subject: Utilizing A Portable Dvd Burner [print this page] With the explosion of data recently people have been trying to find an easy and inexpensive way to back up data. With that more and more people have come to rely on a portable DVD burner to get the job done. These slim DVD burners make the perfect accessory for any IT person looking to do a quick back up or simply have more off site storage.
The beauty of a portable DVD burner is that they can usually connect up to just about any system through the USB or Firewire port. Once you do this the device will usually automatically mount itself and be accessible from the system, then you can simply start copying away.
Why Use a Portable DVD Burner for Backups
There are some very good reasons why you want to use a portable DVD burner to do your backups. First of is the amount of storage you can get on one. A typical dual layer DVD can hold around 16 gig worth of data. For most casual and even some hardcore users one maybe two disks should be enough for any backup. Once you do the backup to a DVD you can move that disk wherever you want, take it offsite, keep it in a storage closet, whatever is easiest for you.
Secondly dual layer DVDs have fallen dramatically in price making them now extremely affordable. In addition to the actual DVDs being cheap a portable DVD burner is not very expensive either. You can get a very solid one for around $100. Figure another $50 for DVDs and you are looking at a $150 solution to do your basic office backups. How much is that data worth to you? You can bet that it is probably more than $100.
These devices make is super easy for you to justify doing weekly backups of the systems in your office. All you have to do is walk over to the computer, plug in the drive, copy what you need and move on. Even better is that you can leave a disk open so that you can continue writing to it and do a back up for every computer in the company on one DVD.
While these back ups are an important part of the functionality of a portable DVD burner, they are not the only one. In addition to this you can also set the system up to copy files you need transferred from one system to another, or even files that you may need mailed out.
Got a huge presentation to give to a client simply plug in the burner, copy it, mail it off. This is a great sales tool to get information out to your potential customers. As you can see a portable DVD burner is a great addition to any office.