Thread: What is the best for hard drive back up

I am a novice at computing and seek some advice please. I am aware that I should back up my files/photos etc but am unsure of the best method. I did start to use discs for the photos but this took an age. Would it be best to use an external hard drive or alternatively a memory stick? In either case which is the best make at reasonable cost. My pc's hard drive capacity is 37gb with 29gb used.
Many thanks.

Well I use a usb harddrive for my backups but remember nothing is fail-safe. DVDs degrade through time. Memory sticks fail often and all hardisks can fail.

If the files are very important to you select a couple of ways (eg store them on a usb HD AND burn them to a CD/DVD)

Check here for a cheap usb harddisk http://www.maplin.co.uk/