1) Determine the approximate quantity and file sizes you will be backing up.

2) Calculate the quantity and file sizes of any documents or applications you want to archive permanantly to a backup device or removable media.

3) Plan for that amount to grow considerably in the future.

4) Calculate your budget for a backup storage device and removable media to use with it.

5) Consider if you plan to archive photographs or scanned files, need portability of the media or the drive itself, wish to record music for playback on other equipment, or require ease of use.Weigh these factors against your need to back up your files.

6) Work out the cost per MB of media for each drive that you are considering.zip drives themselves are relatively cheap but the disks aren't.

7) You may want to consider buying a 100MB zip drive if you need limited storage capability (less than 1GB).An external parallel port or even USB Zip drive will provide versatility as well as portability.Consider buying a 250MB Zip drive if your storage requirements are moderate (a few GB). 

8) Buy an internal zip drive if you will only use the drive for backup and you are able to install it by yourself (installation fees add up).

9) Consider buying a CD-RW drive if your storage needs are more moderate and you will regularly back up more than 500MB of data.

10) Consider buying a Jaz drive or perhaps even a tape backup drive if you will be backing up large amounts of data regularly.

11) Buy an external hard disk if you will need a lot of space, wont be keeping old backups and dont need portability.

12)  If you require additional security, data protection and the ability to recover your data quickly then online Data backup should be a serious consideration.

If you are reading this article youare certainly using IT, although you may not know what it stands for.Information Technology, is abbreviated IT,.  Information technology is all about the world of computers. In the broad sense it means the processing, managing, and editing of information stored in computer databases and on the Internet at large.This includes software and computer generated entertainment.There are Computer Magazines to weed through this information and guide you along certain aspects of the procedure.

For instance home computers have evolved from simple word processing to multimedia gaming monsters.  Kids can perform Internet research for school as well as download music and playing realistic games.Articles in computer magazines offer information on updates to software and games as well as new hardware that makes the computers faster and more dependable.

And what about cell phones, once only the rich had in their cars, now everywhere you look kids, students, adults, businessmen and woman and even grandparents have cell phones.Cells phones functionality ranges from simple to advanced.Many cell phones offer text messages to be sent back and forth over the phones.  The more advanced phones have full operating systems and function similar to a laptop.They can send and receive email, browse the Internet, compose documents, keep schedules and use organization software if available.

Future articles on technology in Computer Magazines even cover cutting edge topics.Nanotechnology, one of the hotest topics today.  Nanotech deals with structures that are extremely small, therefore allowing electronics to be created equally as small.  For example a computer hard drive can be created using nanotech and small enough to fit on the head of a pin.  This technology is far from everyday use, but on the way none the less.  Major advances in technology also touches our daily lives in the medical field.  More lives are saved than ever before due to the advances made and how the technology is used to get better medications and machines to assist when we are ill.