Which external hard drive you should opt for?

With end numbers of external hard drive models available in the market, it becomes quite cumbersome for anyone to decide which one he/she should go for. If you are also one of them, then given below are some tips which can really assist you in determining which hard drive will suit your computer best.  

Evaluate your computer’s requirements. This is the major factor which you must bear in mind before purchasing an external hard drive. For instance, if you need to store some songs and movies, then a typical 160 GB hard drive will be sufficient to fulfill your requirements. And in case you are planning to acquire more storage capacity; then remember you need to pay additional bucks for it.

Go for brand: While purchasing external hard drives it would be beneficial to look for branded options. Now, the question emerges why it is so? Well, basically there are two reasons behind this statement. First of all, every branded external hard drive comes with a considerable warranty period. It means you are not required to worry about its functionality for a certain period of time. Another reason that makes branded hard drives quite popular is their durability. All of these drives work efficiently for a prolong duration of time. Although such a branded external hard drive will cost you a few additional dollars, but it covers all the risk factors for you.

Make research: Whichever external hard drive you have decided to purchase upon, make sure to do some research before going for it. In this concern, the major search engines could be a handy tool. Just type the brand name and model number of the hard drive into the search boxes of these search engines, and then you are ready to discover all about it. Look for the reviews of other customers and specially try to find out whether there is a feedback regarding the efficiency of that drive.   

Ensure connectivity: Once you are satisfied with the reviews of the external hard drive, it’s time to check its connectivity. Presently, all the external drives available in the market connect to your computer through either USB or Firewire. Firewire is the fastest option that can dramatically increase the writing speed of a drive. But, most of the computers do no support it. That’s why make sure which type of connectivity is supported by your computer. If it is Firewire, then nothing is going to be more precise than it. But, in case it is USB, then you have not but the option to go for USB enabled drive.

Speed: After ensuring the connectivity, you should check the speed of external hard drive. Here it is also worth to note that faster you drive’s speed, faster the data will be transferred into it from computer and vice versa. There are several factors on which an external drive’s performance speed relies.

Seek time: Ensure that it is not more than 10 milliseconds if you really desire to have a high speed external hard drive.

Buffer Size: The more is the buffer size, the higher is the speed of your hard drive.

Revolutions per minute: It must be at least 5400 rpm. However, the most preferable option is to purchase an external hard drive whose speed is 7200 rpm.

Keeping all these factors in minds, you can easily find out the hard drive which is the best in terms of both the price and quality.