are able to take pictures more quickly, or film higher quality video footage. The three most common SD cards you will encounter are:

SDSC – Secure Digital Standard Capacity (simply called an SD Card)
SDHC – Secure Digital High Capacity
SDXC – Secure Digital Extended Capacity

Deciding on which SD card to buy depends on the device that you are buying it for. Newer cameras are normally compatible with SDHC cards, while SDXC cards are typically used with high-end digital cameras and camcorders which require the highest write speeds.

Host devices that use SDHC cards are required to also accept standard SD cards, but the opposite is not true. If you have an older camera which uses SDSC cards, it may not be compatible with newer cards such as the SDHC.

SD cards also come in smaller sizes. The miniSD and microSD cards are mainly used in mobile phones and MP3 players. They work in the same way as normal SD cards, but are often sold with an adapter, which enables you to use them in a normal SD slot or USB port.

It is important to check when buying an electronic device which uses SD technology, which cards the device will accept. Buying an SDXC card for your 4 year old digital camera would be a mistake as it would lead to compatibilty issues. Also make sure that you know what you want from your device. Your digital camera may be capable of shooting 1080p video, but if you only want to take the occasional picture, an 8GB SDHC card may be sufficient for your needs. Always check the products' description or read user reviews which could include helpful information. Most online retailers also show what other items customers bought with their purchase. Being informed will give you the confidence to purchase the right SD card for your device.

Duracell Capless 32GB USB Memory Drive

Lots of memory sticks tend to look rather similar, and so if you are looking to stand out from the crowd, Duracell may have the answer for you. Having built up a trustworthy brand from their 80 years in battery manufacture, Duracell have entered the memory market.

This particular memory drive will hold 32GB, is easy to use and has a few handy design features. It has a rubbery, non-slip feel, and also slides open instead of using a cap. This gives excellent protection and means you won't lose your data... or your cap!

Duracell Flash Drives come with a 5-year warranty, and this 32GB model is currently available through Amazon for an excellent price of £16.97.