How to choose the right computer equipment for your business to increase your productivity and efficiency without it costing the earth.
Business software helps you complete a range of tasks. Choose the right software, provide support and train your staff with our introduction.
It is highly likely that you depend on the internet for some aspects of your business. Find out how you can use the internet more effectively.
Good communication with customers, partners and suppliers is vital for business success. This summary explores business communication methods.
How would you cope if your IT system failed or was breached? We cover the main IT security issues and how to protect against them.
Good IT management can help you choose, use and implement IT. Our overview helps you manage IT in a way that maximises the return on your investment.
IT support is vital if you rely on your IT system. But how can you set up an effective safety net in case things go wrong? We explore the options.
Getting the right IT is just the first step. Appropriate training, policies and working practices can help you maximise return on your IT investment.
Even in the age of cloud computing, storage devices and portable media are an essential part of business. They provide you with a place to backup and transport all your key files, documents and data.
Storage devices come in many forms. Choosing the right ones for your business requires careful consideration about how you work and what you want to store.
Hard drives (also called hard disk drives or HDDs) are very common computer storage devices. They store data on a spinning magnetic disk or ‘solid state’ chip.
Hard drives are reliable storage devices, can hold large amounts of data and allow files to be accessed quickly. They're essential for the day-to-day storage of frequently-accessed files.
The smallest hard drives hold around 500GB (gigabytes) of data and cost less than £50. That's enough for most business needs.
A larger hard drive - say 1TB (terabyte, which is about the same as 1,000GB) - will cost from £75, and should be adequate unless you work with huge video files.
If your business has a network server, this will be fitted with a large, fast hard drive so you can store files centrally. It should be specifically designed to cope with the load from several users.
There are two main types of hard drives:
Another type of external hard disk storage is network attached storage (NAS). It allows you to connect a hard drive directly to your computer network, so you can store files centrally without investing in a server.
A NAS device can help you deal with data growth while costing significantly less than a server to purchase and maintain.
Solid state storage devices work like the memory card in a camera. With no moving parts, a solid state device can store and access data much quicker than magnetic hard drives.
Solid state storage devices will cost a bit more than those containing standard hard drives, but are becoming more commonplace.
Adding an SSD to an old laptop or desktop computer is often one of the most cost-effective ways to gain a significant performance boost.
It's important to keep data backups in case you suffer hard disk failure or another problem. You can store backups on the following platforms:
Memory cards and memory sticks are very convenient types of storage media. They fit easily into your pocket and make it simple to transport data from one location to another.
A typical memory stick costs less than £10 and can hold at least 4GB of data. Accessing the data is as easy as plugging it into a computer. However, memory sticks are easily lost, so consider using encryption to protect the data.
Finally, cloud storage can also be classed as portable storage. With cloud storage you upload your files to an online server, so you can log in and access them anywhere. Cloud storage can also be a good way to free up space on your own hard drive.
