Hard drives make key component for the modern computers. It is also quite normal to make a replacement after some years or add another one after some time. But, with all these choices, which one makes the best drive for you that you should buy?
If you want to purchase a high performance hard drive, consider the following guide:
Solid state or hard disk drive
The first decision you should make is whether you want a SSD or HDD. Solid state type of drive is one which uses flash memory for data storage instead of the spinning metallic disks found in the traditional HDDs.
The difference the SSD makes includes, first, that it is faster in writing and reading data and secondly it requires less drawing power which in turn conserves energy as well as extending the life of your laptop battery according to compute rperipherals authority externaldrivesolutions.com. Additionally, SSDs do not have any moving parts hence making no noise and also they have lifespans that are longer. However, they are very expensive and have less storage capacities as compared to HDDs.
Therefore if looking for a higher performance drive, which is to run an OS and hold many programs and files that are accessed frequently like video games, SSD makes the best despite of the high cost.
Interface and physical size
After deciding whether to go for a SSD or HDD, you need to choose a form factor. In these, only two choices are available with the best choice determined by the setup you have currently. Data drives are only in 2 forms which are 2.5 inch and 3.5-inch drives.
Traditional HDDs store data on metal disks that are spinning, meaning for expanded storage capacity, more disks have to be added. Desktop HDDs mostly come in 3.5-inches factor with 4 TB as maximum capacity while for laptops, maximum capacity is 2TB with 2.5inches factor.
SSDs on the other hand require no movable parts hence can be lessened. Due to that, most of the SSDs fit in 2.5inch factor. Adapters are also available if you would like to fit SSD to the form factor 3.5inches. Most current drives are using SATA connectors unlike the older ones that used IDE connectors.
Performance and Specifications.
1. Transfer speeds
HDD performance determined by several factors with the most important factor as the number of revolutions made in one minute. Higher RPMs implies faster data transfer from and to the drive. Ignore SATA’s drive speed. For instance, a certain modern drive could be listed to be 7200RPM and 3GB/s. it is not possible to have a drive transferring data at that speed but the 7200RPM drive does the transfer faster as compared to 5400RPM drive.
2. Cache space
While a hard disk is transferring data to another section from a different section, it makes use of buffer or cache which is a embedded memory special area. Larger cache enables faster transfer of data since more information is stored at a time. Modern caches have sizes from 128MB to 8MB.
3. Failure rate
HDDs just like other mechanical stuff are prone to tear and wear although not all are equal. Some of hard drives last for 6 months while others exceed up to 6 years. However, SSDs tend to last longer with a failure rate average 2million hours while HDDs have an average rate about 1.5 million hours.
