The most important 8 tips you need to know before buying an external hard drive

Conventionally, from the time we commenced utilizing computers we had the urge to transfer data from one computer to another. Such transfers can be musical compositions, games, movies, software, or can be variants of files. In that era, we had no method to do transfer sizably voluminous files and the only thing that was done to transfer, we rip the hard drive out of our machine and connect it to a friend's computer as a slave disk. Then the data had been directly replicated from one hard and paste to the other one. fi

As the technologies got developed, then came the facility to burn CDs. pen drive additionally came to the market. Nowadays, pen drives, as well as external hard drives, are the most popular method regards data transferring from one computer to another. Especially many people consider that an external hard drive or cloud storage is more facile than burning a DVD to preserve the data they operate. Here, my opinion is to utilize an external hard drive due to its simplicity of use and security. Let's consider if you are willing to buy an external hard drive, what are the things you should know before buying it? 

What is the size?

Many people think that size is important. Here, the size means the capacity of the hard drive and it depends on the requirement. The smallest size is most commonly seen in the market as 1 TB in size. However, if you want you can find from even a small size external hard drive like 500 GB to a large capacity like 8 TB. But if you want to choose the size, you need to think about why you require this external hard drive. 

For example, photographers, videographers, and graphic designers may need a marginally more sizably voluminous external hard drive. For those who do not have the data that they conventionally need to preserve for years, a small size external hard drive is totally enough. In another word, those who request films from friends and delete them after watching them, small capacity drive suits that kind of users. Thus, you can choose the size of the external hard drive according to your desiderata.

Speed?

After you decided about the size of the hard drive, this is the point to consider. The speed of an external hard drive is genuinely consequential nowadays. Data copying and transferring via SSD is more expeditious than an HDD. We will discuss that later. Generally, when talking about an external hard drive, you should consider the USB version of it. The USB 3.0 is faster than a USB 2.0 external hard drive. 

However, if you connect 3.0 USB to an old PC, it won't give the best speed because older version USB ports are not supported for the 3.0 USB version. But the good news is any external hard drive now works with an old USB port, so there is no such thing as an old machine if your purpose is to copy data although the maximum transmission speed is not obtained.

SSD or HDD?

This is also a problem that many people have when choosing an external hard drive. What are these letters? HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive. These are more traditional, older technology hard drives. Then SSD stands for Solid State Drive. These are the fastest hard drives made with the latest technology. So which of these do you choose? There are both good and bad between HDD and SSD. Both HHD and SSD can provide the memory capacities we mentioned above. But as the capacity of HDD increases, its physical size also increases a bit. The speed of an SSD is high and technologically advanced. SSDs are more secure if they can be damaged quickly. But HDD external hard drives are still the cheapest in terms of price.

Portable?

This also applies to the needs of each individual. Normally if the external hard drive does not go beyond the table then there is nothing to worry about the size. This size refers to how physically large the external hard drive is. But if the external hard drive is constantly moving around, a small handy one is a good fit. But a physically smaller size external hard drive can be a little more expensive than normal sizes.

Resistant?

This also applies to an external hard drive that is often used for mobile use. There is no way that an external hard drive on a desk can be so dangerous. But there are also external hard drives on the market that are designed for both mobile and rugged use that we often see. This external hard drive is often covered with a rubber outer casing. If they are small in size, they are sturdy. But it's worth using an external hard drive that will not break even if hit by a rock.

Security?

This is important not for someone looking for an external hard drive to save their films and songs. Those who have more sensitive data stored on their external hard drive will have to look for an external hard drive with more security features. Usually, you can put encryption on any external hard drive. It is even facilitated by those operating systems. But if you want security beyond that, you should choose external hardware with hardware encryption. There are such things too. But the prices are so high.

How about prices?

In fact, our budget also affects the choice of an external hard drive. Now when you think about the prices of external hardware, most of the time the price varies with the capacity of the hard drive. And also the speed of the hard drive, version, technology, and the brand name of the hard drive affects the price fluctuation. These prices can go up or down with the country's taxes. Also, there are times when prices go down significantly when buying from its manufacturing country.

The external hard drive from the enclosure?

Besides, there is something more to say. Now sometimes those houses have old non-working computers and laptops. They may not work, but most of the time the hard disk still needs to work. Usually, the hard disks of those machines are quite durable. If you have such a hard drive, you can make it an external hard drive. How? Buy a hard disk enclosure from a computer store. Usually, the hard disk enclosure should be the size of the internal hard drive we have.

Bonus: After looking at it all, you finally need to choose a good place to get an external hard drive. Then think about the warranty they give. If you buy from a small shop, it is advisable to get an agent warranty. 

Cheers!