When buying an external hard drive, you should always carefully approach this process. Unlike conventional hard drives, such a device will be constantly exposed to increased mechanical stress associated with constant transportation and not the most careful attitude.
In order for the information medium you have purchased to serve for a long time, meet all individual requirements and always please with its smooth operation, you should rely on several important recommendations. You will find valuable tips on how to choose the right external hard drive in our article, which we have prepared specially so that when purchasing this device you will not regret the money spent.
Content
Budget and purpose of use
When buying an external HDD, you initially need to decide on the budget and tasks that the drive will perform. So for the usual transfer of data between different devices, you will not need special power and performance, which will allow you to stay on budget options. But when choosing a drive for a TV with 4K Ultra HD-resolution, support for 3D, HDR or other modern technologies, you should completely stop at fast solid-state models. They will cost more, but they are faster and more reliable than conventional hard drives.
External drive selection criteria
First of all, you need to decide on the type of device. A good drive should fully meet the rhythm of its owner's life. So for rare and careful use, HDD is quite suitable, and if the disk is used even in extreme conditions, then be sure to take a closer look at the SSD. In addition, the selected disk model must be large enough to contain all the information that you may need.
The form factor of the device is of no less importance. It affects not only the size and weight of the disk, but also the maximum storage capacity. And finally, the interfaces. In most cases, an external drive for a laptop is connected via USB, but there are also a number of rarer connectors that, for example, may be required by owners of MacBooks or modern ultrabooks from other manufacturers.
Types
Today, the most popular external drives are conventional HDDs. In other words, we are talking about classic hard drives, inside of which there are magnetic plates and read heads. Such media are inexpensive, but they require careful handling, because strong blows or falls can easily damage the disk. But SSDs or, in other words, solid-state drives, this problem is not terrible. At its core, we have before us an ordinary flash drive, but with a large number of chips. The type of memory in such devices may differ, but even the simplest TLC variants can last for many years without wear and tear. In this case, according to the characteristics of external SSD drives, it is much more important to pay attention to the controller, because the service life of the information carrier primarily depends on it.
Capacity
Modern devices are at the level of development when, with a small size of the carrier, it can fit not only gigabytes, but even terabytes of data.So among external drives, solutions for 1 and 2 TB are in greatest demand. However, if necessary, you can take a more or less capacious device. However, do not forget that the size of the drive still imposes certain restrictions on the maximum volume.
Form factor
With that said, you will need to decide which external hard drive to choose based on the form factor of such devices. Today there are three of them on sale:
- 2.5″
- 3.5″
- 1.8″
The first option is in greatest demand on the market, so any manufacturer offers its own 2.5-inch external drives. Such devices are small and lightweight, which makes them convenient to use with PCs and laptops.
But 3.5 ”disks are on sale much less, because due to their bulkiness they are not so popular among buyers. In addition, with similar characteristics, the weight of 3.5-inch drives can exceed 2.5-inch counterparts by 3-4 and more times.
It is not in vain that we placed 1.8 "drives in the last place, because there are even fewer of them on sale than 3.5" drives. Among the few options, the user can purchase a device from the ESD400 line from Transcend. This manufacturer offers users high-quality external SSD drives for 1 TB, as well as 512, 256 and 128 GB.
Interfaces
In other words, an external drive interface is a type of connector through which a drive connects to other devices. The most common options are USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 drives. There is such an input on any computer, laptop, TV, and even a router. Moreover, modern devices are always equipped with a 3.0 standard port, which allows data transfer at speeds up to 5 GB / s... And here USB 2.0 (up to 480 Mb / s) is gradually disappearing from the market, so popular external disk manufacturers are also abandoning this version of the universal serial bus in their products.
An extremely progressive development of engineers from Intel is the connector Thunderbolt... However, as can be judged by the reviews about external drives on popular forums, this interface, unfortunately, has not yet found due popularity. Despite the high data transfer rate (up to 10 Gb / s), Thunderbolt is used mainly in laptops and computers from Apple. Therefore, it is advisable to buy a disc with this interface only for such a technique. However, in the near future the situation may change, because such giants of the market as ASUS, DELL, MSI, HP and Lenovo are also gradually starting to add a Thunderbolt connector to their equipment.
Additionally, there are three more options for interfaces used in external hard drives:
- Wi-Fi
- Firewire
- Type-C
The first option is extremely convenient, because such drives can be easily connected to a home wireless network, tablet, laptop or other devices equipped with a Wi-Fi adapter. However, the user will have to overpay 2-3 times more for this module alone, which makes such a purchase impractical, therefore Wi-Fi in external "screws" is rare.
The FireWire interface is also not very common, but this is due to the fact that it has long been outdated. USB-C, in turn, is still too young and has not yet received sufficient distribution.
Food
Whether choosing a compact 2.5 "model or a 1.8" solution, you don't have to worry about this issue. For small devices, no additional power is required, because the information carrier receives it directly through the port through which it is connected to a TV, PC or other device. An exception to this rule are drives with a Wi-Fi module, which use a built-in battery. But large 3.5-inch models are necessarily equipped with an additional power supply, which adds weight and dimensions to an already rather big device.
Good to know
When choosing an external drive, many are trying to figure out which file system it supports. In fact, we are talking simply about the way of organizing data on an information medium.Therefore, cheap disk models support all kinds of file systems as well as expensive ones. The choice depends on your operating system, but in most cases you will be dealing with NTFS or FAT32.
Clipboard volume
Buffer size is an important parameter. It is a built-in memory where the most requested data is stored. Accordingly, the larger the clipboard (cache), the more information it can write. Thus, you can enjoy improved system performance. For the same purpose, for example, many laptops have a separate SSD cache.
Protection against moisture and dust
A very useful addition for people leading an active lifestyle is the protection of the information carrier. Of course, in terms of price-quality ratio, external drives of this class will be inferior to their unprotected counterparts. However, any additional, but not mass function increases the cost of any item. As for the drives, they can be equipped with protection against moisture, dust and even shock. Such opportunities may be required by travelers or builders.
Software
The last auxiliary option to look out for is software. It is rare, but the benefits are significant. In this way, applications installed on the disk can protect it from viruses or unauthorized access. Also, the software helps to optimize power consumption and backup data. However, if necessary, such programs can be found on the network, both on a paid and free basis.
Which external hard drive to buy?
Only a few major manufacturers offer good quality hard drives on the market today. Their products are found in most laptops and computers. Therefore, even if you want to buy an inexpensive and good external drive, always give preference to well-known brands. This way you can be sure of excellent product quality and long service life. Moreover, even if the drive breaks down, it will be much easier to solve the problem with the products of a popular manufacturer, because there are service centers in any country. Therefore, when buying expensive and budget drives, stop at the following companies:
- Transcend
- Western digital
- Seagate
- Toshiba
- Silicon power
Conclusion
It is simply impossible to overestimate the benefits of an external drive in the modern world. With the help of such a device, you can more conveniently transfer and store information so that you can access it anywhere. Teachers, students, businessmen and even owners of smartphones and tablets who like to watch movies on the go can benefit from information carriers of this format. However, when choosing an external drive, you need to be very careful, because its convenience and durability depend on the quality and capabilities of the device. Our recommendations will help you choose the perfect drive that's perfect for your individual needs.
