Choosing the best storage device available is very important because they take care of important data and information.
Each storage device has a life span and it is normal to get a new one after every few years both to replace the old one or to use it as an extra backup drive.
Here are some factors that you must consider before buying a new storage device.
Hard Disk Drive vs Solid-State Drive SSD is a type of storage device that uses flash memory compared to spinning metal disks found in classic HDDs.
Try to imagine an SSD as a large SD card or USB flash drive.
We have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of both HDDs and SSDs in the previous article.
SSD reads and writes data faster, attracts less power and even operates quietly compared to HDD.
But, the SSD is more expensive per gigabyte and has a much smaller data capacity than HDD.
SSD will always be a better choice if the storage device will run the operating system or save many files and programs that need to be accessed frequently.
Performance and speed are the biggest advantages of an SSD more than one HDD.
But it would be more reasonable to go with a classic HDD, if the budget is a limiting factor here and the most you need from the storage room you can afford.
It is better to go with a traditional HDD if you get a storage device especially for long-term data storage and data backup.
Storage capacityhard disk drives are available in various storage capacity.
The 3.5 inch internal hard drive available for PCs can rise to 10TB storage capacity while the upper hard drive and SSD that comes with a laptop can offer only up to 2TB of storage.
There are no parts that move on the SSD, so they are usually smaller than HDDs and SSDs are mostly available in a 2.5-inch form factor.
Although, there are several adapters that will allow you to change a 2.5-inch drive to a 3.5-inch drive.
Performance or transfer Speedthe performance from a storage device refers to the speed at which data is transferred in one device or in some devices.
There are several factors that affect commercial HDD performance, but rpm (round per minute) is an important one because higher RPM means faster data transfer speeds for both to and from the drive.
Serial or standard interface or SATA defines the speed of a particular internal drive.
It determines the speed of the drive to connect to hosts such as personal computers, servers or other storage devices.
There are three generations of SATA available between storage devices.
SATA 3 is the newest and most popular one at a speed of six gigabits per second (around 770 megabytes per second).
SATA 2 data speed limits at 3 gigabits per second and almost extinct SATA 1 data speed limit at 1.5 gigabit per second.
Cache spacethe cache or embedded memory buffer area used when a hard disk tries to transfer internal data in the drive.
Larger cache helps in data transfer faster because further information can be stored at a time.
Commercial HDD cache sizes usually range from 8 MB to 256 MB.
TimesAccess access times are another important factor that affects the performance of storage devices.
This means the amount of time needed for readers to position themselves and to read or write data.
Two drives with the same RPM can have different performance, but most hard drives appear at the same level.
Still a known way compares access time.
In the case of SSD, be sure to check the sequential reading and writing speed (or sustainable reading and write speed).
Must work well until the speed is in the maximum speed of the SATA connector.
SafetyThe Data Durability Your storage device that stores data, will be responsible for your data security.
You must always consider good quality drive and how you will use it, especially in the case of a laptop where one drive is the only choice.
Hard drives are usually more sensitive to heat, moisture, vibration and shock compared to SSD.
You must always go for a product equipped with a physical protection layer if you want to use it as a portable storage device.
Things to consider before buying a new storage device
