Hard Drives
Hard drives are the main storage device in your computer. Not to be confused with memory, which is erased every time the power is loss, hard drives write data permanentally to their disks. Today the majority of hard drives on the market all work about the exaxt same, but there are a few things you need to look for when buying one.
Number one is how much space or storage do you need? Storage is usually shown in the number of gigabytes a hard drive has, for example an ad in the paper will probably say "250GB Hard Drive". It may also use the word "Terabyte" or "TB" which is 1,000 gigabytes. If your having trouble deciding how much space you actually need then again you have to ask yourself the question: What am I going to use my computer for? If you plan on downloading lots of music, putting on a whole bunch of games and movies, and other large programs then you will need something big, probably 250gb or more. However, if you never download anything off the internet, don't play games, and don't use any big software you could probably get away with any 80gb hard drive. Remember though, the cost of hard drive space is very very cheap today, and it's a good idea to just get a little extra just to be safe.
There are a few other things related to performance that you should know. If you don't particularly need performance then you can probably just focus on getting the right size hard drive. However, if you do lots of gaming or video editing, etc. then you will need to know this. The number one thing that effects performance in hard drives is probably its RPM (rotations per minute), that number basically decides how fast you can read and write from the hard drive (theres a lot more to it than that, but this is the basics). Most hard drives today are 7200rpm, which is actually pretty good. However they also offer them in 5400rpm which is very bad, 10,000rpm which is very good, and they even make a 15,000rpm which is simply incredible. Although the 7200rpm will be good enough for even most gamers and editors. Another simple item to watch for is the cache size of a hard drive, the bigger the better. The majority come with 8mb cache's, but lots of the newer hard drives come with 16mb cache's, which is simply better. The last thing to consider is how it connects to your computer, there are many different interfaces out there today, and it would take to long to explain them all, so just get SATA inless your computer doesn't support it.
Why use waynepc?
We offer all of our services at very low prices and rates. We are experienced at what we do and can help you much faster than other shops. We will help you find the best solution for what you really want. Best of all were not just out to make a quick buck, we really want what's best for you and that's why we will never try to sell you any thing you don't need. That's also why weve taken the time to build the quick and easy learning center. In the learning center you can find simple information on what computer parts actually do, how they effect performance, and what to know about them, so you will be better equipped the next time you are looking to buy a computer.