Because we do more online it makes sense we need more storage for our data. In the past, floppy disks-remember those things?-were one of the go-to methods to store files outside of your device. However, since that time, there have been many advancements in storage devices with virtual drives leading the pack.

What are virtual drives and how do they work?

The reason for the prevalence of virtual drives concerns their versatility. When computers read a virtual drive, they view them as a separate drive similar to the way they would if you were to plug in a flash drive.Because of this, your computer reads the data on that drive differently. To demonstrate, say you were at work using a Mac and when you arrived home at night, you needed to access the file on a Windows device. A virtual drive allows you to do this because it “tricks” your device into thinking it’s a separate drive.Along with this, virtual drives give you more storage. HowStuffWorks notes that a floppy disk offered roughly 1.44 MB of storage, which was great at the time but now it doesn’t do much. Compare this with the 5 GB of storage you receive through Microsoft’s OneDrive for free and you see how advantageous this is.There are many options available for you to sync files and access them anytime you want through DropBox, Google, Amazon and more. Most companies offer you a limited amount of storage for free, then if you need more, you can pay based on how much storage you need. As you can imagine, this offers many advantages.[caption id="attachment_22973" align="alignnone" width="810"]

Photo by: PC Mag[/caption]

Virtual Drives: The Good

There are many advantages to using virtual drives. Because you can store data in the cloud, you can access files from different devices, making collaboration or working remotely super simple to do.Scalability and affordability are also main drawing points for users. Simply, you can choose how much storage you want. Another benefit concerns data backup. Say your device becomes compromised due to malware or manufacturer defect. Normally, you would be crap out of luck because you couldn’t access those files anymore. Yet, if you store them on virtual drives, you can still have access to them. Speaking of data security, virtual drives give you the ability to encrypt your files; this makes it harder for hackers to access your files.

Virtual drives: The bad

There are several drawbacks to using virtual machines. Serial Server notes you won’t receive the same efficiency as you would running the hardware with the real operating system.Another concern is if your device becomes corrupted with malware, and you have that device connected to your virtual drive, that can become susceptible to data loss too. You can also lose files if you accidentally delete them on the virtual drive, so while this is a great option to store files, there are still ways you can lose data.[caption id="attachment_22974" align="alignnone" width="900"]

Photo by: NPR[/caption]

What are the steps towards recovering my files?

The first step is to contact us using the form on our website or by giving us a call. From there, we will review your case and provide solutions. If for any reason, we cannot recover your files, you don’t pay! It’s risk-free, so don’t wait, contact us today!