hard drive buying tips

When purchasing a hard drive, it is important to understand and verify the hard drive is suitable for your uses and has or does not have the options you may or may not need. Unfortunately, with hard drive technologies changing every day, it is can be sometimes confusing and frustrating when looking to purchase a hard drive.

Interface

When looking to purchase a hard drive the first and foremost important consideration is the Interface the hard drive uses to communicate with the computer. Below is a listing of each of the available interfaces with information how thy may or may not apply to your computer.

• IDE/ATAPI/ATA One of the more commonly found hard drives and used with IBM compatible computers, IDE is an easy to install and customize interface. Each IBM computer has the availability for a maximum of four IDE devices, these devices can range from hard drives to CD-ROM drives. If considering purchasing an IDE/ATAPI/ATA hard drive, verify that there are available locations for the drive to be connected to.
• SCSI Another commonly used interface, SCSI devices are found in Apple computers as well as some IBM computers. The SCSI interface is a faster solution when compared to IDE/ATAPI; however, in some cases, they can be more difficult to install. To install a SCSI hard drive you must have a SCSI card and an available connection on the SCSI cable connecting to the SCSI card. It is important to remember if you have a Proprietary SCSI card, such as a SCSI card included with the Iomega Jaz drive, this SCSI card may not always allow your hard drive to work.
• External (USB, Fire wire, or Parallel)Several external solutions are also available; these include but are not limited to USB hard drive, Fire wire hard drive and Parallel hard drive. When considering an external hard drive, it is important to look at the speed difference for transferring data to and from the hard drive. In addition, for these external drives to function properly, you must also have the available connection for the drive to be connected to.

Speed

In addition to the interface, it is also important to look at the transfer rates of the hard drive; long transfer rates can considerably slow down your computer when transferring larger files. When looking at the hard drive, look for specifications listing the RPM (Rotations Per Minute). An example of this would be a speed of 7,200 RPM.

Other considerations

Below is a listing of some other important considerations to look at when purchasing a computer hard drive.

Warranty How long is the warranty and what does it cover.

Support Is the technical support number a free number is it open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Included components Verify that the hard drive that you are purchasing comes with the needed components to install the drive. Hard drives included from the manufacturer will include an IDE or ATA/66-100 Cable, standard drive rails, instructions and diskette for installation.

Internal and External Transfer rates The Internal transfer rate is the rate the hard drive can take the data from the platter to the internal cache or read buffer. The External Transfer rate is the rate the hard drive can then take the data in the internal cache or read buffer to the computer memory.

S.M.A.R.T. S.M.A.R.T. is a new technology used to help warn the computer user of possible problems with the hard drive.

ATA, ATA/33, ATA/66, ATA/100 Another new and sometimes confusing interface is the ATA interface. Developed by Quantum in 1996, the Ultra ATA/33 interface allowed for computers to transfer up to 33 MB per second; later in 1998 this standard was upgraded to the ATA/66 standard with the availability of transferring up to 66 MB per second.

When purchasing an ATA/66 drive, the computer must support ATA66 as well as have an ATA/66 cable in order to support the transfer rate of 66 MB per second. If the computer does not have this cable, the drive will automatically be decreased to a transfer rate of 33 MB per second.

Price range

The price range can vary depending upon what interface the drive uses (SATA, IDE, SCSI, or USB), capacity of the drive, and the RPM (Speed) of the drive. In general, drives can range from $100.00 to $300.00 (US).

Ready to purchase

Once you have reviewed the appropriate information and believe that you are ready to make a purchase of a new hard drive, verify that the source you are purchasing the hard drive is a reputable source and you have reviewed our section on what to look out for when purchasing over the Internet.

Computer Hope is ready to setup and help you with issues you may encounter during the purchase and installation of your hard drive, regardless if you purchase through us or another vendor.

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