How to Buy a New Hard Drive?

When purchasing a new hard drive for your system there is a few things you should consider other than compatibly.  Hopefully this page will assist you in making a well informed decision  on your purchase. Step 1:  What do you have? First of all, let's see what kind of interface you have.  The most common, but is fading out is IDE.  This can be easily distinguished by seeing a wide 40 pin ribbon cable going into the back of your hard drive.  This is not be confused with the SCSI interface.  Please see the ATA/IDE page on this site to see and understand what IDE is.  The newer generation of hard drives have converted to what is known as SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment).  Pictures and details of SATA can be found on the SATA page of this site.  SATA drives can be easily identified with their unique USB like connection for both the power and data connections. For laptop users, your interfaces are much like desktop hard drives, just smaller.  If your drive has 40 pins on the back, it is an ATA/IDE.  Likewise for the SATA interface. NOTE:  Some older systems have limitations on the drive capacity it can handle, likewise with older versions of windows.  Please consult your systems user manuals to see these limitations. Step 2:  What do you need? Depending on what your need is,  will be the size of the drive you purchase. Are you replacing your hard drive because of a system crash?  If you are and you know that  you did not use much of the storage space that you used before the crash, maybe you should simply replace the drive with the same capacity instead of upgrading.  This would save some cash.  I don't recommend it entirely, only because any upgrade in a system it always a good thing. However, if you are a person that is always adding video, pictures, or mp3's to your collection, it would be a good idea to invest in the most you can afford. This leads to the next section of discussion, specifications. Step 3:  Specifications While the intentions of this page is not to review every hard drive out their (impossible to do....sort of),  there are a few common specifications to consider first.  In my humble opinion, I think the most important item to consider is the manufacturer's warranty.  This says a lot about the quality of the manufacturer and their products.  Seagate gives with all their hard drives, whether it is an OEM or Retail, a 5 Year warranty.  This warranty is from the date the hard drive was created to the end.  If the drive fails naturally (you didn't slam it to the floor)  they will replace it under this warranty period.  Next to consider (assuming you know what interface hard drive you have) is the cache and rpm's.  The more cache (on-board memory) the better the performance of the hard drive's reading and writing abilities to keep up with the rest of the system or visa-vesa. Today's standard in rpm's (revolutions per minute) spin rate of a hard drive is 7,200.  There are faster ones such as 10,000 and up, but for the general population 7,200 is plentiful.  If you are a laptop user, you will find that there can be a big cost difference from 4,200 to 7,200 for the same drive capacity.  I would ask the question to yourself, "Does it matter if I wait a couple of more seconds for data or do I need it as fast as possible?" Last, but not least for specifications; there are other more advanced things to think about like what ATA speed does your system go up-to.  Is it limited to ATA/66 or can it goto ATA/133?  What about SATA, is it SATA 150mb/s or SATA 3.0 Gb/s?  You will want to consult your user manual to your system or motherboard manufacturer to have this answered.  You obviously don't need to buy the fastest drive out there if your system board isn't going to be able to use it. NOTE:  It is always wise to purchase with your new hard drive a new cable.  Make sure the cable is supporting to the drive your purchasing.  In other words, if your drive is ATA/133, be sure your cable is ATA/133 rated, likewise with the SATA drives. Step 4:  Where to buy a new hard drive? Now that you've got the basics down, you are ready to purchase.  Keep in mind that warranty is key to any hard drive next to specifications.  Never buy a hard drive that comes only with a year warranty.  It isn't a bad idea to read what other users are saying about the item, being that they already purchased it, they will say how they feel.  We recommend Tiger Direct for purchasing of new OEM or retail products.  You will likely notice a significant savings in cost versus going to a local retail store. Return to Education Main Page