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The Data Backup Plan With so many systems to choose from, storing your data is a no-brainer.

By Amanda C. Kooser

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The more your business grows and the longer your company is around, the more data you stockpile. Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images and other big media files--the gigabytes can really pile up. And with business compliance rules becoming more stringent, a good backup solution is more important than ever.

Housing all that data requires a storage solution with hundreds of gigabytes available. Fortunately, your storage options are like Skittles--they come in a rainbow of flavors. From personal media servers to online backup to portable hard drives, mass storage is cheap and getting cheaper. There's a solution for every situation and budget, but network-attached storage, or NAS, is a good place to start.

This one-time enterprise option has benefited hugely from recent advances in ease-of-setup and operation. NAS devices are now easily added to a network through either a wired or wireless Ethernet connection, giving you room to spare. For example, Iomega's StorCenter Pro NAS 250d 500GB option runs Windows Storage Server R2 and features a built-in 70GB REV backup drive, making it a handy combined storage/backup system for $1,999. The Buffalo Tera-Station Live, on the other hand, brings a hefty 2TB to bear for only $2,369. This NAS solution is also Mac-compatible for Apple users or mixed-OS environments. iTunes support, a printer server and super-fast transfer rates make this a flexible NAS option to consider.