People ask me if they should back up their computer using hard drives and what device should they use. Well, Bucko, you have three choices based on price, space and speed.

You can buy a 14-terabyte external hard drive (which looks like a book) for under $200. This plugs into any USB port on your desktop or laptop.

If you instead decide on a Solid State Drive (SSD), $200 gives you only a two-terabyte drive.

So, what’s the difference in speed? Solid State Drives have no mechanical parts inside them (like a motor) and are much faster and durable. In other words, you could go scuba diving with it and still be able to use it. But again, you only get two terabytes of storage. The 14-terabyte book hard drive is called a SATA drive, and if you drop or bang it, then it’s probably toast.

The third option is the portable SATA hard drive that looks like a deck of cards. It’s small, and you can carry it around and plug it into other computers.

I like this one, because the big book one usually has to be plugged into an electrical outlet. The only problem with this portable hard drive is that it’s only four terabytes and costs about the same as the big book, 14-terabyte drive. Again, if you drop it, since there is also a motor in it, you’ll lose everything.

The SATA drives, which have a motor inside the case, are sealed so that they are 99.9 percent dust-free. If even smoke from a cigarette were to be found inside the case, it would render it useless or malfunction.

Now imagine an old 45 vinyl record. Remember the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly? Both SATA hard drive cases have a metal disk inside called the Platter, which is a bit smaller than the vinyl records. A record player-type arm drops down to the surface and comes so close to it that you couldn’t slide a strand of human hair under neath it. The arm picks up the data stored on the Platter. So you can image the shock damage to the metal Platter if you dropped it from, say, the top of the Empire State Building to the street below, of course missing all the cars, buses and people (plus the pigeons) underneath it.

Now that I have totally confused you and prevented you from driving over to Costco to buy a backup hard drive, I’ll give you my choice. Buy the big book, 14-terabyte hard drive. It will be slower up-loading your data, but you’ll never run out of space.

Just a reminder: I’m here to help anyone with computer problems. Just call me at (808) 280-5055 or e-mail me at Mauimist@aol.com.