How To Buy a HARD DRIVE ?

Whether you're running out of drive space on your desktop or laptop, or you just need to backup your stuff, here's what to look for before you settle on the perfect external storage solution. External hard drives promise almost unlimited storage: For a mere 3000-4000 Rs, you can add a terabyte of data to your PC or Mac, laptop or desktop. That's enough for over 750,000 MP3s or photos, or over 230 DVD-sized movies. Every computer out there, from mega-huge towers to budget-priced Windows tablets, can connect to at least one hard drive. If you're lucky enough to have multiple input/output ports, you can hook up many more. Auxiliary storage allows you to backup your system files, in case your primary system goes kaput.

Hard Drive Types

There are two types of external drives. Desktop-style drives, with 3.5-inch mechanisms inside, require a power adapter. Desktop drives are designed to stay in one place, usually on your work surface at home or at the office. If you're buying a desktop-style drive for active use (video or lots of file transfers), look for one with a built-in fan, as the extra cooling will extend the drive's life expectancy. Notebook-class (a.k.a. pocket) hard drives, like the Seagate Backup Plus, are usually 2.5-inch mechanisms powered through the connector cable without the need for a power adapter. A 2.5-inch pocket drive can fit in a coat pocket and some pants pockets. Desktop-style drives currently top out at six Terabytes (TB) per mechanism, but some drive makers put two to four mechanisms into a drive chassis for more storage (i.e., two 4TB drives equal 8TB of storage). Notebook-class drives come in capacities up to 2TB, but capacities from 500GB to 1TB are more common.

A word about multiple drives: You can increase capacity, speed or data protection by buying an external RAID array, but multiple drives add expense and (some) complexity. Once you connect a simple (single volume) external RAID array to your PC or Mac, it will show up and act as any other external drive. After that, it can become more complex. You should consider a drive with support for RAID levels 1, 5, or 10 if you're storing really important data that you can't afford to lose. There are other RAID levels for speed, capacity, and other factors like software vs. hardware RAID.

Connectivity:

External solid-state drives (SSDs) are found mostly in the notebook-class form factor. We recommend that you buy SSDs for use as internal rather than external drives. External drives connect to PCs and Macs via their external connectors. USB 2.0/3.0 ports are almost always present; others can include FireWire (400 and 800), eSATA, or more esoteric connectors like Wireless USB or iSCSI. Note that while iSCSI uses Ethernet cables, it differs from SAN or NAS technologies, since those connect multiple hard drives to multiple computers. Wireless USB and iSCSI are still very rare on drives. Wireless USB drives are still mostly a curiosity since NAS drives are easier to manage, and iSCSI is mainly used on professional-grade drives like theDroboPro. USB 3.0, becoming the port of choice, provides faster transfer speeds and a minimum of fuss, since almost all desktop and laptop PCs come with USB ports.

Is Drive Speed Important?

Some drive manufacturers will crow about the speed of their drive mechanisms. While a 7,200rpm drive is inherently faster than a 5,400rpm drive, the true answer would be "it depends." If you are transferring lots of files over a speedy interface like eSATA (fast),USB 3.0 (faster), or Thunderbolt (fastest), then by all means go for the 7,200rpm drive. However, if you're limited to USB 2.0 or FireWire 400/800, then I would trade speed for capacity and get the largest 5,400rpm drive that your budget allows. USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 are more common than USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, and those older interfaces work fine with a 5,400rpm drive. If all out speed is your goal, multiple drives (7,200rpm, 10,000rpm, or SSD) over Thunderbolt 2 is the fastest (and most costly), with a single SSD connected via Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 as next fastest, and so on.

After you've slogged through the above criteria, you may have to look for other differentiators to find the drive you want. Color and design are usually a concern: A drive you're embarrassed to use won't be used at all, defeating its purpose. Included software is a concern if you don't already have a backup plan. If you're simply using the drive as an extra storage container or if you're using the backup software built into Windows or Mac OS, packed in software isn't as important. Warranty is also an important factor in our ratings: Drives can and will fail on you. That cheap drive you found on dealnews.com may only have a one-year warranty. Look for a three- or five-year warranty if you're hard on your drives.