Are you aware of what to look for when shopping for an external portable hard drive? Getting an external drive is one of the most important things you'll ever do for your computer system, choose carefully and wisely. They insure the safety of all your precious music downloads, digital photographs, and data in case of a hard drive failure and gives total portability of your digital information. Listed below are some basic tips you should consider before you make a decision:
Size - is usually dependant on how much and which kind of files you've got. Should you use mainly spreadsheets and documents a smaller external drive will be adequate for a long time, however if your music collections and digital photographs grow bigger every day, you could require in excess of 1 or 2 terabytes. If you travel a lot, go with a portable pocket drive that is about the size of a Smart Phone but stores a large amount of data.
Speed - is how fast it will take your external hard drive to read and write data files to a eSATA device or USB 2.0. The eSATA type is faster compared to a USB for moving large files, but needs an external power source in addition to plugging the device in your computer. Look for seek time of no less than a buffer size of 4MB or more, 10ms, and 5400rpm to 7200rpm for optimum functionality.
Software - a lot of external drives incorporate software that lets you schedule automated back-ups at a predetermined time. This is an important convenience for providing the latest updates without ever having to think about it.
Reliability - dependable devices have a reputation for longevity, good speed, and plenty of storage space. You'll find a number of trusted name brands of external hard drives out there for a great price. Check the technical Geek sites or computer magazines for expert reviews and search for deals online.
Network adaptability - If all your members of the family have their own laptop or computer, or you're a private business owner with multiple machines, you need a network attached storage device (NAS). They are generally very large capacity external storage drives which will easily back up files for networks of several computers.
Now you have an idea of what features are important and what to look for when selecting an external hard drive, do a price comparison, look around, and buy as much storage space as you can possibly manage, do it right now, you'll not regret it.
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