As our classrooms have quickly evolved into being more
digital, projects and assignments have also shifted from being traditional to a
more online or digital platform. While Web Apps and Web 2.0 tools have
supported this transition, several projects and assignments still require
computer based applications and…storage. Ahhh storage. When working on projects
and assignments, it is a necessity. We teachers use storage for everything from
media masterpieces to lesson plans. Students use storage for projects, essays,
and other files required for their courses. While my district allots storage
space on a server for teachers and students (I believe), one can only access
those files while on campus. And, let’s face it, while that’s all nice and
great, the majority of the creating and assembling happens off campus. With increases in technology and storage capabilities, the
issue has moved from the amount of storage, to having the ability to
access our files whenever and wherever we need them.
Fortunately for us, we have a great deal of options to
choose from aside from lugging around a notebook, netbook, or tablet computer
everywhere we go. Flash-drives, external
hard drives, and cloud computing have become increasingly convenient with a
variety of price-points and storage capacities. Which is the best? That question
does not have an easy answer as everyone has different needs and requirements.
For me though, there’s a definite winner, but it would not be sufficient to
simply leave it there. That being said, I’ll share my experiences with each
so you, the reader, might be able to generate a more informed opinion.
Flash drives have become quite the common storage device.
They’re small, portable, usually inexpensive, and can have a functional amount
of space for the price. I did a quick perusal of Bestbuy.com and found they
have a huge number of options to choose from. Prices ranged from $3.99-$200+
with capacities between 2.0GB-128GB. More space usually correlated with a
greater cost, but I did learn that some of the more expensive devices with less
space included more advanced security features, which I imagine, are used for
more personal or classified documents. Below are examples of some frequently used
flash drives from my 5th period students. Most of my students carry
these for class because, like I mentioned, they do not cost a lot of money and
can hold a good deal of information.
For me, one of the main reasons I prefer not to use flash
drives is that 1) I fill them up too quickly, thus requiring me to have more
than one (like the key-chain in the picture) and 2) I lose them. In teaching
for over six years, one could imagine how many files I have accumulated. I honestly cannot tell you the number of flash drives I have had
(and lost) throughout my teaching career. What I DO know is at one moment I'll have three on a key ring when I get to work and only two when I leave.
Luckily, the one that fell off was not the most important of the three.
Regardless, something had to be better, so I decided to buy the “next best
thing.”
Once completing a little product research, I decided to purchase
an external hard drive. The external hard drive I purchased cost about $80 and could hold up to
320GB. Bestbuy.com has (and had back then) a great selection as well ranging in price from
$50-$200+ and from 80GB to 4+TB. Like the flash drives, the greater price
corresponded to either more space or additional security features. Below is an
image of my external hard drive attached to my PC at school.
When I first bought the device, it worked wonderfully! I had
plenty of room, could take it anywhere, attach it to any computer, and despite
it costing more than a flash drive, I felt the $80 was worth it. Over time
however, I experienced (and still do) quite a number problems with it. The most
important being the cable does not connect well to the device. This is most
likely due to the frequent insertion and removal of the cable. Originally, it
clicked in and stayed to function as designed. Now, the cable rests “connected” so any
movement of the external hard drive while “connected” is problematic. In
addition, the security features have malfunctioned for some reason and now, are TOO effective. I sporadically cannot
download or put new files on the hard drive, I can only view them, which is a
problem.
The iPhone app works very well in addition to working with other apps on the phone;
so again, accessing your files is simple and can be done practically anywhere.
The application for the computer works similarly. Once downloaded, it acts like
a normal folder on your hard drive, but syncs with the cloud as soon as a file is
changed. It’s quite amazing to upload a screen capture from my phone (as I did in the image above),
then see the file immediately available on my Mac, PC, iPhone, and in my
Dropbox account online (assuming I had a browser open). If that is not the
epitome of accessing your storage, I do not know what is!
So, there you have it. Using cloud computing for storage is my favorite. It's inexpensive (free), highly accessible, and can potentially provide you with a substantial amount of space. Additionally, you need not worry about loosing files or device mechanical/technological failure. Really, with using cloud computing for storage, what more could you ask for?
-Mark O
Mark said, “One of the main reasons I prefer not to use flash drives is that 1) I fill them up too quickly, thus requiring me to have more than one (like the key-chain in the picture) and 2) I lose them”
ReplyDeleteI certainly can relate to your statement Mark; I have lost a few flash drives in the past, and it was not a pretty experience. I remember I had a lengthy paper written for an undergraduate course a while ago. I had it saved on my flash drive. On the day it was due, I arrived on campus to print it out only to find out that my flash drive was missing. It was nowhere to be found and you can only imagine the rest of the story! So… lesson learned; I started backing up all my work in an external drive that I always left at home.
However, when cloud computing emerged, I cannot tell you how it made my life easier. As you stated, “It's inexpensive (free), highly accessible, and can potentially provide you with a substantial amount of space. Additionally, you need not worry about losing files or device mechanical/technological failure”. So true and I would not ask for more! I have been using Dropbox for storing my all files. Although I still copy files into my flash drive and external storage unit, I do not carry them around anymore. With Dropbox, I can access my files from any PC, tablet, or smartphone virtually from anywhere in the world :)
I enjoyed reading your informative post Mark. Thank you for sharing your ideas and experiences with us!
Regards;
Hasnaa A
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how thrilled I was to come across your post. I have lost my fair share of flash drives (where do they go anyways?) and finally bought an external hard drive which I carry with me everywhere. I haven't yet felt comfortable with the cloud storage. Maybe I just need the extra push, or the assurance of security and availability.
I keep everything on my hard drive, pictures, music, school documents, work documents, personal documents, etc. If I lost it,I would go nuts! So, storage is a big deal to me. Reading about your story and Hasnaa's story makes me rest a little easier and possibly feel more comfortable taking that step into the big fluffy cloud. After all, it couldn't hurt, right?
Hi Mark! Thanks for sharing your experiences with different types of storage. Many people know the basics and pros and cons of each, but it can be much more helpful to hear actual first-hand experiences and personal opinions. Based on the picture of your external hard drive, I was impressed at how small and sleek it looks, but never would have thought about the kind of problems you had with the cable!
ReplyDeleteI used to use flashdrives all the time as an undergraduate, but like you, would fill them up quickly and ended up with several - I could never remember which flash drive I had saved something on, or couldn't find the one I needed. I also have a Dropbox account, but I find myself using Google Drive more frequently when I quickly need to save something to "the cloud."
Storage devices not only improve accessibility, but are needed in order to back up your files. Personally, I think external hard drives are the best way to go in terms of total backup. If you don't have most or all of your files saved in cloud storage, you could end up losing a lot of information if your computer ever crashes.
Hasnaa:
ReplyDeleteSo it's not just me that seems to lose those little flash drives! It always seems that as important as they and the files on them are, when you need them the most, they disappear! I'm glad you were able to find value in my posting. Thank you for commenting and sharing your experience as well :)
-Mark O
Christi:
ReplyDeleteGO FOR IT! Everybody's doing it... Peer-pressure aside, if you have not yet at least toyed with Dropbox, I invite you to join the club ;) Go to this site http://db.tt/1TZ46ni9 as a referral of mine and jump on the bandwagon! I was a little skeptical at first, but it has now become part of my everyday computing and collaborating routine. I'm working with a team of teachers now and we've been using a shared Dropbox folder to keep each other up to date with our part of the projects we've been assigned. Try it out...I know you'll like it!
-Mark O
Ariana:
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts as well. I partly agree with you that using an external hard drive may be better for a TOTAL back-up of your computer...for now. But, as with all technology, it's changing... I've recently been seeing commercials for a service that allows you to back-up complete hard drives using cloud computing. There is a fee, of course, and I do not recall if it is a monthly subscription or a yearly cost. In any event, I believe these companies and their capabilities will soon make physical storage devices obsolete (or close to it anyway). The level of convenience of backing up or storing files and documents fully online versus carrying around a device, to me, is worth every penny. Additionally, I feel companies that specialize in this type of service have more reliable servers and devices, so the likelihood of something malfunctioning, would presumably be less.
Thoughts?
-Mark O