| Computers today are used in every part of | | | | |
| life. They are used for communication, work, | | | | USB Drives are becoming more popular as a |
| play and even to buy food. Therefore, when | | | | back up tool. A USB drive is a small device |
| you lose a computer or even just a file from | | | | that holds large amounts of information. It |
| your computer, it is like losing your best | | | | works like a floppy disk in that you can |
| friend. You can't back up or replace a best | | | | place files, delete files or move files |
| friend, but you can backup files, or your | | | | around within the USB. All recent computers |
| entire computer if desired. | | | | have USB ports that should be able to read |
| | | | any USB device. |
| Several back up methods exist. Some computers | | | | |
| will automatically back themselves up; you | | | | CD ROMs are also a popular way to back up |
| just need to find the folder where the back | | | | your files. A CD ROM looks just like a music |
| up is stored. If your computer does not have | | | | CD you would buy in a store, but can hold up |
| this function, or you are not sure if the | | | | to 700 MB of information. This allows for |
| function exists or is working, manually back | | | | large files or a large amount of small files |
| up your files. For example, after creating an | | | | to be stored on this disk. Once you put |
| important Microsoft Word document, save it at | | | | information onto a CD ROM, you can not add |
| least twice in at least two different | | | | files or change the files on the disk. This |
| locations. | | | | can be one way of ensuring nobody else |
| | | | tampers with your work, but can also be |
| If however, you lose your entire hard drive, | | | | frustrating when you would like to back up a |
| it won't matter how many times you have saved | | | | newer version of your work. In this case, a |
| the same document. To avoid this dilemma, | | | | CD RW disk may suit you better. RW stands for |
| save your files on something other than the | | | | re writable disk. On this kind of disk you |
| computer's hard drive. Floppy disks are not | | | | can add, delete and rewrite files until the |
| commonly used, but they will work for small | | | | disk is full. When using the rewrite option, |
| files. Be ware that floppy disks can be | | | | be sure you do not accidentally rewrite |
| unreliable and often crash just as your | | | | something you wanted to keep the back up of. |
| computer did. | | | | |