Internal Hard Disk Drives

Internal Hard Disk Drives

Whether you need a replacement or you need additional storage, internal hard disk drives are good solution. You can easily find a drive that meets your space needs or that is perfectly compatible with your desktop or laptop if you consider certain specifications.

An important factor to consider is what are the most commonly used and stored files on the computer. Those who work in photography, graphic design, architecture, video production, and similar professions should probably consider a larger amount of space. Gamers and music lovers with large collections of files would also do well to consider a large amount of space. Those who use their computers for office work and primarily deal in word-processing documents, spreadsheets, and similar items, none of which take up as much space as video or image files, may be able to function just fine with a lesser amount of space.

Some of the factors below should help make selecting a hard drive easier:

• Interface: A PATA drive is recommended for an older system with no SATA interfaces. If the system you mean to upgrade or repair has SATA interfaces, choose a SATA drive.
• Appropriate capacity: It's important to have an idea of how much space you need for the type of work you intend to do on the computer. If you don't need the highest amount of space, you can easily go lower without sacrificing quality.
• Transfer speeds: One important factor in consumer-level hard drives is revolutions per minute or RPMs. Higher RPMs equals a faster rate of transfer of data back and forth from the drive.
• A larger cache: To increase performance, disk drives use buffer memory or cache. The more cache is available, the better the performance of the system.
• Noise level: Pay attention to the power that the drive uses. The more power used by the drive, the more heat it will produce. That means the exhaust fans must work harder to keep the heat level down. The noise the fans make in keeping the temperature even should be considered when you're selecting the correct drive. If a quiet computer is ideal, select a low-power hard drive.

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. It refers to a group of methods that spreads data across several drives at the same time, speeding up the drive and keeping the data safe.