How do I store data?

[Jazzy12]

I am working on starting my own business. I was wondering would I need a big desktop or can I work with a laptop? Also how do small businesses store data? Like marketing research, consumer info, accounting info?

[Mega B]

You will have no problems using a laptop if it ever came to it you could always add a usb external harddisk and if you out grow that you can add as many as you want upto i 'think' 127 devices so i dont think you will run out of storage.

[Jazzy12]

Okay that's great to hear. But I thought that small businesses stored their data on some kind of server?

[GraphicSwarm]

As for the desktop or laptop - it entirely depends on your budget and how much you have to travel. Storage-wise, the type of data you mentioned does not take up much space. You can easily have back-up files on a 4GB flash drive that you would keep in a safe place and would not need any other storage for a long time.

[ucavik]

I think you can do with a laptop also, infact it will be a lot better investment since when you start out you travel a lot and give lots of presentation.so laptop will come in handy.

[Manny4life]

Store all your information on your laptop, and based on the kind of information that you described with the exception of consumer information, they can be stored on your laptop. Consumer/Client information or personal data has to be stored on a secured preferably an encrypted device. Although small business depending on their size and voulme of sales utilize small/mini scale servers.

[st351]

One option that you can think about is to use online service like Google Docs or Zoho. If your company has more than one person working on the document, you can share them with others. This will allow you not to have to send document back and forth.

[altwebdesign]

i just have a laptop and use microsoft office simple!

[Goodfella3993]

Can you get more specific about what kind of data you are actually looking to store?

Key Question: What are you trying to get out of this? Are you looking to use the data for Marketing Analytics?