How to buy a hard drive
So you’re running out of storage on your laptop or desktop.
Welcome to the club.
Now that your world has become increasingly digital – from photos and videos to music and podcasts to documents and ebooks – it’s no surprise your PC or Mac is bursting at the seams.
buy laptop hard drive
But before you buy a hard drive for the additional storage you require, keep these following considerations in mind – besides your budget, of course.
Internal, external
The first thing you’ll likely want to figure out is whether you want an internal or external hard drive. As the name suggests, an internal drive must be installed inside your desktop tower or laptop, to replace or supplement your existing drive (the latter is easier as you’ll have to reinstall the operating system on a replacement drive). Some technical savoir-faire is required to install an internal drive, but not for an external hard drive that simply plugs into an available port on your computer (usually USB).
Portable vs. desktop
If you opt for an external hard drive – and chances are you will – you’ve got one of two main choices at this point. A desktop drive is larger and requires an external power source (ideal to keep in a home office, for example), while a portable drive is usually smaller, lighter and often uses power from the computer to operate rather than requiring an AC outlet. While not as mainstream, another kind of drive is a networked one that connects to your wired or wireless router and can be accessed from any device that’s connected to your network. In some cases these drives can even be configured so you can access them from anywhere in the world you have an internet connection.
PC or Mac
Next, ensure the hard drive you want to buy will be compatible with your computer, whether it’s a Windows machine, Apple Mac or alternative operating system. Most hard drives today work with both PCs and Macs, but to be sure read the box or online description before you pay. This is also a good idea if you’re running an older version of Windows to ensure smooth compatibility with the new purchase. If you plan on using the drive with Macs and PCs interchangeably, double-check with the manufacturer’s website on the right way to format the drive for this type of use.
Storage
This is a biggie. There are differences in hard drive capacities, referring to how many files they can hold. That is, even though hard drives may be the same physical size, you can buy one that offers 500 gigabytes (GB) of storage, 750GB, 1 terabyte (TB), 2TB, 3TB, and so on. (One terabyte is the equivalent of about 1,000 gigabytes.) While there are exceptions, the larger the hard drive capacity, the more expensive it will be. Even though hard drive prices drop over time, consider buying a size a tad bigger than you think you need, such as a 2TB drive when all you need is 1TB, as it won’t cost you that much more, and it’ll be cheaper than buying a second 1TB drive later on. Also, buying a 2TB drive takes up less space in your home than two 1TB drives.
Western Digital Hard Disk Drives
Speed
Just as there are differences in hard drive capacities, both internal and external hard drives vary in speed. Measured in rotations per minute (RPM), the faster the disk platters spin, the faster the data can be accessed. Regardless of the speed of the computer’s processor or other components, you’ll need to wait for the hard drive to pull up that data. The bigger the number, the faster the disks spin, therefore a 7200 RPM drive is faster than a 5200 RPM drive. Those who do video editing or game streaming might consider faster speeds, while those managing documents or music can get away with slower speeds. Other important factors are seek speed and latency, which refer to the time it takes for the hard drive to locate a specific bit of data – therefore, the lower the number, the better, for these variables (they’re not listed as often as RPM speed).