Saturday, February 28, 2009

About External Hard Drives

For people who move around often and are in need of carrying electronic data with them a must buy thing is an External Hard Drive. All the leading hardware companies like Apple, CMS, Seagate, D-Link, HP and Lenova have introduced compact, high capacity external hard drives.

External Hard Drives are available with attractive looks and also with high storage capacity. The storage capacity starts from 1 GB to that of 1 TB that facilitates the user to store any big size of data to carry along. They are tiny, approximately about 2.5 inches to 3.5 inches in size. The prices are also getting cheaper day by day making them affordable to all. They enable the user to take back ups quickly and easily and are portable too.

Once you plan to buy an External Hard Drive think of:

The storage capacity: This depends purely on the need of the buyer. If he has to carry many bigger files or data then he has to go for higher storage capacity if not he has to look for one with lower storage size that will be cheaper in price. The higher capacity the better for future needs.

Connectivity (Whether it supports only USB or Firewire)

Firewire is the latest in technology and may not be available in all the computers you access. If the hard drive supports USB only then transferring of the data will be slower than in the firewire. And if the USB Port is 1.0 and not 2.0 even slower will be the data transfer.

The Speed: The time an external hard drive takes for data transfer depends on the RPM and Buffer Size. The suggestible RPM (rotation per a minute) that is available recently is 7,200 and the Buffer Size 8 MB. This specification would take very less time to transfer bigger files.

The Life or Durability of the hard drive: For an assured durability it is best to buy a brand that is known for its quality, service support and a reasonable warranty period. Browse for good brands and specifications for a good buy.

External Hard Drives are available from 200GB to 2.5 TB, It is always better to read External Hard Drive reviews from quality websites and you can compare the specifications, features of Freecom, Iomega, Buffalo and Seagate External Hard Drives and choose the model based on your requirement.