If you have a lot of data to save, it may not fit onto the hard drive in your laptop or desktop computer.
If this is the case, consider saving the files to an external hard drive.
There are even portable versions available, which is great if you need to transport the data to different locations frequently.
External portable hard drives are also a great choice for backing up the information on your computer's built-in hard drive.
This is very important to do, but not many people do it regularly.
If your computer fails, your external portable hard drive will have a copy of everything on it, saving you a great hassle.
Compact, external portable drives can easily be taken home from the office, or even on a business trip.
These external portable drives have recently become more affordable, making them a great option for moving your files.
Sure, you could use CDs or DVDs to make copies of your files.
But soon you'll have a whole spindle full of them.
Plus, you have to spend time copying the information to the CD.
When buying an external portable hard drive, your first consideration should be the storage size.
Some have a large storage space, which is great if you have a lot of graphics, videos, or other large files to store.
However, these large drives also take up more physical space.
If an ultraportable drive is necessary, you may have to make some concessions on the size of the hard drive storage space.
However, portable external drives are available that hold up to a terabyte of information and are only about the size of a paperback book.
Even 160GB external portable drives are made in sizes that will fit in your pocket.
The technology of hard drives has been advancing so rapidly that you can now get a portable external drive large enough for just about any conceivable use.
There is no such thing as too much storage space, so make sure you purchase a large enough drive.
This improving technology has also meant that the price for portable drives is falling.
Prices range from about $60 to $300 depending on the size and other features.
These drives offer much more storage space for your money than other storage devices like flash drives or CDs.
Plus, drives don't get scratched like CDs, and they don't wear out like flash drives.
Most can be connected via USB, making it convenient to transfer files.