External data storage and data backups are a very important part of any computer user’s data recovery and safety plan. You may not have any important documents on your computer, but odds are you have a slew of digital photos that if lost would be gone forever.

The Acer Alto storage appliance was seen at CeBIT 2009 by the geeks at Engadget and it looks slick. The machine has an Intel Atom N230 CPU inside to control the show and packs in four hot swappable drive bays as well.

For a long time now digital cameras, phones and other devices have relied on SD cards for storage. The capacity of normal SD cards topped out at about 4GB and opened the door for SDHC cards with much more storage capacity. The SDHC card is now hitting its capacity limit opening the door for SDXC cards of the future.

The SDXC card can put as much as 2TB of storage inside a tiny card that looks like a SDHC card. The two formats are not compatible because SDXC uses exFAT file system compared to SDHC’s FAT32 file system. Pretec is showing off the first SDXC card at PMA in Vegas this week. The card has 32GB of storage space and has a read/write speed of 50MB/s. In the future read/write speeds will be as high as 300MB/s.

Following up on their CurrenKey ultraportable flash drives, Lacie has a new storage solution that will have you losing even more keys then you already do. This one takes the form factor of…keys.

These miniature microSD card readers offer 20MB/s read and 10MB/s write speeds. PassKey supports microSDHC cards, and both iamaKey and itsaKey are avaialable with 4GB or 8GB of built-in storage. It won’t start your car or get you into your home, but it may still scratch a lottery ticket and they are shock-proof and Windows ReadyBoost-compatible.

One of the things I want most on my iPhone is expandable memory. Most smartphones include a microSD card slot that allows you to add more storage for music, images, and other files as you need to. Phones that are compatible with microSDHC cards can offer even more storage capacity with a single small card.

Kingston has announced a new microSDHC card that offers 16GB of storage capacity. According to Kingston, that is enough storage for more than 3,000 songs, over 9,000 images at 5-megapixel resolution and more than 16 hours of video.

When it comes to providing storage for multiple computers on a network in an office or home, the easiest way to do that is with a network storage device. These devices connect directly to a network and offer external storage for any computer on the network.

Iomega has announced a pair of new network storage devices in different capacities called the StorCenter Pro ix4-100. The ix4-100 comes in either 2TB or 4TB capacity and both versions use four internal hard drives that are hot swappable.

There are endless options to choose from when it comes to portable hard drives, but the IDrive Portable is a little different. For one, it’s the “thinnest and lightest portable USB drive in its class,” and the 0.3 pound device will give you 320GB of space on a 5,400RPM HDD. It’s also compatible with Windows / OS X machines.

Like many, there’s a one-click backup option for storing data outside of your PC, but this one also gives you the option to backup online for still more protection. That feature will cost you up to $4.95 per month, but it’s just a question of how much your data is worth to you. he unit itself will cost you $119.95.

Iomega kicked out a couple of new portable hard drives last month, one of which being the rugged 250GB eGo BlackBelt that we’re taking a look at today. The most stand-out feature we found in the BlackBelt was its Drop Guard Xtreme, allowing the portable drive to take a hit to the pavement from as much as 7 feet in the air and keep on ticking.

This ability to take a long drop is largely due to the black rubber “belt” that envelopes the drive (mostly the corners) protecting it from all angles of impact. The rubber belt is not adhered to the drive so it can be removed if you would like, and your left with a smooth, flat-black flask-shaped chasis that’s maybe a little to big for a pants pocket but will easily fit into the pocket of a jacket.

Looks like the good old nerd glasses are back. They never left really. Worn by the likes of Buddy Holly in years past and every other hipster in the present, nerd glasses are all the rage. Among nerds. Here they are in a new form. Beginning in March, this 2-mm thin 2GB USB bookmark can be purchased for $29.

Bullies might have to change their taunt of “Four eyes” to “Four eyes, two gigs”. These will likely fly off the virtual shelves as everyone loves nerdy stuff. But, a bookmark? Really? What the hell. You saw what dork specs did for Superman. They fooled everybody into thinking he and Clark Kent were different people. Of course there’s always the chance that people in Metropolis were just plain stupid too.

I ask you, have you ever seen a cuter little flash drive? It’s a tiny gumby-looking iPhone thing. It looks like it’s doing a sit up and working out. This guy must have been what all those iPhone nano rumors were about.

Not sure how much data it will hold and it will likely fall apart in your hands after one week, due to shoddy quality and the fact that it’s made from cheap rubber. I think. But just imagine how much fun you’ll have with your little friend before that happens.

The ioSafe Solo External Hard Drive is great for those who need to protect their data from every eventuality. It will survive a fire for 30 minutes as well as being submerged in ten feet of water for 10 minutes. I’m not sure that will do you much good in your everyday life, but if the inhabitants of Atlantis had had these, their secrets would have survived. Maybe. So let that be a lesson to you.

For $199 you can get a 500GB model, but, since this thing is pretty bomb-proof, you’ll have a hard time upgrading the drive in there so you may want to go straight for the $349 1.5TB model. Early adopters will get $50 off.

Let’s get this out of the way right now. This is an offer you can’t refuse. There. Now that that’s out of the way, check out this 1-16GB capacity flash drive that’s fully compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1. It has durable solid-state storage of 10 years data retention, while hot plug & play enables you to whack, I mean install and uninstall drive anytime. The best part? The Godfather images and quotes.

Because your data is sensitive, you need a flash drive that commands respect. If your data falls into the wrong hands, you might end up sleeping with the fishes.

Iomega is taking the tradeshow road this week to unveil a new network storage solution for media files being showcased in the living room. It is called the Home Media Network Hard Drive and pricing starts around $160.

The Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive, available in 500GB and 1TB storage sizes, is designed to act as both backup server and also media hub. It supports iTunes and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certified devices, allowing it to save, store and stream audio, video and photos to a wide array of home consumer electronics.

One of the problems with backing data up to an external hard drive for many users is that they either forget to execute the backups or they don’t know how to choose the files to backup to the hard drive. Some drives include software that automates the backup process, but the user still has to choose the files that are backed up.

Clickfree has a new cable that connects to your PC via USB and then the external USB hard drive connects to the cable. Once installed the cable automates every aspect of the backup process from selecting the files to actually starting the backup itself.

More powerful cameras mean that we need powerful storage solutions. Well, here’s the latest portable external hard drive photo manager from Digital Foci. It goes by the name of the Picture Porter 35 and the device features a 160GB+ hard drive, a 3.5 inch color LCD screen, an integrated card reader supporting CF, MMC, SD/HC, miniSD, Memory Stick, MS PRO, MS Duo, and xD-Picture cards, a USB host, and a TV or a projector output.

It’s not the most beautiful device we’ve ever seen, but it’s a great tool to backup your endless vacation photos and enjoy them. The Picture Porter 35 will be introduced at CES next week, but won’t be available until Summer of 2009. No price info yet.

Here’s a unique USB drive designed by Studioroom906. It’s covered in rubber so you can use it as an eraser. That means that if you use pencil and make a lot of mistakes, you’re screwed, as the outside of your drive will be gone. The moral of this story? Protect your data by using pens.

Who uses pencils these days anyway? Pencil pushers, that’s who. Them and pencil-necked geeks. It ain’t 1957. Try picking up a pen every once in a while. You might get to like it. What’s with those guys that use pencils and then lick the tip? What’s up with that? You’ll get lead poisoning.