What do I need to back up my stuff, pictures, documents, etc.? What is the difference between them? Is there a brand that's better than the others, or are they all the same?

wow...this is a multi-fold question...LOL

CD-R means CD recordables

CD-RW means CD rewritables.

basically, CD-R are one time thing while CD-RW means you can burn it a few times depending on what kind of files.

So if you were to use CD-R's, it would be burn it and that's it. Most people prefer to use CD-R's to save or convert their music files (most modern CD players will play CD-R's that have converted Mp3 files)

lesser players will play the CD-RW's...but more and more will play CD-RW's.

Usually, CD-R's are cheaper than CD-RW's but they hold same amount of data.

If this is for archival quality (not that any of the CD's are really that archival)

I like verbatim, but Maxell or Sony or HP are fine. I would avoid the really cheap ones cause you'll end up with more coasters than you want.

Now, my question back to you is, if you want to back things up, there are a lot better options out there now. a CD-R will only hold about 750MB of data(it'll say 800MB but 50 MB are allocated to preserve disc life)

I am not sure how old your puter is, but usually when one starts to back up data's, it is more than 750MB and then you are looking into breaking files up and such...

external drives are so cheap these days. A 250 GB western digital external drive is $100.00 or less when on sale. And then there are DVD's which is about 5 times the size of CD's....

I only use CD-R these days to make back ups of my CD.

I have an external drive that is 250 GB that can store about 2 average computer datas.

if you should decide on an external hardrive, this is my favorite combo

an extreme external file transfer hub.

This thing costs about $50.00 and will transfer everything on your puter to the external drive. Including ALL your programs, whatever programs that you've installed or downloaded, it'll transfer it. So if your hardrive should ever crash, you won't even need to use your reinstall CD, just use the hub to transfer everything back to your puter...

so I would recommend an external hardrive and the hub.

below is the hub:

http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/S...roductID=10220

My favorite external drive is made by seagate but western digital will just do the job. You can find them at your staples or best buy. But I personally prefer Amazon.com

good luck!

this hardrive is the equivalent of 525 CD-R/RW's

and it is less than $100.00

http://www.amazon.com/Iomega-Desktop...5741604&sr=8-1

I really like the USB flash drives - also called memory stick, jump drive -
we have a 2 gig & 4 gig

You just plug it in and the computer will 'see" it as a removable drive
you can copy or move files to the drive and if you need to - plug it back in and delete, change or update those files.

If you looking to organize /save - photos , financial records, medical records
just get a separate one for each category.
but they are simple to use, easy to store, don't have to worry about them getting scratched like a cd..

here's a link with a variety of them and prices -
http://www.nextag.com/serv/main/buye...pe=Flash+Drive

Thank you! I have a couple of flash drives, but I like the idea of an external hard drive. I don't really understand what a "hub" is, but when I wake up a little better I'll study this information harder!

Is seagate more expensive or just better?

We have an external back up drive too.

But I don't have a "hub"... what is the purpose of the hub?
Is this for multiple computers?