Hard Drives
Interface Types
Internal Hard Drives (C-Net)
External Hard Drives
Mini Portable Hard Drives
Flash Drives |
There are several interface types on the market today. Unless you are buying a new computer, you simply need whatever your computer supports. Whether or not you are buying an internal or external hard drive there are some things that you should pay attention to when deciding which to buy.
- Capacity
- Depending on what you have on your hard drive, you may need more space. Digital imaging, graphic design, video editing; these all eat up your computers space. 40GB
 is an average amount of capacity, what comes standard on most computers these days, but 80GB, and even 100GB is much better. Again, think of your needs.
- You can spend up to $100 on a 20-40GB hard drive, $200 for a 60-80GB hard drive, and $200+ for anything from 100+ GB. There are frequent drive specials online, with 300+ GB drives going for under $100.
- If you only have one hard drive on your PC you may get another since most PCs will support two hard drives minimum. This also means that you can get two lower-capacity hard drives instead of one very large one, which will cost more in the end. Just be sure to check that your case has space for an extra internal drive.
- RPM
- Disk seek time and rotational speed both significantly affect disk performance.
- Revolutions per minute will usually determine how quickly your system can retreive and copy information. However, sometimes a higher rpm doesn't mean it is faster.
- A drive with 7200-rpm (the standard nowadays) is probably fast enough for most. The slower 5400-rpm drives still exist, but are hard to find.
- Buffer Memory
- This is another speed measurement. It allows your computer to set aside some extra room for simultaneous processing. It is basically what helps your computer think ahead.
- The range can be as low as 2MB but as high as 8MB, which is usually better for running big applications.
- ATA Interface
- Out with the old parallel ports and in with the new serial ports. Whichever way you decide to go, just be certain that your computer has that type of port to support the hard drive.
Internal vs. External
The first consideration is probably whether or not you are up to installing an internal hard drive. Savvy PC people can get a bare drive. Otherwise, there are internal hard drive kits available with plenty of instructions, mounting hardware, and cables. If you are planning to go for this type of internal installment always double check to make sure that your hard drive case has a free hard drive bay. However, if you aren't exactly known for your techie skills, external drives can be handy, simple to install drives that are also portable.
Internal Drive Interface Types- ATA - older technology, but works.
- Serial ATA (SATA) - the new ATA type technology. Works well. High performance.
- SCSI - SCSI is a mature, high performance server class drive interface. It tends to be expensive.
There is some controversy over the reliability of SCSI vs. SATA drives. SCSI drives have MTBF ratings based on 24x7 duty cycles. The MTBF ratings for SATA and ATA drives are not based on that duty cycle, and thus not directly comparable. In general, for home use, SATA and ATA work fine regardless.
External Drive Interface Types- USB - USB is an external disk connection interface common on PCs and Mac computers.
- Firewire - Firewire is an IEEE standard interface type supported by Apple Macintosh computers. It is faster than USB.
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