EASY BACKUPS
Make backups easy. Backup your data quickly and easily using the ILY CoolCopy MB600 Backup Center. Connect it to your pc and it allows you to setup automatic backups from your hard drive to CD’s. Just like copying to an external USB hard drive, you can also backup all of your USB flash drives as well. This unit has the ports available to plug in your smart cards and other flash media to backup directly to CD.
This MB600 Backup Center can also be used as a standalone device using the unit to transfer media from one source to another such as moving your MP3 files directly CD or other flash media. No pc required.
Whether setup for Auto Backups, manual backups as needed or to just moving data, keep it safe from crashes, copy it to CD’s and move it off-site to protect your data.
HD Enclosures
External HD’s are becoming more popular as a way to both transport and or backup your data. If you replace a drive in your pc or laptop but don’t want to entirely get rid of the drive you can purchase a HD Enclosure for your hard drive. They come in both 3 1/2″ and 2 1/2″ size enclosures. Place your old drive in the enclosure and simply plug in the enclosure USB interface to your pc or laptop and have both the internal and external drive available to you. Some enclosures even utilize hot-swap technology which means you don’t have to shutdown or disconnect your connection to change out the drives.
You may just want to temporarily use the enclosure to transfer data to your new hard drive. With the hard drive outside of your computer or laptop there are no IDE or SATA cables to plug into. The external drive enclosure resolves this external hard drive problem. It converts the internal drive to an external USB Hard Drive.
Old drives or new, HD Enclosures are an economical way to add external storage to your pc’s or laptop’s.
BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!
How many of us think about backing up our data until it’s too late? Backing up data today is very easy. Whether you backup just your data files or a complete backup of your entire hard drive is a necessity if you value your data.
Media for backing up your data is not only easy to use but inexpensive as well. If you just want to copy your data files, depending how much disk space is used, can be easily copied to a simple flash drive. You can also copy your data to an external USB Hard Drive. These come in several different sizes from a few gigabytes to a couple of terrabytes. An additional way of backing up your data can be on a CD, DVD or Blue-Ray discs. Many of the hard drives and software for creating CD’s, DVD’s and Blue-Ray discs have the capabilities of scheduling backups automatically.
Whether it be your MP3 files, family pictures, personal spreadsheets and documents, they are all susceptible of being lost. Whatever the method backup your data on a repeated schedule. Protection of your data will result in hours, days or weeks of frustration.
BLU-RAY
Duplicate CD's, DVD's and Blu-Ray Discs
In February 2002 Blu-ray became an official project and the Blu-Ray Disc Founders was created. At this time there still was no standard for Blu-ray. On October 4, 2004, the Blu-ray Disc Founders was officially changed to the Blu-ray Disc Association(BDA), and 20th Century Fox joined the BDA’s Board of Directors.
Blu-ray’s original codec in early 2006 was MPEG-2 the same as HD DVD. In September the same year AVC and VC-1 codecs were introduced. Movies were then released in October using discs of dual layer (50GB) or single layer (25GB). Sony introduced the first re-writable blu-ray disc drive for the PC in July 2006.
Today Blu-ray is the far superior in both video quality and sound experience. It also supports a full 1080P format. A single format disc can store up to 25GB of data while the DVD format could only store 4 GB.
For those wanting to take advantage of the blu-ray capacity and create multiple copies of presentations or other large amounts of data to multiple Blu-ray discs check out disk duplicators: http://www.usbdevicelounge.com/miscellaneous.
CD/DVD DISC DUPLICATORS
Get the message out. Have a large presentation for multiple locations? Disc Duplicators will help you copy those files or presentations from a CD/DVD or Blue Ray Disc to as many discs as you need with very little or no intervention after the initial setup.
Disc Duplicator
There are one-to-one disc duplicators, one-to-several and one-to-many. Most are connected as a USB device. You can stack 80 blank discs on some models and start the process. The master is read and placed into memory and each disc is then written as an exact copy. After each is done it’s moved robotically to the finished stack and moves onto the next. If 80 discs aren’t enough just fill the bin before the discs runout and duplication is never interrupted while the copying process is working.
If you think GREEN Technology, there are models available that will not only burn discs without intervention but with the right discs can burn the label right on the CD/DVD or Blue Ray disc. This process came from HP called LightScribe Technology. This eliminates the hassle of printing separate labels and trying to place them on straight.
Overall disc duplicators will save you time and money for your large or not so large jobs of copying discs.
USB WEBCAMS: Capturing Video
Webcams are a video capture device connected to a computer. They have multiple uses such as capturing still pictures from your own pc. Also you can capture a complete video for many uses. Videos can be used in many applications, websites, blogs, social networks and more.
The most popular use now is for video conferencing. Stay in touch with your friends, family or even co-workers. Simply a one-to-one live video conference over the internet.
USB Webcams today have several new features such as automatic lighting controls, real-time enhancements (retouching, wrinkle smoothing and vertical stretch), automatic face tracking and autofocus. Webcams performance and features vary depending on software, computer’s processors and operating systems.
USB HUBS
How many USB ports does one need? If your pc only has 2 or 3 ports on it you realize you need more ports. Your keyboard and mouse will take up two ports, your USB printer another one. If you want add on a USB web camera, external drive or flash drive you’ll need more ports.
USB Hubs are a great add-on for the additional ports you require. Depending on how many extra ports you require there are different size hubs available. Also some hubs provide their own energy thru the USB ports and do not require external power. Other hubs are available the do use external power and will support more additional hubs.
Hubs can be connected together supporting up to 127 ports. Flexibility is the key with USB ports. You can add storage drives while being portable with the ability to move data from one source to another with the simple plugging in the USB device from pc to pc. Expand your pc devices with USB hubs.
Webcam: Everyone is Doing It
Webcams weren’t all that popular for some time, even though they’ve been available for almost a decade. But as video technology and connection speeds have improved, webcams have become much more viable for use. With a webcam, it’s possible to talk with friends, family, and even business clients at significant distances. The webcam makes these experiences much more personal than an e-mail or a phone call, and also allows to people to keep in touch via the internet. Combine a USB webcam with an online chat program, and it’s one step away from being right there with the person on the other side in real life. Webcams often come with software allowing for ease of use, and because the USB webcam uses a slot located on all computers, all computer owners can use it even if their computer is an older model.
Webcams are great for keeping in touch with all the important people in our lives, and are practical for all computer users. Purchase a USB webcam and be on the cutting edge of technology! Webcams are also quite affordable.
Safe Storage for Essential Files
We’ve all heard about the importance of backing up our important documents to prevent them from being lost to a computer virus or hardware problem. While backing up files is a good idea, a better idea is often to store the most important files on a USB hard drive instead of an internal hard drive. There’s no difference between a USB hard drive and an internal hard drive with the exclusion of how the files saved on the hard drive are accessed by the computer. The computer accesses this memory through a series of wires attached to the motherboard with an internal hard drive, while a USB hard drive is accessed through the USB port. Internal hard drives are essential for storing those programs that allow the computer to function, like the operating system. However, an external USB hard drive is much better served for storing other files in a safe manner.
In addition to being better protected from viruses and malfunction, an external hard drive is portable and can be accessed on several different computers. This ensures that files are safe and can be accessed all the time. The USB hard drive is also ideal for storing media like movies and music.
Hard Drive CRASH! Data lost
Hard drive crash! Data gone. Has this ever happened to you? You turn on your PC and all you get is a little flashing cursor in the left hand corner of the screen or can’t find drive O error on the screen. You reboot your system and you get the same thing. You meant to back up your data, you really did. All those spreadsheets, word documents or even worse the family photos and MP3 files, all gone.
With most USB Hard drives you’re able to connect them to your computer at your home or office network and set it up to automatically backup your data. Most USB hard drives come with software to manage the drive and how it performs with your PC. You can select what data you want backed up with the ability to schedule when and how often it needs to be backed up.
Another alternative is to use it as an extra drive on your PC. Being portable, the data can be physically moved from one pc to another by just plugging into an available USB port. USB Hard Drives just like many other USB devices are very flexible in their use and portability.
For the critical system backups you can image your entire system. With additional software a full recoverable image can be created and stored on the USB Hard Drive. This will allow full system recovery including applications doing a restore from the last image file created.