Buying External Hard Drives: What to Look for in an External Hard Drive

Adding extra storage space to your computer may seem as easy as it sound. Right, there is thousands of external hard disk drive that you may take advantage of and satisfy you with your storage needs.

Buying external hard drives from an Apple store, however, is more than just checking the brand name or purchasing the one with the most affordable cost. There are a few important things that need to be consider when buying an external hard drive,

Below is a list of what you need to look for in an external hard drive to be able to get the most out of your additional storage:

Capacity: In order to decide about the capacity of the external hard drive that that you’ll buy, identify first to which you’ll be using the drive for and how much extra memory to you actually need. Will you be using the external hard drive to store permanent data files? Or will you be using it just a temporary back-up for transferring files? For permanent data storage, you may opt for an external drive with a large capacity, about 300GB. Otherwise, for simple file transfers only, you may not need so much space.

Cache Size: Cache size refers to the speed of the external hard drive to copy the files from the source computer to it. As a general rule, the higher the cache size or memory of an external drive, the faster it transfers files from the source to the storage and vice versa. If transfer speed is of significance to you, then you might as well get one with a large cache size. However, note that external hard drives with a lot of space for cache memory usually cost more expensive in an Apple store.

Connectivity: External hard drives can be connected to your computer or laptop primarily in 2 ways, namely through the use of USB port and cable, or though the Firewire port and cable. While some external drives offer both connectivity – thus giving more flexibility for the users –, others come in only one of the two options. In this regard, choose a Firewire connectivity if you want quicker and faster file transfer rate, assuming your computer has a built-in Firewire port in it. Otherwise, go with a USB connectivity that is most likely compatible to all computers and laptops. Again, for added flexibility, you may opt for an external hard drive that is designed with both connectivity options.

Remember, before buying an external hard drive for your Mac or PC from an Apple store, it is always best to know what exactly you need.  External hard drives will not always be about the manufacturer, the brand name, or the price! Most of the time, you have to evaluate the more important stuffs such as capacity, connectivity, and cache size.