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1 Terabyte Hard DriveThe size of the the internal hard drive is growing due to the needs of those people who have started breaking the limits with huge music and HD video collections. And the price is dropping since the market is seeing more and more large hard drives. Let's talk about what a Terabyte is first, just in case you might not be familiar with the term. There are 1024 gigabytes is a Terabyte. To give you a little better understanding, a typical MP3 song file is about 3 megabytes (more if recorded in higher quality formats). So you could get about 335,000 songs on a terabyte of storage. A typical movie (not in high definition) is about 8 gigabytes, so you could get about 125 movies on a terabyte. Some other examples and reasons why you might need a terabyte of storage these days. The Windows 7 operating system takes up to 800 megabytes, Windows 10 Office full boat takes up about a two times that amount. PhotoShop is around the same size. So you can see that as the software increases in features and ability, so does the size. Which is also true of the data files created by these large applications. The same is true for photos, the newer digital cameras can capture an image that is over 8 megabytes. Multiply that times 1000's of photos in high resolution and you can quickly burn up some serious data storage space. A typical home user with a good size music collection, 1000's of photos, maybe some self shot videos, and a good amount of purchased high definition movies can easily hit 500 gigs of data alone (not counting the operating system or software). So a 1 terabyte hard drive is becoming more and more common in both new computers and when people upgrade the original hard drive. Cost is a factor too. Since prices often drop on the latest technology and size, the difference between a 500 or 750 gig drive and a 1 terabyte drive is nominal. So why not go for the bigger drive for a few more dollars. All of the major manufacturers offer a 1 terabyte hard drive model these days. There are a few things that can separate the different models of each brand. There are three factors than can make any hard drive a better deal and provide faster performance in day to day activity.
With the exception of physical size, all of the above factors can have a huge impact in the performance level and also the cost. Also the SATA inferface continues to improve on speed so there are different versions( I, II, and III). In a perfect world, a 1 terabyte hard drive with a SATA III interface, at 7200 or 10,000 RPM, and 128 meg cache would be great but also be in the higher cost range due to the abilities. You can get in to the low end 1 terabyte hard drives for as little as $70. But for one described above, you would probably pay closer to $230. If you deal with very large files, or a large amount of small files, these factors can make a big difference. A user who works in Photoshop, big CAD programs, or even huge spreadsheets will definitely feel and see the difference. But if you just surf the net and do email, you probably won't feel the difference between the low end and the more expensive high end. So depending on your budget and ways you use your computer, the larger hard drives may just provide that extra storage you need and not so much a boost in performance. I wish I could tell you that one brand is better than the other but in the last few years, I haven't seen much difference in failure rates on any one brand. I will warn you that any of the popular brands can fail so back ups are always the safest bet regardless of brand or cost of any hard drive. External 1 terabyte hard drives are a little more expensive since they involve an outer case and cable. Maybe another $8-10 for external model with just the entry level features. And if you use a USB 2.0 connection, speeds will be no greater than that interface allows. So other than the cache and spin rate (RPM) you won't really see much difference. I would probably say that the case is more important since external drives get carried around and often dropped or smacked by something. So pay attention to the enclosure and even if you get a rubber coated model, still be careful when handling. Warranties: All of the major brand's 1 terabyte hard drives come with at least a 3 year manufacturer warranty. But that doesn't cover loss of data so make sure you backup often. Best case scenario they will replace the hard drive but it may not even be a new one, could be a refurbished unit. Depending on where you buy it, the seller may have an extended warranty that will guarantee replacement beyond the manufacturer's limits. Take a look around to see what the going prices are online, you might be able to find a slightly better deal. Some sellers even offer free shipping so that can save you a few bucks if you buy online. Some people are willing to spend an extra few dollars to get it today (buying it local). Purely a personal decision. |
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