Portable Storage Options for Nonprofits

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Portable Storage

Relief workers, who risk destroying their laptop hard-drive data during intense field work, are using portable storage devices to back up data. Nonprofits can use these drives for daily backup, as a floppy disk alternative to store or transfer files, or as a marketing tool.

Despite the hype, portable storage devices have their flaws. These devices' data-transfer rates pale in comparison to network and tape storage, which is immobile and better suited for storage in complex IT environments.

Portable storage devices are also prone to theft, making them unsafe as a long-term backup option or to store sensitive data. Tape and network storage are better equipped to secure and retain long-term data, especially to meet U.S. government regulations, like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which requires nonprofit healthcare organizations to secure and retain patient records, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires nonprofits to retain audit records for over seven years.

But the ability to move data anywhere, anytime, often overrides the flaws of portable storage devices. Even nonprofits with lush storage infrastructures may benefit from the flexibility they provide.

As megabytes get cheaper, these drives are becoming increasingly affordable for budget-conscious nonprofits. Yet with a variety of options out there, how do you know which type of storage device is right for you? Below, we'll show you some portable storage options and help you evaluate which to use and when.

Portable Storage Options

Flash Drives

Flash drives, also called thumb or USB drives, are tiny, durable devices that provide up to 64 GB of storage. Literally the size of a thumb, these easy-to-use drives plug straight into USB ports and are automatically detected by most computers.

For nonprofits, flash drives are an ideal floppy disk alternative, useful for moving small amounts of data, like files, graphics, and presentations, between computers. Flash drives are also being used as an alternative to CDs and DVDs to send e-brochures, data packs, or other types of files. However, flash drives' limited capacity and slow data transfer speeds can stymie a user's patience.

Unlike portable hard drives that spin and seek data, flash drives have flash memory, which retains data until erased or overwritten. By design, these drives are rugged and can take drops, making them solid and reliable.

Flash drives are also affordable, starting at under $20 for 1 GB to around $160 for 16 GB and a ghastly $750 for 32 GB. At under $20, 512-MB or 1-GB flash drives are great floppy-disk alternatives, useful in carrying small amounts of data like Microsoft Word documents, presentations, or graphics. Those options may fall short with an increase in data, where 2-GB and 4-GB flash drives serve as good options.

An 8-GB drive is expensive, but good to back up computer data. You can store just less than 4 DVDs worth of data on a 16-GB flash drive, and that's a lot of space. The 32-GB FlashBlu drive offered for $750 by Kanguru has tremendous storage capacity, but is six times more expensive per megabyte compared to a $119 30-GB Apricorn Aegis Mini portable hard drive.

Flash drives also come with different features. Nonprofits worried about data security can look at SanDisk's $29 Cruzer Profile, a 1-GB flash drive that protects files with data-encryption features and a biometric fingerprint reader. Nonprofits that set application-use policies within their IT infrastructure can look at SanDisk's $99 Cruzer Titanium, a 4-GB flash drive that loads software like the Firefox Web browser and Skype for Internet telephony without relying on the host computer.

Some nonprofits need faster speeds and more capacity than the 64 GB offered by portable flash drives. That's where portable disk-based drives fit in.

Disk Drives

While flash drives are more durable, many people are turning to disk-based storage for its faster data-transfer speeds and greater capacity. With capacities from 30 GB to 2 TB (1,000 GB), portable disk-based drives are also speedier than flash drives. Nonprofits can use them as a daily backup device, a hard-drive alternative, or to transport large amounts of data between computers at different sites.

Disk drives come in two formats: portable drives — which are light and small, with a high level of shock-protection — and desktop drives, which are a bit bulkier and ideal for office backup or short-distance data transport.

Portable hard drives. Also called mini hard drives or mobile drives, portable drives are lightweight, small, and designed for portability. They are ideal for data backup or for nonprofits with a massive field presence that need a lightweight, mobile drive to carry data on the road. With hard covers and shock-protection features, a portable hard drive can resist the elements and take small drops. (Don't push your luck by dropping it from a moving vehicle, however.)

Western Digital, Seagate, Iomega, LaCie, and Apricorn offer drives ranging from $80 for a 60-GB mobile drive (WD's Passport 60 GB), to $200 for a 250-GB drive (LaCie's Mobile Hard drive and WD's 250-GB Passport). Apricorn provides a 10-percent discount to qualified nonprofit buyers.

The 250 GB offered by Western Digital's Passport is more storage than many computers have, making it a possible alternate hard drive. It can store up to 71,000 MP3 songs (or 100 hours of DVD-quality video) and comes with encryption software to secure data files from being opened by unauthorized people.

The smaller the drive, the more expensive it is. More storage capacity can be found in desktop hard drives, explained next.

Desktop hard drives. With capacities of up to 2 TB, these drives are ideal as backup devices or for data transport within the office. Bigger internal hard drives make these bulkier than portable drives; as the name implies, these are meant to sit on the desk. Desktop hard drives could serve as an alternate hard drive and a great alternative to tape or network storage for small nonprofit organizations on a budget.

Tape storage is expensive and best used to back up data, while network storage — geared to serving multiple computers connected to a network — does not provide the portability of a desktop hard drive. Smaller nonprofits can simply place a desktop hard drive on a table without worrying about connecting networking equipment to it. Desktop drives are not as nimble or rugged like flash or portable hard drives though, so carry them over short distances with care.

Desktop hard drives are best used as daily backup devices, so buy drives with high storage capacity. LaCie's Little Big Disk, a $379 320-GB desktop drive has an aluminum exterior to make it portable, but also comes with a stand that allows it to sit on a desktop. Offering triple the capacity at a cheaper price is Iomega's 1-TB Silver Series Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive, which costs $285. LaCie provides 2 TB — the highest storage capacity available — in its $849 LaCie Big Disk Extreme. All three products come with backup software to coordinate data backup between two drives. Iomega provides a 15-percent discount via an online coupon to nonprofits purchasing as an end-user. You can contact the companies for further details.

Alternate Portable Technology

With cheap media and high availability, CD and DVD burners will be hard to replace as backup devices. DVD burners record up to 4.7 GB of data on DVDs. Nonprofits can use DVDs to create multimedia presentations, movies, or instruction videos for distribution to partners, constituents, or students. Sony sells both internal and external DVD burners starting at $60.

The emerging Blu-ray and HD DVD burners offer up to 8.5 GB of storage, but both standards are incompatible and dueling for supremacy, like the VHS and Betamax VCR standards in the 1970s and 80s. Neither DVD will work on another's player, so it makes sense to hold off on these new DVD burners until the duel is settled.

Iomega's venerable ZIP and REV drives are still in use in homes and offices. It's much like burning a DVD; buy a ZIP drive or REV drive as a recorder, and then buy respective disks on which you record the data. ZIP drives cost $80 to $100 for capacities ranging between 100 MB to 750 MB. REV drives cost $399 and $599 for the 35-GB and 75-GB drives.

REV media comes in 35-GB ($60) and 70-GB ($80) capacities; ZIP media has a maximum storage of 750 MB, and prices start at $90 for a 100 MB 10-disk pack.

Portable media players with flash or hard drives, like MP3 players, are also portable storage devices. An MP3 player with a hard drive, like an 80-GB iPod, can store data too, saving you from carrying an extra storage device.

What to Consider When Buying Portable Storage

1. Size of drive. Think ahead and buy a device that stores more data than you think you need, if the budget permits. Over time, data piles up and storage needs expand. Storage space is never enough.

2. Performance. Flash memory deletes entire blocks of memory before rewriting data on it, which makes its data-transfer rates to computers slow. Though as technology develops, flash memory is expected to become quicker, until then, magnetic portable hard drives will boast faster data-transfer rates.

Within portable hard drives, the higher a portable hard drive's capacity, the more speed matters in seeking and transferring data. A disk's RPM (revolutions per minute), listed in the specs found in the manual or at the back of the box, will give you an idea of portable hard-drive speed. Much like a wheel's RPM, the quicker a disk revolves, the quicker it seeks and transfers data. Typically a drive has 5,400 rpm or 7,200 rpm, though the higher the RPM, the more expensive the drive.

3. Takes bumps/resists wear and tear. Sloppy folks or people on the move need portable drives with shock resistance. The specification sheet should mention the fall a drive can resist without affecting data integrity. Some portable hard drives are designed to take impact.

Western Digital's Passport portable hard drive, starting at $80 for 60 GB and Apricorn's Aegis Mini portable hard drive, starting at $119 for 30 GB, have high levels of shock resistance built in; sturdier is LaCie's $119 Rugged All-Terrain Hard Drive, which has a solid rubber exterior that makes it good for field workers constantly on the move.

4. Backup software. Some drives come with backup software, which copies and coordinates data transfer between hard drives and portable storage devices. The software checks for file updates and copies changed files, useful for nonprofits transferring large amounts of data. Backup software usually comes with portable hard drives, but there are exceptions. Backup software is not included in LaCie's $119 Rugged All-Terrain Hard Drive, for example. Backup software can be bought off-the-shelf too. Flash drives usually don't come with backup software.

5. Operating system compatibility. It's important to check the drive for OS support before purchasing. Mostly all flash and portable disk drives work with Windows and Mac OS. For nonprofits using Linux, support for USB drives can be built using techniques explained on this page.

6. Ports. Check for connectivity: some drives are exclusive to FireWire or USB ports. Portable hard drives connect to either a computer's USB or FireWire port, while most flash drives connect only to a USB port. Most Macs come with both ports; PCs will have USB ports but may not have a FireWire port. If your PC has only a USB port, buy a USB hard drive. In theory, FireWire 800 is quicker than USB 2.0, offering transfer rates of 800 Mbits per second versus 400 Mbits per second.

Some drives connect to both ports. Apricorn's Aegis Portable hard drive supports both USB and FireWire ports — the 120 GB FireWire-based Aegis Portable drive, at $139, costs more than the 120 GB USB-only version, which is $119.

7. Data-security features. If data security is a concern, look for a portable biometric drive (like Apricorn Aegis Bio drive) or a drive with encryption features (like Kingston's DataTraveler). Small drives can be easily lost or stolen, and if that is a big concern, built-in encryption keeps the data secure. Secure drives could be more expensive.

8. Warranty. Always check for an appropriate warranty. Even solid disks break down — users have reported slow data-transfer rates, dysfunctional drives, and even drives that simply don't live up to their promise. A rugged portable drive deserves a solid warranty as it may take many bumps on the road, much like a laptop.

9. End of life. It's hard to determine if a portable storage device is environmentally friendly or easy to recycle — there are no specifications to go by and few manufacturers explicitly advertise a drive being eco-friendly. But when environment is a top priority, consider Kanguru's Eco Drive external hard drive, which is lead- and mercury-free, and claims to use up to 75 percent less power than competitive drives with the help of its power-saving modes. It provides 80 GB of storage for $95 to 750 GB for $350.

Even if you do not go with an Eco Drive, however, keep in mind that any portable storage device can be taken to an authorized refurbisher at the end of its life, where it will be properly restored, disassembled, or recycled. See TechSoup's directory of authorized refurbishers and recyclers or the Computer Takeback Campaign listing of responsible recyclers for information on where to send your used storage devices.

Tips on Buying Cheap

For those on a shoestring budget, some amazing deals can be found on a vendor's outlet or clearance Web page. The drives will be in decent working condition, but note that they could be refurbished. If the drive works, however, and the refurbisher is reputable, this could be a good option.

Vendors like Iomega and Apricorn offer a warranty period on outlet products, so if a disk goes bad, you can return it. In any case, format a refurbished drive immediately and ensure its integrity with a surface check using Windows' chkdsk command or related diagnostic software.

Also, compare products on different Web sites. Buying from a retailer should fetch a cheaper price than buying direct from a vendor. However, buying from a vendor ensures better return and tech-support possibilities.

The Future of Storage

Nonprofits could see solid-state drive (SSD) portable storage in the future, which may trump flash and disk-based drives by combining the best of both. SSDs promise to be tiny, light, rugged, quick, and energy efficient. They may replace portable drives as the next portable storage option.

SSDs could replace hard disks on laptops, saving battery life and making them lighter. Samsung last year included 32 GB of solid-state memory in its Q3 notebook, with Dell and Fujitsu following suit. However, at four to five times the cost of a standard hard drive with similar capacity, these can be prohibitively expensive. A 32-GB internal SSD costs $250 more than a standard 250-GB internal hard drive in a Dell XPS m1330 laptop, so only nonprofits with an extreme need and financial flexibility for such a drive may afford it.

Solid-state memory could also make it to portable devices. Apple may include it in future iPod MP3 players.