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.
