How to Select an External Hard Drive for Laptop Computers

In general, an external hard drive for laptop should protect and complement the internal drive and be large enough to store your desired data, as well as fast enough to copy data for storage and data backup without any unnecessary latency. It should also be made with a sturdy case. This short article will guide you over the most important aspects to keep in mind when you are selecting and reviewing an external hard drive for notepad and laptop computers.

Capacity of a drive, often measured in GB (or Gigabytes, roughly the equivalent of 285 MP3 files), is an important aspect of an removable external hard drive. While the physical size of the drive is also a concern, the storage space of the drive will prevent the drive itself from becoming obsolete in the next couple of years.

When selecting an external hard drive, always multiply your current data need by at least 3. For instance, if you need to purchase an external hard drive to store 20 GB of data, select at least a model which can store up to 60 GB of data. This will prevent the drive from becoming obsolete too fast, as your data storage needs grow in the upcoming years. Once you have selected a drive which will store enough data, you should consider speed options on the drive as well.

There are essentially two different speed options to consider when purchasing an external hard drive to be used to connect to a laptop. The first speed option is the size of the hard drive's cache, or high speed memory. Just as extra memory in a computer will speed up its performance, extra memory in an external hard drive will increase the performance of that drive. With higher amounts of cache on the drive, the drive will copy files from a laptop computer to the drive itself faster.

Another important speed option to consider is the availability of a special type of interface and adaptors available to the external hard drive. This interface is called a Firewire interface, and it offers quicker file copies compared to a normal USB 2.0 interface. The primary reason for this speed increase is because Firewire does not have as much overhead as USB 2.0. When a computer sends information over a Firewire interface, that information is easier for the computer to send, as opposed to USB 2.0.

In addition, USB 2.0 is limited to the maximum data transfer rate of the entire bus. Additional devices, such as USB mice and keyboards, will use some of the bandwidth available on that bus. This means that if you have several USB devices already, those devices could create a performance hit on the external hard drive's file copy speeds. Most laptops already have support for Firewire, but consult your laptop's documentation before purchasing an external hard drive for a particular interface.

The information in this guide has briefly highlighted the main feature differences in an external hard drive for a laptop computer. If you select your purchase based on these three main factors, your hard drive should last several years more than a drive that is purchased solely on a sale price.