What are good ways to store my files?

Romania
June 19, 2009 2:57am CST
I have many files (videos, pics, documents etc. ) but I'm not sure what's the best way to save them. They occupy a lot of space so DVDs could be a solution, I have a laptop that theoretically it should accept them but it actually doesn't. I have no idea why, but no matter what files I burn on them, they don't show up on the dvd. A regular CD have 700-800 mb and my files go way over 40 gb... It would take me thousands of cds to burn all of them! Can you tell if you know any other ways to store my personal files? Do you know if there are other cds that have over 800 mb?
17 responses
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
19 Jun 09
Your best bet is to go the DVD route. Also if these are files that you use alot you might want to make two copies...one to keep out and one to put in a safe place. I have alot of my files on DVD and they are in one of those Sentry fire safes. I wouldn't store them online b/c you run the risk of losing them if the site goes down and if you stored them on a back up PC you don't know that it might crash one day or be stolen. [b]~~AT PEACE WITHIN~~ **STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS**[/b]
2 people like this
• Romania
19 Jun 09
I didn't even intend to store them online, I know anything can happen with them there. My first choice was to burn them on a dvd, of course, but since it doesn't work I thought there might be other ways. I guess I'll need to solve my dvd rom problem after all, if there's nothing else I can do... Thanks for your answer!
1 person likes this
@maean_19 (4655)
• Philippines
19 Jun 09
DVD is one way, but as you mentioned, there is something wrong because the files don't appear. If this kind of problem appears, there may be a problem in the burning/ripping steps or problem with your DVD rom. Since, the above is not possible for you, then external hardware would be great. It is more expensive to upgrade your laptop with respect to your hardware, so buying external hardware is more practical and less expensive. Another saving device is portable drive/USB drive/flash drive. I think it is just a matter of organizing and classifying your files is the solution. Why do you have to save everything? Do you need everything? Deleting the unnecessary files perhaps would not be a pain to you. Or perhaps, why not classify your files and don't mix up? Documents should be saved separately from videos or music audios, or pics. With this, you can determine which saving device you can save them. Or those you don't usually need should be saved on a cd/dvd, flash drive or external drive and retain those which you need daily. Hope I was able to helped you with your dilemma my friend.
1 person likes this
• Romania
19 Jun 09
My laptop is very new, so I doubt there's a problem with my dvd rom. And yeah, I need everything, there are videos I gathered along the time, hundredes of songs and thousands of pics. I can't lose them. And I just listed all the files I wanted to save, I didn't mean I want to store them all on one cd/dvd... I'm not that experienced in computers so I have no idea what external hardware means... But I'll check that out, thanks!
@maean_19 (4655)
• Philippines
23 Jun 09
Hello my friend! With regard to saving your files in a cd/dvd, be sure that the dvd rom driver is installed. If nothing wrong with that, perhaps, it's in the process in the burning or ripping the files into the dvd is improper. Let us say, if you are using Nero, be sure that the details are properly checked. For example, when you are going to save pure documents then mark or use "data" or pure videos on "video" and if mixed on "data and videos". When there is improper ways of burning/ripping your files, the tendency is some documents or videos cannot be opened. With regard to external hardware, this is a device similar to the hardware/harddisc inside your laptop although the difference is that external hardware is portable. It is similar to portable or flash drive but it has a bigger capacity the same as that of the hardware in your laptop. Flash drives as far as I know have a capacity of 6 Gb.(Am not sure because that is the available one when I did a canvass) while external hardware has a capacity of 40 Gb or higher. It is very costly though because it is portable and external. It can be inserted through the USB port. Just visit a computer shop/warehouse and ask for external hardware/hard disc. Hope I have helped you with this.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71673)
• United States
19 Jun 09
I don't know how high cds can go but I have a lot of my pictures stored on cds. I use about 3 burned cds a year with photos. I am a member of a site that your earn points to post pictures, videos and articles etc. You receive points when people view your pictures and other content. The points can be converted to cash as a paypal payout or you can choose between the gift cards they offer. I love putting my photos and everything on there to share them with friends and everyone but its also great in the event of a fire or something all the photos that I put on there will be able to be accessed and it doesnt cost anything. I have hundreds of photos on the site that I have been adding to over the years. The site is called gather but I can't put up any referral links so if you want a link to join the site send me a private message. I don't think I earn anything from referring anyone but maybe I'm not sure.
1 person likes this
• Romania
19 Jun 09
Thanks, but I'm not interested in storing my files online. I don't think they could be safe there, plus there are many personal files that I don't want anyone to see... and I need them on cds/dvds or something in case I wanna use them on other computers that maybe don't have access to internet...
1 person likes this
• United States
19 Jun 09
I always store my stuff on flash drives. I usually end up with moderate-sized files, but if you are willing to spend a little bit of money, flash drives can store quite a bit. I'm not really sure about CD-roms. I haven't used them to store data files in so long.
1 person likes this
@ivana980 (156)
• Italy
19 Jun 09
I know... it is a problem to save all files we have in our pc, i have many cd and i have not space in my library anymore!!! You asked if there is a cd that have over than 800 mb, but have you tried with the dvd? They have 4,5 gb and it is a lot of space for your files. This is a simple way to save our data in a safe place and we will not have many cd in our library...
1 person likes this
@vetiver12 (163)
• Spain
19 Jun 09
I use megaupload or rapidshare no upload my files, and also you can buy a hard disk portatil, which they have hundreds of gigas, then you can have in each one hundreds of films, and you can always delete some of them, if you get tired of those ones.
1 person likes this
@funfreak2k2 (1734)
• India
19 Jun 09
If you use those files often, better burn them onto a DVD using a good burning software like nero or ashampoo (Free). If you don't use them often and just want to back them up, use your gmail account and transfer them to your gmail storage using gmailfs software. you can use free online storage site also.
1 person likes this
@modstar (9605)
• Philippines
19 Jun 09
Maybe you should start by buying an external hard disk. That would accommodate all your files on your laptop. If you're on a tight budget well. Here's what you should do. Try to reset your IDE or reinstall your DVD drive's driver. It will only take a matter of seconds. I just can't describe it here because i can't see it and i'm too lazy to check my own. lol! There are how-tos online so you might want to check them out. By the way, try using a branded blank dvd, it might work but it's a lot more expensive.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
20 Jun 09
If I were you I'd really buy myself an external HD. It's the most safest way of storing files without corrupting them. Since you have said that you have 40gb+ worth of important files stored. That's the safest.
@geniustiger (1694)
• Philippines
20 Jun 09
You can store you files to your documents in your laptop or desktop documents. You may save it in USB or transfer it in the dvd and cd tape. You can save also to your local disk c in your computer. You can ask some person who are more knowlegeable about saving files.
• India
19 Jun 09
The solution to your problem is getting a internal or an external hard disk depending on your requirement. Now-a-days hard disks are much cheaper and you can store lots of data on them instead of storing it on different CDs or DVDs . External hard disks are more costly than internal ones but you can take it with you wherever you want to. You can also consider internal hard disk if you just want to save all your data or if you do not want to spend more money.
• United States
19 Jun 09
I guess you could do CD / DVD but i suggest a external Harddrive. They work wonders!
1 person likes this
• Indonesia
20 Jun 09
if you have high mobility and internet life style you might consider using online drive as well, pretty neat service. I use www.adrive.com my self and found it very useful to serve my drive space requirement.
• Indonesia
20 Jun 09
if you have high mobility and internet life style you might consider using online drive as well, pretty neat service. I use www.adrive.com my self and found it very useful to serve my drive space requirement.
@Ruby722 (796)
• China
20 Jun 09
I think you should buy a card export ,it's easy to use can it take carry a lot of thing,
• China
20 Jun 09
I think you can prepar some moveable hardware or U disk which have big volum.It will be easy to take and workable.
• United States
20 Jun 09
I can tell you what I do which is really simple and eases up on the computer having too much memory and such gone what I do it buy a couple of those I think they are called usb drives flash drives whatever transfer the files onto there eliminate them from your computer I did this with all my music which is over 1000 songs at least fit on a 8 gb one and has plenty of space still one for all my graphics and again I have loads and then one for the other just files o these come in different amounts of gb so you do no need more than one I just do you need a good place to pick them up reasonable try Worldstart on line once they are on the drives and off the computers all you have to do is plug in whatever you want music grpahics whatnot all you stuff is in a small little space maybe the size of an eraser This is what I do and it is a lifesaver computer uns much faster and everything I need is as easy as flipping a switch