Hard drives are used for long-term storage of information in personal computers. In addition, operating systems are installed on these drives, which are necessary for comfortable work with a PC.
Instructions
Step 1
First select the type of hard drive. To use your device as your primary storage, purchase an internal hard drive. If you do not plan to install an operating system on the disk, consider purchasing an external HDD.
Step 2
When choosing an internal hard drive, pay attention to its form factor. To install the device in a mobile computer, use a 2.5-inch hard drive. Stationary PCs can be connected to drives with a form factor of 3.5 inches.
Step 3
Find out the speed of the hard drive. This parameter is especially relevant when using a hard disk as the main drive. There are HDDs with very high data transfer rates. They usually have a relatively small amount of memory.
Step 4
Review the specifications for your computer's motherboard. Check which ports are available for connecting drives. These can be SATA and IDE interfaces. Based on the information received, select the desired hard disk format.
Step 5
Think about how much memory a new hard drive should have. Now it is easy to find drives with a volume of 1-2 TB. Do not purchase such an HDD if you will not fully exploit its potential.
Step 6
The next important characteristic is the rotational speed of the spindles. When working with office applications, a 5400 rpm hard drive will be more than enough. These discs have two main advantages: low cost and relatively low noise level.
Step 7
In a gaming computer, use an HDD with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm. Otherwise, certain applications and games may become unstable.
Step 8
If you opted for an external hard drive, find out the types of ports through which you connect to your computer. To transfer information at high speed, purchase a hard drive with a USB 3.0 or eSATA interface.
