If you’re the designated Mr. or Mrs. Fixit in a household of notebook owners, or you run a small business, the chances are that sooner or later you’ll be called upon to buy notebook hard drives and perhaps install them. One by one your notebook hard drives will fail – It’s inevitable. When that happens there are a few useful things you ought to know before you set out to buy notebook hard drives.
Physical Drive Size
Perhaps the first thing to learn about is choosing the correct size of drive for a notebook. Hard drives for notebooks are typically smaller than those for desktop computers. Standard sizes are 2.5 inch or 1.8 inch. The smaller 1.8 inch drives are normally used in ultra-portable notebooks. In any case you should know which form factor you need for a given notebook before you buy the drive.
Interfaces
When you buy notebook hard drives you also need to know which interface type is required. There are two types of interface which may be used in notebook computers. The older type is called an IDE or parallel ATA interface. Gradually though, serial ATA or SATA interfaces are becoming the de facto standard for use in all hard drives and computers. It’s essential to choose the correct interface that your computer uses when buying a hard drive.
Capacity and Performance
As you probably already know, hard drives fill up quickly, especially in notebooks that are used for storing video or music files. Always go for the highest capacity drive that your budget will allow. Realistically it makes sense to go for a 1 terabyte drive, especially if the notebook belongs to a media hungry teenager.
The speed at which data can be accessed is also an important consideration when you buy notebook hard drives. Again though, this is more important for users who like to run games or videos on their computer.
Solid State Drives
Slowly but surely, the conventional hard disk drive is becoming less popular for notebook owners, due to the emergence of solid state hard drives, which have no moving parts. While they are expensive to buy, solid state drives have a number of advantages over disk drives. This can make them an attractive proposition if you are replacing a dead disk drive. Your decision whether to use a solid state drive may depend on how long you think you will keep the notebook. If the notebook is old and you don’t expect it to last many more years you might prefer to stick with an inexpensive disk drive.
Remember – Whether you opt for disk or solid state drives, the same rules apply about checking the size and interface required before you spend your money. Also, if you have any doubts about your ability to replace drives in your family or business notebooks, it might be worth a little extra expense to have a professional carry out your installations. Click here to buy hard drives online.
