Hard Drives Buying Guide

Interface Types

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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 you are buying an internal or external hard drive, there are some things that you should pay attention to when making your decision.

  • Capacity
    • Depending on what you have on your hard drive, you may need more space. Digital imaging, graphic design, video editing, and high definition games and videos will all eat up your computers space. Newer computers usually come with at least 100 GB of memory.
    • Internal and external hard drives have broken the 1 TB (Terrabyte) barrier and you can now buy a 1.5 TB hard drive  for under $150.
    • 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  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 64MB, 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 and simple to install drives that are also portable.

Internal Hard Drives

SAMSUNG EcoGreen 500GB 5400 RPM 16MB Buffer Hard Drive 

Environment-friendly product with RoHS compliance. It runs very quietly and compensates for external disturbances, so it doesn't skip a beat.

WESTERN DIGITAL 2.0TB SATA 7200 RPM 64MB Buffer Hard Drive 

Top of the line hard drive with 2 TB of memory. 64 MB buffer, dual processors, and increased areal density yield twice the processing power, resulting in up to 25% performance improvement over the previous generation.

SEAGATE Barracuda 1TB SATA 7200 RPM 32MB Hard Drive 

This product features error recovery control--quick error resolution to prevent system timeouts. Comes with Dynamic power savings and a 5 year warranty.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint 160GB 5400 RPM 8MB Buffer Mobile Hard Drive 

This hard drive is for laptop PCs and small form factor PCs. Comes with a 3 year warranty.

Internal Drive Interface Types

  • ATA :  An older technology, but it still works.
  • Serial ATA (SATA) :  The new ATA type technology, which works well with a high performance.
  • SCSI :  SCSI is a mature, high performance server class drive interface, yet 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.

External Hard Drives and Enclosures

There are two ways to get an external hard drive.   You can buy a complete one, like the LACIE Neil Paulton Hard Drive,  or you can buy a regular hard drive and put it in an enclosure; this includes all of the plugs, drivers, and connections that you need to sync it to your computer. Most external hard drives connect via USB cable. 

LACIE Neil Poulton 1TB USB 7200 RPM External Hard Drive 

This stylish black hard drive emits ambient blue light underneath and plugs into the computer via USB cord. Setup is quick and easy.

COOLMAX Aluminum 2.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure 

This enclosure supports 2.5” SATA I/II HDD and has USB interface and compatibility. Aluminum alloy case provides maximum heat dissipation and thermal efficiency.

VANTEC Aluminum 2.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure 

Compatible With 2.5" IDE Hard Drives, package includes 2.5" HDD enclosure, driver disc, user manual, USB Cable, leather carrying case, screws, and a screwdriver.

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.

Data Management Options

Compact Flash Memory 

Portable Hard Drive 

Portable Flash Drive 

SD Card 

Related Guides

Computers and Monitors

Removable Memory

Flash Memory Card Readers and Writers

Hard Drives

USB Flash Drives