Published on February 24th, 2019 | by Sunit Nandi

4 Things To Consider Before Buying A Hard Drive

A hard drive is a storage device typically used to store data on a computer. Some of you might think that it is merely a place to install your operating system, but it’s so much more than that. A good hard drive will help make your computer process things faster, makes your computer feel snappy, and retrieves information easier.

If you’re in the market for a new hard drive, here are four things to consider before buying one.

Security

Most people often take hard drive security for granted. This is mainly due to the fact that people often think that data theft can only happen online and not in the physical world. But have you ever thought about losing your computer or your laptop? What would happen then? More than having a secure system, it’s equally important to secure your hard drive.

Take, for example, successful business owners who are using a premium host for their website, something like WP engine. They might think that they’re safe from data breaches, but what they don’t know is that criminals can just steal their computer and access the data on the hard drive.

This is not to say that using a premium host is unreliable, but getting a secured hard drive will fortify it even more.

There are two ways to secure a hard drive:

Lock it with a password
This, by far, is the easiest way to secure your hard drive. You don’t need any third-party software to make it work. You just need to turn this feature on your hard drive in the BIOS. Even when your computer or laptop is stolen, they can’t access the data even when they remove the hard drive from it.
Encryption
If you have the technical know-how, you can encrypt all the data in your hard drive and make it unreadable for anyone. Even if they crack your hard drive password, they won’t be able to make sense of the data inside it.

Be sure to consider the security of the hard drive you are buying. Look for manufacturers that offer encryption. One good option to consider here is launchbox if you are a gaming enthusiast. This will help protect your files from data breaches even when your computer is stolen.

Type

There are two types of hard drives: solid state drives (SSD) or hard disk drives (HDD). Knowing which one to go for usually boils down to your budget and needs. You also need to understand the difference between ssd and hdds.

Here are their differences:

HDD
This kind of hard drive functions through the use of magnetic technology wherein it writes and reads data from a spinning disk. They’re slower because you’re bound to the speed of the spinning disk. But, they’re cheaper to buy and available almost anywhere.
SSD
This functions much like a memory card where it reads and writes data from a memory chip. This would mean that file transfers are faster because you’re not bound by anything. However, this kind of hard drive can be expensive especially when the storage capacity goes up.

If you’re on a tight budget but still want to take advantage of both hard drive features, you can buy an SSD to install your operating system and other software, and use a hard disk drive to store other data.

Storage Space

This subject is entirely subjective to your needs and the files you need to store. If you’re looking to store significant amounts of data, your best choice would be an HDD. Its storage space starts at a few hundred megabytes (MB) to 16 terabytes (TB). On the other hand, SSD has a smaller capacity and can only go up to 4TB.

Nowadays, it’s more cost-efficient to buy a 1TB hard drive, and if you go below that, you’re going to get a lot less storage space for practically the same amount of money. Additionally, files are getting bigger as technology becomes more advanced.

If you’re someone who frequently stores videos and uses special software, you’re going to eat up a lot of storage space faster than a casual user.

Size

Now, you want to make sure that your device supports the correct hard drive size. There are two main hard drive sizes, 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch. The 2.5-inch hard drive size is usually used for smaller form factor computers like laptops. On the other hand, the 3.5-inch hard drive size is used for regular sized PCs and other larger form-factor computers.

With sizes, you don’t have a lot of options, but it pays to know which hard drive size will fit into your computer’s mounting bracket. If you bought a 2.5-inch drive and your mounting bracket only supports 3.5-inch, you can buy an adapter for it, but you can’t do it the other way around. So, save yourself out of trouble and consider the size before buying one.

Conclusion

Don’t take hard drive buying for granted. Generally, the more money you have, the better hard drive you can get. Find a good combination that will work for your budget and need.

Tags: buying, consider, hard drive, things

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.