What to consider when buying a hard drive

Serial SATA, hot swap, Ultra ATA, SCSI, and Fibre Channel:

When looking for a spare or replacement hard drive, don’t let the tech terms worry you. Though necessary considerations for the IT expert, they really make no great difference to the average user. We live in an oversized information world of loose programming, over stuffed games, and misused storage space. Hard drive size, speed, and backup provisions are the major issues for the general computer user. Solutions for what to consider when buying a hard drive then become a matter of internal, external, or removable storage devices.

To upgrade or replace an internal hard drives, one must determine which drive will match the existing hardware package. For stock machines, this question can be answered through a visit to the computer manufacture’s home web site. Look up the supported hard drive types, and the maximum size features of your hardware. Unless extreme speed or storage redundancy has become a major issue, go for stock hardware in a size that reflects your current usage patterns. At roughly $0.25 per GB for mechanical drives, there is really no value in purchasing a reduced storage capacity. Look also, for the quicker RPM drives.

Consider adding a second internal, but removable hard drive. This slightly increases cost, but permits a more secure backup plan.

For even greater portability, look into an external USB hard drive. For around twice the money of a compatible internal drive, you gain the benefits of easy data relocation and transport.