Things to consider when shopping for a hard drive:

                                

A Hard disk or Hard drive is the place where you are keeping your Operating System and other data.Here I am putting some points before going to buy a new one.

1. Cache The cache of a Hard drive is a faster media than the hard drive itself,

which is normally 2MB (in low-end), 8MB (standard), or 16MB (large

disks only) large. The existence of a cache increases the speeds of retrieving

short bursts of information, and also allows prefetching of data. Most

modern hard drives have 8MB cache, which gives better performance when

compared to 2MB.

2. Form factor 3.5 inch drives are usually used in desktops; 2.5 inch drives are

usually used in laptops.

3. Capacity The smallest desktop drives that are widely available hold about 160

gig of data, although the largest drives available on the market can contain

1TB (1000GB). Few people will need disks this large—for most people,

somewhere in the range of 160-300GB will be sufficient. The amount

of space you will need can depend on many factors, such as how many

high-end games and programs you want to install, how many media files

you wish to store, or how many high-quality videos you want to render.

It is usually better to get a hard drive with a capacity larger than you

anticipate using, in case you need more in the future. If you run out ofspace, you can always add an additional hard drive using any free IDE or

Serial ATA connector, or through an external interface, such as USB or

FireWire.

4. Rotational Speed The speed at which the hard drives platters spin. Most

laptop (2.5 inch) drives spin at 5400 RPM, while common desktop drives

come in at 7200. There are PATA and SATA drives that spin at 10,000

RPM and some SCSI drives hit 15,000. However drives above 7,200 RPM

usually have limited capacity, and a much higher price than comparable

7,200RPM drives, making drives above 7,200 RPM advisable only when

the fastest possible speeds are required.

5. Noise and Heat Modern hard drives are fairly quiet in operation though some

people are sensitive to the faint hum and occasional buzz they do make.

If your HD is loud, its time to think about replacing it.. Some hard drives

can also throw a lot of heat and additional cooling may be needed. If your

case is not very well ventilated, this is something to be concerned about.

There is software available that will allow you to monitor both the health

and temperature of your hard drive(s), its a good idea to check from time

to time.

6. Warranty Many manufactures offer warranties ranging from 30 days (typically

OEM) up to five years. It is well worth spending an extra few dollars to

get the drive that carries a longer warranty.

7. Interface of a drive is how the hard drive comunicates with the rest of the

computer. The following hard drive interfaces are avalible:

• Parrallel IDE drives(PATA) use cables that can be distinguished by

their wide 40-pin connector, coloured first-pin wire, and usually gray “ribbon”

style cables. This technology is losing popularity because SATA uses

thinner cables, eliminates contention for the IDE bus that can occur when

two PATA drives are attached to the same connector, and promises faster

drive access.

• SATA drives have the advantages outlined above. If you want Serial

ATA, you will either need to purchase a motherboard that supports it, or

purchase a PCI card that will allow you to connect your hard drive. Note

that some older motherboards will not allow you to install Windows XP

to a Serial ATA hard drive.

• SCSI, although more expensive and less user friendly, is usually worthwile

on high performance workstations and servers. Few consumer desktop

motherboards built today support SCSI, and for building a new computer,

the work needed to implement it may be outweighed by the relative simplicity

and performance of IDE and SATA. SCSI hard drives can reach rotational speeds of up to 15,000 RPM, though these are generaly prohibitively

expensive.

• USB or IEEE1394 can be used for connecting external drives. An external

drive enclosure can convert an internal drive to an external drive.