The need for storage is an unquenchable one, especially due to the fact that we are living in the boom of the digital media age. Everything that we use in today’s world has a digital version of it. Be it the pictures of your favorite wedding reception, or videos of your office party or documents
. Also on the rise is the storage of digital versions of movies and songs on the computer for ready availability and best quality. Thus arises a huge craving for storage media. And what better way to store your digital content than using an external hard drive? Here are the things to consider while getting one:
The Convenience
Let’s accept the fact that no matter how skilled you are with computer hardware, opening up your computer cabinet is not something you enjoy. Moreover it is unsafe for the computer hardware if you keep on connecting and disconnecting them continuously for various purposes. Thus upgrading with an internal hard drive is out of question. Your content is best kept on an external hard drive that connects with the USB port on your cabinet/laptop with ease.
The Connectivity
SATA is surely a faster interface than even the latest USB 3.0. But what must be known is that the difference in transfer speed is negligible between the two interfaces and thus it is better if you choose an external drive rather than an internal drive as an upgrade option.
Portability
This is the age of sharing. We share almost all the digital content that we own. Be it videos, pictures, music or movies. It is very difficult and risky to carry around an internal hard drive every time you want to transfer something to or from another system. All the tinkering with sophisticated internal parts might damage them severely. On the other hand external hard drives are designed to be portable. Even they consist of sophisticated internal parts but the casing and protection layer on external hard drives protect them from accidental falls and damages. This makes it easier and more convenient to carry around the storage medium wherever you go.
Longevity
Hard drives come with a life time period, which is the period for which it can be used without technical problems arising and is usually measured in hours. The math is simple, the more you use a hard drive the faster it will burn out. An internal hard drive is always connected to the system and is thus always running as long as the system is up and running. On the other hand you need to connect an external hard drive only when you need to access the content on it. At other times you can disconnect it and thus ensure that it serves for longer time period.
As the size of digital media increases with the introduction of high definition contents, the usability of pen drives are getting redundant. So it is high time you get an external hard drive of the capacity that you need.