External hard drives are my new favorite tool for small businesses.
Last year, I bought a Western Digital My Book. It cost me under $100, and it’s small enough to carry around to my various computers. This one holds 500 gb, and that’s more than enough for me, even with my digital photography habit.
The hard drive in my laptop crashed this week, so I was very, very glad to have that backup.
Other models work with your wireless network, so you can copy files to and from them without hooking up any cables.
If you don’t have an external hard drive in your small business, take a look. It might solve a big problem for you.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
- The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
- Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
- Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
- Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
- Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020
- Economic self defense for small towns - June 7, 2020
- The best things you can do for local businesses in light of coronavirus - March 27, 2020
- How to get more parking downtown without adding any spaces - March 7, 2020
- Exact Yeti Blue mic volume and Windows settings to reduce background noise - February 17, 2020
Hi Becky,
I’d add one more big advantage for a small business to have use external hard drives: a repository for bookkeeping files, invoices, and other sensitive information.
A few years ago I realized that my (at the time) sole laptop, which I was taking all over the place, contained everything. Sure, I backed up the data, but if the laptop were stolen the thief would have my EIN, my SSN, a snapshot of my business finances, and a lot of other confidential information. So I moved anything sensitive to an external hard drive.
Now I’m doing to go backup my data. :)
Best,
Daria