What to look for When Selecting an External Hard Disk

30.12.2011 | Author: jackleen | Posted in Shopping and Fashion
Print Email More
Solutions with external disk drives are fast becoming more popular as the data backups are becoming larger than ever. With the amount of data stored on the average computer increasing, one of the most common types of PC component that is upgraded is its storage. Whether it’s adding more space for your films, music, and photos, or simply a way of boosting the overall performance of an apparently slow-moving system, external hard drives are a popular choice. While external hard disk drives are used to increase the storage capacity, many people usually make some simple mistakes while selecting a simple hard disk for there desktops and also for there external data use.

To ensure that it’s compatible with your computer and to ensure that it will meet your needs for the foreseeable future, it is important to select the right type of external drive. Even if you can’t imagine ever needing that much space, buy the largest hard drive you can afford.  You may be surprised at how quickly it fills up.

What to look for?
External hard drives come in two basic styles, an empty case, and a case that includes a pre-installed hard drive. The pre-installed version is the most popular, and is easy to find at computer-related stores. Another factor that determines external drive type is how it connects to your system. External drives usually use USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, or External SATA, also referred to as eSATA. Choose an external hard disk drive enclosure that supports both USB and FireWire. This configuration is fairly common, and allows you to connect the enclosure to your system using either method.

Some other points to keep in, mind are size is not the criteria always. There are other things you have to make sure you find them in your hard disk, like a good RPM (Revolutions per minute) speed. This means that whenever your data is being processed like reading, copying, it will completely depend on RPM speed. Select a hard disk that has a minimum of 4500 RPM and has a cache memory that is not less than 20mb. The data transfer in an eSATA interface is a lot better when compared to other interfaces. If you want your hard disk to be less expensive its better to go with a 2.0 USB interface and make sure that whatever external hard disk you are buying has a guarantee and easily available at most of the computer hardware dealers, this can also be purchased from online electronic shopping portals.

Buying the external hard disks through online shopping mode helps one to compare models, read customer reviews and ratings and also get discount on the hard disk price. When purchasing a hard disk drive, understand and verify the hard disk drive is suitable for your use. Decide on how much storage space you need, how much portability you want from an external drive and how much you want to spend. This will help in finding the drive that’s best for you.

Processing your request, Please wait....

Additional Articles From "Shopping and Fashion"