Despite the fact that users more and more often choose ssd drives as the main storage media for the operating system, hard drives do not give up their leading positions. Their relatively low cost compared to the same SSDs, a large amount of disk space and a wide range of models in digital stores make HDDs affordable for purchase.
The hard drive is an essential component of your computer. Often the performance of the entire operating system depends on its stable operation. The HDD uses the operating system as the main storage for program files and personal data of the user, so the choice of hard disk must be approached responsibly.
There are a minimum of characteristics to look out for when choosing and buying a hard drive.
Brand name
In fact, you should not pay attention to the manufacturer's brand, since each company has its own dead. It will be much more effective to base the choice, starting only from the technical characteristics.
Form Factor
Depending on whether you need a hard drive for a computer or laptop, its designation will depend. Despite the fact that after talking with you, the consultant will understand what kind of hard drive you need, only numbers are indicated on the price tags: 2.5 is the form factor of a hard drive for a laptop, while 3.5 is a form factor of a hard drive for a computer … In the beginning, incomprehensible numbers, there is nothing more than the thickness of the HDD, indicated in centimeters.
Drive volume
Depending on the volume, the difference is the price. You need to imagine your needs in advance and roughly calculate how much space will be needed for personal files, as well as for a system with applications and installed games. The most popular hard drives are 500 GB and 1 Tb. It's easy to imagine how much it is. It is enough to know that all the Windows operating system and the most necessary set of programs take up about 20 GB of disk space. Gamers should buy hard drives that are 2Tb or larger.
Do not be discouraged if, in practice, the amount of disk space is lower than stated. For example, out of 500 GB, about 465 is available to the user. According to the manufacturers themselves, the lack of volume is used by the built-in software, it is necessary for the correct operation of the HDD itself.
Rotational speed
One of the most important characteristics that determine how quickly information will be read and written. For the user, this means how quickly the system will run. In no case can you save on this, it is not only your money, but also nerves in the future. On the shelves, hard drives with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm and 7200 rpm are more common. The significant price difference is more than offset by the performance you get by paying a little more.
Buffer memory
The bigger, the better. The clipboard is nothing more than the space on your hard drive where all the copied information is stored. Chasing the maximum cache size is not worth it, its impact on performance is not so great and average values are enough for most tasks. The cache size, equal to 64 MB, will be quite enough and enough for solving everyday tasks, even with the rest.
