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Cheap Hard DrivesCheap hard drives are easy to find but you should look at the specifications to make sure the unit will be the best value for the dollar. Here's a few things to look for on any cheap hard drives. The first two things to look for is the physical size and the storage capacity. Notebook or laptop drives are normally 2.5 inches and can be Sata or IDE. Desktop drives are normally 3.5 inches and Sata or IDE. Frequently your hard drive will be labeled with basic information like size, storage capacity, and connection. But you can also tell by the cable. Here's what Sata and IDE cables look like:
The amount of storage is listed in Gigabytes (1000 megabytes) and desktop hard drives go up to 2 Terabytes (terabyte equals 1000 gigabytes). Notebook and laptop go up to 2 Terabyte. Sizes range all over the place but most notebook hard drives are smaller in capacity. Next comes the speed of the drive that's described in RPM (or the spin rates of the platters), the faster the better. Notebook or laptop drives start in the 4200 RPM range and go up to 7200 RPM. Desktop can go up to 10,000 RPM but you can hardly call those models cheap. There are also the latest and great technology of Solid State Drives that have no moving parts since they operate like a flash drive. But once again they do not fit into the cheap range since they are still very pricey. The most popular sizes range from 500 Gigabytes to 1 Terabytes with speeds of 5400 to 7200 RPM in Desktop versions. Laptops are more in the 320 Gigabyte to 500 Gigabyte size with 4200 to 5400 RPM speeds. There are exceptions to each but the price increases sharply once you pass these basic speeds and capacities. The four most common and popular brands are Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, and Maxtor. All come with pretty good warranties and on any given day will be solid choices. It's similar to cars, some like Chevrolets, some like Fords. It comes down to features and price of the individual hard drives and what you consider to be cheap hard drives. Here's our top three choices in both Laptop and Notebook hard drives and Desktop hard drives. Keep in mind we are not looking for the fastest or the best, but looking for the best value for the price. Cheap Hard Drives for Notebooks - Best Value
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back often to see if any new specials There are plenty of private label and other second tier cheap hard drives available but based on our experience, the extra $5-$10 savings is just not worth the risk on the hard drives failing early and often. Just remember that all hard drives fail at one point so always keep your important data backed up and it will never be a big deal, just an inconvenience. |
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