Internal Hard Disk Drives

Internal Hard Disk Drives

Memory storage is an essential piece of any computer set up as most of us have a lot of data we wish to save. Internal hard disk drives have been used for many decades and their capacity and speed has largely improved over the years. Due to their low price, these days many computer owners have both a primary and a backup drive to make sure they always have a copy.

When selecting an internal hard disk drive, one of the main choices you need to make is between the 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch models. The 2.5-inch models are designed for laptop use and can be a bit pricier due to their scaled-down size. Since the connectors are the same, you can install a 2.5-inch drive even in a desktop computer. However, keep in mind that there are storage limitations due to the physical space available in laptops. Larger capacity drives are easier to find as 3.5-inch, though you can still get a hold of a 2.5-inch 2 TB internal hard disk drive which provides more than enough storage for any laptop use.

Modern 3.5-inch internal hard disk drives also come with RAID compatibility which allows you to combine drives. RAID zero to six configurations allow different adjustments of the way hard disks operate. Some RAID levels give you more data security, meaning that you can combine two 1 TB internal hard disk drives and get total storage space of 1 TB, as one of the drives will simply hold a cloned copy of all the data on the other one. In another RAID mode, you can combine 7 drives and write a fragment of each byte across the drives. This is usually used for servers as it increases writing speed and allows you to use all your memory. With 7 drives you can even afford to lose one as all the data on it can be worked out through mathematical operations using the rest of the drives.

You can even find computer parts and accessories that can help you connect an internal hard disk drive externally. Specialised drive cases allow you to convert your internal drive in an external one and use it via your computer's USB port. There cases also come in handy when you need to easily extract data from a computer which no longer operates.