05 November 2010
Everybody wants the best deal when buying a product or service. This is especially true in the business world; the cost of doing business affects your bottom line. Often, price is a main consideration. We certainly do not want to pay too much for a data storage product, like a USB flash drive or a Flash card, especially when they all look the same. A flash drive just stores data, right? The off-brand £10 product works just as good as the name brand drive, correct? The answer is, yes…and, no! Both devices operate in the same way; they hold the same amount of data. But that is where the similarity ends.
When choosing a data storage device, ask yourself what you can afford to buy, and what you cannot afford to lose, in terms of your data.
Not All Products Are Created Equal
Let’s look at memory chips, as another example. These are components in the computer that are used as volatile memory. Your document is loaded from the hard drive into the memory so that it can be edited. When you save the document, the updated file is written back to the hard drive for long term storage. There are three types of memory vendors. One will buy memory from someone else and put their name on it. The second buys the components, assembles them, and checks the finished assembly. The third type manufactures all of the components themselves, assembles them, and checks them for quality and performance. Obviously, the third has a better quality assurance record, guaranteeing reliability.
Quality Versus Price
This concept was highlighted during a recent shopping excursion. We bought a bulk pack of USB Flash Drives that we hadn’t heard of before because “the price was right”. When placed in the computer’s USB port, not a single one was recognized. A trip back to the store secured name brand drives that worked right off. The lesson was learned; the name brand drives were a little more expensive, but much more reliable. A search on the Internet will yield many product reviews, allowing you make informed decisions so that you buy the best data storage product at the best price. When shopping for data storage devices, ask yourself what you can afford to buy, and what you cannot afford to lose, in terms of your data. That is your real bottom line.
Treat Data Recovery the Same Way
All components can fail. When your data storage device fails and you need to recover it, make sure that you apply the same principles when shopping for a data recovery service.
