by David Hakala

A memory card is essentially portable RAM, electronic memory that you can put in your pocket and plug into various devices to use as storage. A USB flash drive is a type of memory card. So are the wafer-thin cards you slide into digital cameras, game consoles, etc. There are different types of memory cards made for different purposes.
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Making an Offsite Backup Using Time Machine

in computer hardware
Macintosh

Macintosh users are fortunate to have an easy-to-use data backup system in the form of Time Machine. You will need a SATA drive dock and SATA drives, which are increasingly affordable.

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How Can I Avoid, Prepare For, and Recover from PC and Technology Disasters?

in computer performance
Privacy & Security

If the worst happens, computer-wise, you won’t lose much data, and comparatively very little time, if you’ve planned ahead and backed up, thought about smart storage, arranged alternative power sources and otherwise anticipated disasters that could befall your PC.

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Can I and Should I Delete or Remove Vista’s Recovery Partition?

in data storage and recovery
Vista

Vista’s recovery partition is critical in case of installation crashes. However, to save space, you can move its capabilities off your hard drive to offline storage.

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How to Create a Bootable Windows Rescue CD

in data storage and recovery
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You can create, or even order ready-made, a Windows Rescue CD that will allow you to boot from the CD drive instead of your main hard drive. If your PC crashes, you’ll be glad you did.

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Windows Backup Software

in data storage and recovery
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Taking the time and effort to back up your data, as well as your Windows software, via a program or online backup service, is well worth it when Windows failures are quite possible and your records, photos and other data are at risk.

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How to Find and Use an Online Backup Service

in data storage and recovery
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To keep your data safe from hard drive failures and other mishaps, consider using an online backup service that will store your documents, photos and videos until you need to retrieve them.

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How to Erase a Hard Drive Safely and Completely

in applications
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If you’re giving your computer away to charity, or otherwise disposing of it, you’ll likely want to first erase the hard drive to avoid having your private information seen by strangers. Simply deleting files and/or formatting the hard drive will not do the job completely.

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What to Look for When Searching for an External Hard Drive for Windows XP

in computer hardware
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When considering the purchase of an external hard drive, be sure to choose one with as much space as you can afford, and with a decent cache size. Otherwise, you may find yourself shopping for another hard drive sooner than later.

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Getting a “Restore” CD From a Vendor and Using Vista’s “Preserve My Data” Feature

in data storage and recovery
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Due to their licensing agreements with Microsoft, vendors of computers with Windows Vista preinstalled cannot provide buyers with a Restore CD. However, the built-in Restore program is able to reinstall Vista—albeit while wiping all existing data and applications from the hard drive.

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“Cannot Restore” Errors When Trying to Use System Restore

in computer performance
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Sometimes, attempts to perform a “System Restore” to an earlier date is met with a “cannot restore” error. Unfortunately, the files have probably been deleted, but it’s possible booting in Safe Mode can do the trick.

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