Everyone has files they need to store for safekeeping or for future use. Most of the time, saving those important files in a desktop or laptop computer is just not enough. As a matter of fact, it is not even practical or secure. It could easily be accessed by other people and even hacked through the online backdoor by malicious entities.

Although storing personal files in computer systems is the common way for a lot of people, keep in mind that it is not the only option for everybody. For those people that need their files with them, there are some portable options available. Here are some ways to store files aside from computers.

USB Flash drives

For a couple of decades now, USB flash drives have been well-known as portable storage devices. It is small, light, and fast. And with the present technology, there have been USB flash drives that can store up to terabytes of file size.

USB flash drives are also considered the more secure way of storing your files. Once you unplug from your computer systems, it is basically offline. So no online entity can ever access your files especially when they are too important.

Optical Storage

Although in this era, optical storage has been considered as a dying technology, it is still a good choice for keeping important soft file copies. DVDs and Blu-ray are still available in the market so it is not as obsolete as anyone might think. It is offline, portable, light, and fast as well. Well, not as fast as USB flash drives but they are acceptable, nevertheless.

Optical storage is also cheaper compared to USB flash drive, perhaps part of the reason is the amount of storage it can only provide. But if your soft file copies are not really that huge, these types of storage will do just great for your backup needs.

Hard Copies or Paper

In this list, the paper is the only technology that has been around for centuries. It is still as useful as ever and no other storage technology available to date can stand in comparison to this. Paper is still used in the majority, if not all, of industries and business worldwide. On that note, the paper is still a good option for backup documents and other legal filings that have a certain importance for you. It can keep pictures and word files just as any storage device you know.

External Hard Drive

If you need large file storage, like perhaps gigabytes and terabytes of files, your best bet is an external hard drive. It works just like any USB flash drive. The only difference is the capacity, size, and perhaps the power requirement. Usually, the bigger capacity the external hard drive is the more electrical power it needs to function properly.

Cloud Storage

One of the most common choices for file storage nowadays is the cloud storage. It offers an all-access-anywhere option with ease and reliability. Five of the most popular cloud computing services are Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, DropBox, Apple iCloud, and iDrive. Although there have been some issues in the past about personal account being hacked and hijacked, cloud computing providers are doing everything they can to prevent such incident from happening again.

If you are not so confident about cloud storage, try not to store any important or too sensitive personal files in there. Perhaps, stick to USB flash drives or external hard drives.