Jon Jacobi

External USB/Thunderbolt drives are a super-convenient way to quickly back up your important files, as well as store any data that you don’t need on your computer’s internal storage. They’re also an extremely handy way to transport data between locations and devices. While any of these would be a great reason to pick up an external drive, the advantages of having reliable backup is the number-one reason your setup isn’t complete without one. Why? Chances are you have important data on your PC t…

The best free and paid backup software for your Windows system, disks, and data.

Asus's TUF Gaming A2 USB 3.2x2 NVMe SSD enclosure with an IP68 rating has earned a permanent place in my backpack.

Want 50GBps of sequential performance? HighPoint's 7604A x16 PCIe 5.0 NVMe RAID card sporting four full-speed M.2 slots can deliver it -- for a rather hefty amount of coin.

Most computers and storage drives still use the common SATA or PCIe 3.0 interfaces to sling your bits of data around, but if you’re lucky enough to own a relatively modern PC, you might be able to upgrade to a solid-state drive (SSD) built on the insanely fast PCIe 4.0 protocol. We’ve tested several PCIe 4.0 SSDs and the best one to cross our labs thus far is the Solidgm P44 Pro in a field of tough contenders thanks to ferociously fast speeds only rivaled by next-gen PCIe 5.0 SSDs. Read on to…

Though not the 2230 SSD (think Steam Deck) you want for long writes, the PNY CS2342 is killer for everyday tasks.

The new WD Black SN8100 is one of the fastest PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs we've tested, but apparent incompatibilities with our test bed had write performance at times dipping to SATA speeds.

After an attractive new interface was introduced with version 7 of R-Drive Image, the newest iteration is improved with the addition of VHD support to make recovery for Windows users program-independent, as well as WinPE boot disc for better boot-time Windows support.

The PNY Pro Elite V3’s clever physical design makes it one of my favorite 10Gbps USB sticks. It’s only the third fastest I’ve tested, but the superlative form factor makes up for it.

Online backup is an essential hedge against physical data disaster. No matter if it’s a technical failure, an act of malice, or an act of nature, you never know when all the files and folders you have stored on your PC will be threatened. While we always recommend keeping a local backup for quick restores (see our roundup of the best Windows backup software for desktop solutions), uploading your data to an online backup service can be a reliable way to cover your bases. After all, the “backup r…