Buying guide: Hard drives

Introduction

 

The hard drive is one of the most essential components of any computer, for it not only stores all the data but also houses the operating system. Naturally, with the increase in the size of various applications (particularly, games) and files (mainly, videos because of the HD onslaught), hard drive storage capacities are also increasing. Also, the newer faster multi-core processors’ with their ever-increasing computing abilities in terms of computing speed and functionalities have further fueled the need for high storage capacity hard drives. This guide will provide with all information that you need for buying hard drives.

 

Today it is essential that the hard drive is able to provide the required data in the minimum possible time so as to make the most of the enormous computing capabilities that the current generation computers present. No wonder, the video games consoles, these days, come with their own hard drives; for example, the Xbox 360 hard drive consoles.

 

When buying a hard drive, there are a few things that need to be considered. Are you looking to augment the storage capacity of your computer? Are you buying a replacement hard drive? Are you looking to back up your data, or are you looking for a portable hard drive that you can carry around? While in the former two cases, an internal had drive is the preferred option, for the last one, an external hard drive is recommended. The difference between the two is in terms of placement: internal hard drives are placed inside the cabinet and the external ones are placed outside the cabinet and generally portable.  Further, external hard drives usually use the computer’s USB interface and come enclosed in a casing. These, however, are slower than their internal counterparts. However, with the need to carry around data has resulted in external drives offering huge storage space; for example, one can easily get a 1TB external hard drive these days and that too in a portable design.

 

The thing with internal hard drives is that these come in two form factors—2.5 inch and 3.5 inch—depending on your cabinet. While the former are quieter and slower, the latter are noisier and faster. Most cabinets will feature the latter; nevertheless, it is advisable that the form factor of the hard drive bays in your cabinet be checked and confirmed before you purchase a hard drive.

 

Almost all internal hard drives are mechanical spindle-based devices, however, many of the newer external hard drive models are flash based and make use of flash memory, which considerably reduces noise and power consumption.

 

Another technical point to consider when buying an internal hard drive is the interface type. Currently, in the market, the prevalent interface is SATA, and the way things look, it might remain so for quite some time. However, a quick verification of your motherboard is recommended to ascertain whether or not it supports SATA hard drives. The other type is the IDE hard drive that needs an IDE port on the motherboard for connecting.