The largest hard drive in terms of volume. The world's largest hard drive has been released. What else should you pay attention to? The most capacious external hard drives

Every time we have to start annual results for hard drives on a pessimistic note. It's no secret that solid-state drives are inexorably pushing their magnetic predecessors out of the market. This process is happening most rapidly in the area of client devices - mobile and desktop PCs, as well as mission-critical corporate storage. On the other side, hard disks have been and in the foreseeable future will remain in demand as a means of recording large amounts of data that do not require such a high access speed as provided by SSDs. In the consumer sphere, these are home NAS, and in the corporate sphere, these are the lower echelons of storage systems with solid-state cache, cold data storage, and intermediate options, referred to as nearline.

However, throughout 2017, contrary to the historical trend, the demand for HDDs practically did not decrease compared to record lows in mid-2016, and at the end it was already significantly higher. Supplies hard drives kept afloat by high prices for NAND Flash memory, and at the same time, the three surviving HDD manufacturers (Seagate, Toshiba and WD) introduced a lot of new models.

3.5-inch hard drives with a capacity of 10-12 TB, originally from the corporate sector, have spread to the market for devices for PCs and NAS, and server models have already conquered the capacity of 14 TB. Together, WD and HGST, which have been the driving force of HDD development in recent years, have been very active by Toshiba, which has released a wide range of models for NAS and server racks. In addition to the traditional growth in storage capacity, 2017 was distinguished by related technological advances. Sealed hard drives filled with helium can now hold up to nine platters, and 10 TB HDDs, as it turns out, can be produced without helium. A galaxy of revolutionary technologies looms on the horizon for hard drives, some of which, as manufacturers once again promise, are ready for implementation in the near future.

⇡ ServerHDDform factor 3.5 inches

The record of 12 TB of capacity for a single 3.5-inch hard drive was set by HGST in 2016, but only a few months later the company began mass shipments of the Ultrastar He12 series. Subsequently, this model, deprived of a number of functions, appeared in the catalog Western Digital under the WD Gold brand. Speed sequential access data consumption in these devices reaches 255 MB/s.

Unlike the Ultrastar He12, WD Gold is available exclusively with the SATA interface and does not support internal encryption, native access to 4 KB sectors and Media Cache technology, which allows the use of areas distributed over the surface of the platters as buffer zones. Both drives contain eight platters with a usable capacity of 1.5 TB in a sealed housing. And by the way, WD Gold remained the only nearline model in the WD catalog, since the WD Re series went into retirement.

HGST Ultrastar He12 12 TB

HGST Ultrastar Hs14 14 TB

HGST reached its next milestone, 14 TB, with tiled magnetic recording (SMR). SMR itself is no longer considered as the main way to increase recording density, but the new Ultrastar Hs14 model has managed to largely compensate for the inherent shortcomings of this technology. In HGST's previous SMR experiment, the Ultrastar Ha10, the drive's priority was reliability, so after each series of writes, the drive performed a test read of all tracks that overlapped those tracks whose data had been modified. Ultrastar Hs14 only does this if there are write errors. Thanks to this change and the increased recording density (the disk contains eight 1.75 TB platters), the Hs14 was able to radically increase the write speed compared to the Ha10 and achieve linear performance of 233 MB/s. The implementation of SMR in Ultrastar Hs14 is host-managed. This means that the operating system is tasked with organizing I/O commands in such a way that the number of RMW (read-modify-write) operations that are inevitable when rewriting data on a tiled plate is minimized, and therefore - HDD operating at peak performance. At the moment, none of the widely distributed operating systems has such functions, so HGST is ready to ship Ultrastar Hs14 drives only at the request of selected customers.

Seagate also launched a 12 TB server HDD under the Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD brand, which was then renamed Exos 12. Like the competing product from HGST, this drive comes in configurations with a SATA or SAS interface. In the latter case, full-disk encryption with a quick data wipe function and native access to 4K partitioning are supported. In drives of this class, Seagate uses a complex write buffering model - Advanced Write Caching. It includes Media Cache - sections of reserve sectors distributed over the surface of the platters, data duplication in DRAM and non-volatile memory for emergency recording in the event of a power failure. The linear performance of the Seagate Enterprise Capacity 3.5 HDD 12 TB is 261 MB/s.

Seagate has so far slowed down the development of hard drives with SMR technology. The only similar model in its catalog is the Archive HDD with a capacity of up to 8 TB, renamed Exos 5E8 as part of a rebranding campaign for Seagate enterprise products. Unlike the HGST Ultrastar Hs14, the SMR implementation in Exos 5E8 is drive-managed: the hard drive independently reorganizes data writing commands and, as a result, runs any common OS.

In recent years, Toshiba has not sought to increase the capacity of its hard drives as actively as other manufacturers, and has refrained from using helium. In particular, at the time of summing up, the company could offer only 6 TB of capacity - among both consumer and corporate HDDs. But in the time since then, Toshiba has not only eliminated the technological gap from its rivals, but has also become a leader. First, the MG05ACA series of nearline drives with a SATA interface appeared, the older model of which uses six platters with a usable capacity of 1.33 TB (total volume 8 TB), and then the MG06ACA series, which increased the volume to 10 TB using seven platters of 1 ,43 TB. The sequential data access speed of the MG05ACA and MG06ACA reaches 230 and 249 MB/s, respectively. Similar to corporate Seagate drives Toshiba equips these models with a Flash memory chip that is used to rescue data in the event of a power failure (PWC, Persistent Write Cache).

It is noteworthy that, while other companies supply 10-terabyte HDDs exclusively in sealed cases filled with helium, Toshiba made do with a standard design with a ventilated case. As you can see, helium is no longer a prerequisite for such a high density of plates, although before the introduction of helium, manufacturers did not dare to pack more than five pieces into a case.

Toshiba AMG07AC 14 TB

The successes of Toshiba's HDD division in 2017 did not end at the 10 TB mark. It is this company that has the honor of introducing the industry's first 14 TB hard drive. The older model MG07ACA with this capacity contains nine 1.55 TB platters, and in this case the manufacturer still had to resort to “laughing gas”. In addition, Toshiba used Showa Denko magnetic plates, the thickness of which has been reduced from 0.8 to 0.635 mm compared to the previous generation, and a two-stage actuator with new TDK heads. The plate spacing in the MG07ACA is only 1.58mm. The series also includes a 12 TB model based on eight platters, and the disk speed is 250 and 260 MB/s for linear data reading/writing. The only interface option for connecting the MG07ACA to the host controller is SATA. PWC technology is provided to protect data in case of power loss. Commercial supplies drives of this family will begin in the 1st-2nd quarters of 2018.

⇡ ServerHDDform factor 2.5 inches (SFF)

The prospects for SFF (Small Form Factor) hard drives with a rotation speed of 10-15 thousand rpm look gloomy against the backdrop of widespread adoption solid state memory in mission-critical storage, but as a result, the fastest magnetic drives continue to go on sale, and manufacturers release new models in this category.

Seagate introduced the ninth generation of Enterprise Performance 10K HDDs under the Exos 10E2400 brand with a spindle speed of 10 thousand rpm. The volume in this series reaches 2.4 TB, and linear read/write performance is 279 MB/s. The Enterprise Performance 15K HDD v6 series of drives (capacity up to 900 GB, linear read/write speed up to 300 MB/s), which Seagate updated in 2016, remains in service and now bears the name Exos 15E900.

Seagate Exos 10E2400 2.4 TB

To speed up write operations in SFF form factor drives, Seagate uses Advanced Write Caching technology, which combines caching areas on the surface of the platters and a DRAM buffer with data redundancy in solid-state memory. In addition, Flash memory is also used here to service read operations by caching frequently repeated requests.

Toshiba has brought the volumes of its SFF models to the Seagate level: 2.4 TB for ten-thousanders and 900 GB for HDDs with a spindle speed of 15 thousand rpm. The AL15SEB series achieves a performance of 260 MB/s (at a non-standard speed of 10.5 thousand rpm), and the AL14SXB achieves 290 MB/s. All of these drives feature Flash-based PWC (Persistent Write Cache) to back up data in case of power failure.

HGST continues to supply Ultrastar C10K1800 and Ultrastar C15K600 series hard drives with a maximum capacity of 1800/900 GB respectively and Media Cache technology.

HDDfor desktop PCs andNAS

In 2016, Seagate and WD adapted developments using helium to produce hard drives for desktop PCs and NAS. Since then, Western Digital has increased the capacity of drives in the , Red Pro and Purple families from 8 TB to 10 TB with seven platters with a usable capacity of 1.43 TB. Among these models, only Red Pro has a spindle speed of 7200 rpm, while the others are content with 5400 rpm. WD Blue and WD Black series drives still do not exceed 6 TB in capacity.

The second half of the Western Digital holding, HGST, presented new model Deskstar NAS, similar in characteristics to Red Pro, as part of a boxed set for retail sale. In contrast, regular Deskstar series drives for desktop PCs have long stopped at the 4 TB mark.

Seagate once again offers the highest-capacity drives ever manufacturers of hard disks for network storage. Introduced in 2016, the BarraCuda Pro, IronWolf and IronWolf Pro series were replenished with 12 TB models based on eight 1.5 TB platters. IronWolf drives with a capacity of 6 TB or more, as well as all IronWolf Pro and BarraCuda Pro, are characterized by a spindle speed of 7200 rpm, the rest - 5900 rpm.

Seagate BarraCuda, IronWolf, IronWolf Pro 12 TB

FireCuda hybrid HDDs still do not exceed 8 TB in volume, and drives for SkyHawk video surveillance systems are 10 TB, but Seagate has introduced an additional SkyHawk AI model with a capacity of up to 12 TB. Now even hard drive manufacturers are getting behind the machine learning hype, because the SkyHawk AI firmware feature is that, in addition to continuously recording video from 64 surveillance cameras via ATA Streaming Feature Set commands, the drive provides sufficient speed for 16 read threads that can be used by a neural network , analyzing data. Unlike standard SkyHawk models, discs marked AI have an increased spindle speed from 5900 to 7200 rpm.

Toshiba N300 8 TB

Toshiba has released analogues of its nearline disks with a capacity of 8 and 10 TB with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm in the consumer HDD category. The series, with a maximum capacity of 8 TB (no helium, six 1.33 TB platters) is intended for NAS, and its sister X300 is for desktop PCs. The MD06ACA-V family of drives is aimed at video surveillance systems and contains up to seven 1.43-terabyte platters with a total capacity of 10 terabytes. Unlike enterprise models, Toshiba client drives do not support PWC (Persistent Write Cache).

2.5-inchHDDwith interfaceSATA

The maximum capacity of a 2.5-inch HDD in a 7mm mobile chassis remains 2TB with SMR technology, while a 15mm HDD capacity of 5TB is possible. At the moment, the only drives with this set of characteristics are Seagate BarraCuda and hybrid model FireCuda. By the way, FireCuda is the only mobile “hybrid” that has survived on the market, since WD has stopped producing such devices.

The highest achievement of traditional perpendicular magnetic recording (PRM) technology in a 2.5-inch hard drive with a SATA interface remains 3 TB - such a drive with a case thickness of 15 mm based on four 750 GB platters is available from Toshiba (MQ03ABB series). There are also 4-terabyte models, but they are used exclusively as part of portable drives and are not sold separately.

Other manufacturers, besides Seagate and Toshiba, are only willing to offer 2 TB in a 15mm case (this is new for 2017 in the WD Blue series). The maximum capacity of thin disks (7 and 9.5 mm) remains 1 TB. The only hard drive for NAS in a compact form factor is WD Red.

As for drives in ultra-thin cases (5 mm), they officially ceased to exist after WD discontinued the corresponding WD Blue model.

⇡ Plans for the near future

In the next year or two, the capacity of 3.5-inch hard drives using traditional perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology will continue to grow. This can occur by increasing data density while maintaining the existing “standard” for the number of wafer. Then Seagate and WD will release 14 TB nearline drives based on eight platters with a usable capacity of 1.8 TB. An alternative is to tightly pack the existing 1.55TB wafer packs of 9 into sealed helium-filled cases, as Toshiba has already done. It is also possible to combine both approaches, which will create hard drives with a capacity of 16 TB.

A further increase in recording density faces the limit of PRM technology in its “pure” form. T.n. The superparamagnetic limit dictates the minimum size of an individual grain from the several hundred grains that make up the magnetic domain on the surface of the wafer. For a grain corresponding to the superparamagnetic limit, the difference in the energy of the “zero” and “one” states is already comparable to the energy of temperature fluctuations, which entails an increased risk of charge changes. As part of the HAMR technology, instead of cobalt alloys (as now), other materials (for example, an alloy of iron and platinum or gold-based alloys) with an increased ability to retain charge (and, as a result, resist its change) will be used in magnetic plates. And in order to temporarily make the material more receptive to recording, it is proposed to heat it with a laser or microwave radiation source (MAMR) as it passes the recording head. The theoretical limit for recording density when using HAMR is estimated at 50 Tbit/in2, which gives a capacity of 80 TB per 3.5-inch hard drive platter.

Seagate promised to begin trial shipments of HAMR-based devices in 2017, but as a result, plans have shifted to 2018, and in 2019 the time will come for commercial batches of hard drives up to 20 TB. Then Seagate is ready to annually increase the recording density by 30% - from 2 to 6 Tbit/inch 2. For comparison, in modern HDDs with platters with a usable capacity of 1.5 TB, the recording density is 923 Gbit/inch 2.

Western Digital, on the other hand, has bet on Alternative option technology - MAMR - and is not so optimistic about the timing of its implementation: the start of production of WD drives using MAMR is planned for 2019. WD considers the achievable recording density to be 4 Tbit/inch 2 - less than Seagate, but MAMR has a number of advantages in terms of compared to HAMR: it is cheaper to implement in production, and HDD operation There is no heating of the magnetic plate, which reduces the overall reliability of the device and entails the need for wear leveling mechanisms at the host controller level.

Another technology that hard drive manufacturers are actively working on, TDMR (Two-Dimensional Magnetic Recording), is aimed not so much at increasing the recording density as such (although it will allow this to be done by 5-10% when using standard PMR), but at make reading from plates with high density records. In addition to the superparamagnetic limit, there is a separate difficulty in reading information from closely located tracks. Engineers propose to increase the signal-to-noise ratio by using an array of heads that process one or more tracks simultaneously. The debut of this method in commercial drives was expected in 2017, but, most likely, TDMR will not be used until HAMR/MAMR becomes widespread. By the way, all three technologies can be combined with “tiled” recording, SMR.

In terms of performance, all of the above solutions only affect the speed of linear data reading/writing. The response time of the HDD is still determined by the spindle speed and the mobility of the actuator arm. Increasing the first parameter above 7200 rpm for 3.5-inch hard drives and 15 thousand rpm for SFF has long been recognized as inappropriate, but Seagate proposed improving the actuator, and, at first glance, in the simplest way - by placing two such components in a single HDD housing. This idea in itself is not new for hard drive developers, but until recently, the commercial implementation of drives with two or more actuators was considered meaningless due to the high complexity of production and unobvious benefits, because the problem of parallelism in server storage is solved by arrays. But now, with hard drives reaching capacities as high as 12 or 14 TB, too many requests to the array end up on a separate HDD, and Seagate decided that the time for the dual actuator had finally come. The implementation of this design in commercial models is planned for the “near future,” according to the company, and it appears that the dual actuator is being seen primarily as a companion to technologies that increase wafer recording density, such as HAMR.

Fixstars, a company that creates storage media based on flash memory, has decided to eclipse all previous records set by SSD drive manufacturers. This company has released the most capacious SSD in the world, with a capacity of 13 TB. It also comes with a less capacious model, with a memory capacity of 10 TB.

Thus, the company also set a second record, breaking away even from manufacturers of traditional HDDs. For example, Seagate, like several other hard drive manufacturers, produces HDDs with a maximum memory capacity of 10 TB. And here is an SDD with 13 TB.

The performance of the device is also excellent, at least as the manufacturer himself claims.

As with gel HDDs, this SSD is not intended for everyday consumers with their home personal computers. These drives are intended primarily for data centers that support cloud services. The drives are ideal for receiving and transmitting huge amounts of information, including streaming, CG/VFX creation, and video processing. As you might guess, the cost of such SSDs is equal to the price of a small yacht. For a 13 TB model you will have to pay $19,000. The cost of GB in this case is about $1.46 - which is much more than in consumer models.

The 2.5 inch SSD uses own controller, as well as Toshiba MLC NAND memory. Sequential read speed - 580 MB/s, write speed - 540 MB/s. Power consumption is 3 watts at idle and 6.5 watts at peak loads.

Interestingly, this is technically a 2.5-inch drive, but its height is 15 mm. Such an SSD is unlikely to fit into a laptop.

Probably, only fairly wealthy organizations will be able to afford to purchase such a drive. In order for the price of such an SSD to be approximately $1000, the cost of a GB should drop to 7-8 cents. This is unlikely to happen in the near foreseeable future.

An external hard drive is designed to store and transfer large amounts of information that a flash drive cannot handle. This is the same hard drive (HDD), packed in a box with a power supply and controller. It is convenient to take it on the road to transfer information, and can be connected to a TV.

For larger volumes and at a lower price, you can purchase HDD. Writing/reading is carried out by rotating the disk and magnetic head. The vulnerability of such a drive is noise during operation, exposure to mechanical damage, low speed. If you need to transfer movies, music, text files, a compact, but more expensive SSD. This disk, like a flash drive, is a solid-state drive.

The size and type of drive is called the form factor. Vary the following types 1.8” (up to 2 TB), 2.5” (up to 4 TB). A 3.5” form factor disk (up to 8 TB) is a desktop option, since large capacity implies large dimensions and weight.

What is the fundamental difference between flash drives and external hard drives?

Flash drives and external hard drives are absolutely different classes devices. Their only similarity is the purpose of storing information. But there are also differences, and significant ones.

Comparison criterion	Flash drive	External hard drive
Volume	The most capacious model currently holds 2 terabytes	Portable models up to 4 terabytes, stationary network drives (NAS) can accommodate up to 12 units. The most capacious disks are 10 terabytes, that is, a total of about 120 gigabytes
Price	A drive with a capacity of 2 terabytes costs 58 thousand rubles, and for 4000 rubles you can purchase a 128 gigabyte model	A disk with a capacity of 1 terabyte costs about 4 thousand rubles, 2 terabytes - 6 thousand rubles
Operating speed	High-quality models provide writing speeds of at least 80 megabytes per second, reading speeds from 140 megabytes	The best representatives write - 90-95 megabytes per second, read - 100-110 megabytes per second
Dimensions	Compact	Larger
Protection from external influences	Flash drives withstand mechanical stress better, but there are protected models in both classes
Resource	Flash drives have significantly less resource, but for the vast majority of users this will be enough

What to look for when buying an external hard drive?

The choice of external drive depends on the purpose, volume and personal preferences. What parameters need to be considered when choosing a drive:

Capacity. The smallest capacity for SSD 128 GB and 256 GB is also the most popular. This capacity is enough for movies, music, file copies;
Performance. The vast majority of disks are equipped with a connection device, a USB port. Modern models have USB0, with a bandwidth of up to 5 Gb/s, but the computer must match this speed. USB ports 2.0 have a lower read/write speed, but are quite suitable for watching movies and music. Maximum SSD speed disks can reach 550 MB/sec;
Read/write speed depends on volume random access memory: the larger it is, the higher the speed;
Protection from external influences is also important for the operation of the drive. SSDs are the most reliable because they have no moving parts inside. It is resistant to external influences. The plastic body had to contain metal and rubberized parts to make the body strong;
The weight of the product matters if the disc needs to be carried. Modern external drives weigh between 140 and 300 g;
If the storage medium is to be used in conditions that are far from clean, then protection from dust and dirt is necessary. You should choose a drive with certified protection (IPXX or military standard);
It is also necessary to take care of data protection. The larger the drive, the more information you can store on it and the more you can lose it. There are hardware protection methods that are supported by conventional and solid state drives. This will help protect data from loss;
Before the purchase external hard disk, you need to study the market, read reviews in order to choose a quality device for storing information. You need to decide how much disk space is needed and, based on this, make a choice

Seagate STDR4000200.

Seagate has been a global leader in storage solutions for nearly 40 years.

The model is attractive, first of all, for its compact shape and large capacity. 4 TB is enough to store data and backup copy. It is difficult to find a drive with such a 2.5” form factor on sale. The previous version of Seagate 4TB Backup Plus Slim with the same capacity contains two 2 TB drives. The speed of such a disk due to RAID will of course be higher, but in the case of RAID 0 the reliability will decrease (if both disks fail).

Connection via USB 3.0 port Included with the drive is a CD with the Seagate Dashboard copying program. The presence of an NTFS driver allows you to work with two operating systems: Microsoft and MacOS (for Macintosh computers).

Advantages:

Large volume;
Easy to use software;
Compact shape;
Connection via USB 3.0 port.

Flaws:

High price.

Average price: 9000 rubles.

Seagate Expansion 1 TB

The line of disks in this series is represented by the STEA1000400 model, which has five modifications in capacities from 500 GB to 4 TB. Connection via USB 2.0 and 3.0 is possible. The same port is also used to receive power. Write/read speed – 129/121 MB/sec. Formatted to work with Microsoft.

Advantages:

High speed;
Connection via USB0 and USB 3.0;
Small price.

Flaws:

To work with Mac you need to reformat ( factory setting assumes the presence of NTFS formatted for Microsoft);
Only black color.

Price from 3700 to 7600 rubles, the cost must be clarified at the sales centers.

Video review and unpacking of the product:

SEAGATE STCD500202.

Seagate STC500202 – 500 GB disk, compact, lightweight. Metal body has roughness that prevents it from slipping on the surface. The USB 3.0 connection interface provides good speed - 600 Mb/s.

The software automatically downloads photos from social networks and saves them on storage media. Data backup is easy to set up.

Advantages:

Compact, silent;
User-friendly software.

Flaws:

Short cable.

Cost about 4000 rubles.

Western Digital My Passport 4 TB.

This disk is suitable for large amounts of information. There is also a USB 3.0 connection and support for USB 2.0. Using the included software, you can set up backups according to your schedule and set a password for protection. In case the disk is lost, it is possible to add the message “return if found” when requesting a password.

Advantages:

Large volume;
Automatic copying;
Password protection;
USB 2.0 support;
Stylish body in several colors;
Three year warranty.

Flaws:

There may be slight vibration during operation.

Disc contents - in the video:

Average price: 9500 rubles.

Transcend TS2TSJ25M3.

If you need to use a disk for frequent transportation, then this model is designed just for this purpose. The case is rubber, anti-slip, impact protection is made according to military standards. The connectors are not closed, so they are not protected from water.

Has a high-tech hard drive suspension mechanism. On the case there is a button to remotely turn off the disk (without disconnecting from the port). Also, using a button on the case, automatic data copying is provided.

USB 3.0 and 2.0 interface support average speed read 32 Mb/sec.

Advantages:

High security of the case;
Two interfaces;
Automatic copying via a button on the body.

Flaws:

The connectors quickly become loose.

Average price: 7000 rubles.

ADATA DashDrive Durable HD710 2TB.

This is also a drive made to the military standard IPX7, which has a high degree of shock protection. When the connector is hermetically sealed, it can be immersed in water to a meter depth for 60 minutes. This is achieved thanks to a silicone body covered with a thick rubber layer. The hard drive shows a speed of 76.5 MB/sec. USB 3.0 has a bandwidth of 5 Gb/s. Disk capacity 2 TB.

Advantages:

Enhanced case protection;
The interface cable is attached to the housing.

Flaws:

The software must be downloaded via the Internet.

Average price: 7000 rubles.

Western Digital My Passport 2 TB.

Western Digital is a well-known American company that has been producing hard drives since 1988. External Western drive Digital My Passport 2 TB has speeds of up to 85 Mb/s. USB interface 3.0 is supported and works through port 2.0.

Software for creating an automatic copy is included with the drive.

Advantages:

Reliable manufacturer;
Sufficient volume at good speed.

Flaws:

There are visible scratch marks on the body;
Short cable.

About 5000 rub.

Professional video review of the device:

Toshiba Canvio Basics 1TB.

Canvio Basics 1TB is a budget option with a modest design that does not contain any unnecessary elements– only the port and LED status indicator. On the bottom of the case there are rubber pads that allow you to conveniently place the disc on the surface. Volume disk space 1 TB, USB 3.0 compatible with USB 2.0 Transfer speed 5 Gb/s, slight vibration or noise is felt during operation.

Advantages:

Compactness;
Affordable price.

Flaws:

Short cable;
Slight vibration and noise.

Average price: 4000 rubles.

Silicon Power Armor A30 1TB.

Silicon Power Armor A30 1TB is a portable type external media information. The stylish orange-black body is made of plastic and rubber. The cable can be secured around the device. The disk is characterized good speed write/read, absence extraneous sounds and vibrations. The disk does not heat up during prolonged operation.

At the disk guarantee period 3 years, to receive it you must register on the official website.

Advantages:

Unusual stylish design;
No noise or vibration at good speed;
3 year warranty.

Flaws:

Short cable;
Not all devices recognize the disc.

Average price: 5000 rubles.

Video review of the device:

ADATA DashDrive Durable HD650 1TB.

This is a stylish small external drive. The reliable case is made of composite plastic with rubber inserts and has a light weight of 201 g and dimensions of 121x81x21 mm. Even if dropped, the disc is not damaged. Thanks to its small size, the disc can easily fit in your pocket

This model is available in volumes: 500 MB, 1 and 2 TB. Test speed is 116 MB/sec when reading and 112 MB/sec when writing. The disk operates silently and is quickly recognized.

Advantages:

Compact, stylish in several colors;
Durable housing;
Quiet operation;
Quickly recognized.

Flaws:

Weak connector, loosens over time;
Small cable.

Average price: 5000 rubles.

Toshiba Canvio Connect II 1TB

Reliable compact external device for data storage. Characterized by the presence of two high-quality software utilities. The disk is available in volumes: 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 3 TB and colors: black, blue, red, white and white-pink. The drive provides operation via USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, the speed corresponds to the ports.

Includes two powerful programs: copying NTI Backup Now EZ and Pogoplug PC, allowing you to remote access to files via mobile device using the utility. You can buy Pogoplug PC on the manufacturer's website for $30. Owners of this disk model receive an additional 10GB of cloud storage using this utility (more information about increasing the volume can be found on the website). When passing through a USB 3.0 port, the write speed is 100MB/sec, reading speed is 98MB/sec.

Advantages:

An easy way to access information on a disk from anywhere via the Internet;
Automatic reliable program copying;
Low cost.

Flaws:

Not identified.

Price from 3,000 to 8,000 rubles depending on volume.

Professional review of the hard drive - in the video:

TOSHIBA Canvio Basics 500GB.

This is a budget option from a popular manufacturer. The case has an LED indicator of the operating status, as well as rubber “feet” that hold the disk on the surface. The USB 3.0 port interface is also adapted for USB 2.0

The Canvio Basics model is available in five volume options: 500 GB, 750 GB, 1 TB, 1.5 TB, 2 TB. Warranty from 1 to 3 years. There is no software included, which is a minus. Nevertheless, TOSHIBA disks are attractive primarily for their reliability.

When purchasing a drive, you need to know that when replacing the cable, only the original one will do. The kit does not include a case, which may be needed during transportation.

Advantages:

Good value for money;
The presence of small rubber pads on the body.

Flaws:

Light vibration during operation;
Short cable.

Average price: 3500 rubles.

Video review of the product:

What should you choose?

When choosing an external drive, you need to focus primarily on capacity. Currently, the smallest drive is a 500 GB drive. What can be recorded on such a medium?

HDD, HDD or Winchester– a storage device for permanent storage of information based on the principle of magnetic recording. HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive , hence the name - hard: inside the device body there are disks made of metal or glass, on which magnetic coating is applied. It is on this layer that the data is written.

On the market today HDD format 3.5 inches are presented very widely, and there is a variety not only in the volume of hard drives, but also in the speed of their operation, internal structure, type. It’s worth understanding these parameters to understand which hard drive is better to purchase.

Device and types of hard drives

As mentioned above, a hard drive is designed for permanent storage of information, and the difference between its memory and RAM is that it is non-volatile - that is, it is stored on the media when the power is turned off. A hard drive is an electromechanical device, meaning it has moving parts, and consists of several main parts.

This integrated circuit, which controls the writing/reading processes and disk operation. It is installed on top of the main drive body. The heart of the hard drive is hidden in the case itself, consisting of a spindle (electric motor) that rotates the disk; the reading head (rocker arm), which is movable and reads information directly from the surface of the media, and the magnetic memory disks themselves (there can be a different number of them, they are located one above the other, in layers).

There are three types of hard drives currently common on the market:

Expensive HDD models may differ from cheap ones with the same volume precisely in the data transfer speed; it will be noticeably higher due to many factors: the cache memory may be better optimized, the electro-mechanical unit is organized differently, a different number of magnetic disks for the same volume. Also often expensive wheels more reliable and resistant to external influences.

Data transfer speed is the combined result of all other parameters and technologies used in the disk, therefore, if your choice depends mainly on the disk speed, then it is convenient to navigate according to it. The faster the drive, the more expensive it will be.

What volume should I choose?

· 250 - 500 GB– it’s worth choosing as a budget option, or for an office PC when you don’t need a large amount of storage space for media files. However, there is enough space to install programs and systems. Also small volume, in the case of a high-speed model, can be used exclusively for installation operating system, and store the data on a slower, larger disk.
· 1 TB - 4 TB– this volume is suitable for a home computer, enough to store a large collection of films in HD resolution. A minimum of 1 TB is now standard for the average user.
· 5 - 10 TB – maximum volume for hard magnetic disks today. It will cost you quite a lot, and is most likely necessary when working with large volumes of files, for example, during professional editing. As an option - RAID creation an array of the same volume of 1-2 TB disks, which will increase speed.

What else should you pay attention to?

· Optimization for RAID array. You will need it if you want to create an array of several disks. The point is that instead of several separate disks the system begins to see one united, which is different types array increases speed or reliability. Definitely worth choosing if you need maximum reliability or maximum speed in an array.

1. Hard drive capacity
2. Connection interface
3. Rotation speed
4. Buffer memory
5. Dimensions
6. Manufacturer company
7. External screw selection
8. That's all well and good, but what about SSDs?

Sooner or later, each of us is faced with a situation when the internal memory of a personal computer is running out, and we don’t want to delete the existing information. In this case, there is only one thing left - to purchase a new, more capacious hard drive, but you want to do this in such a way that similar problem was not looming on the horizon for the next five years. To help our readers make the best purchase, today we will talk about which hard drive to choose for your computer in 2019. First, let's discuss its most important parameters.

Hard drive capacity

Of course, the first thing any buyer thinks about is the capacity of the hard drive. By the standards of history, just recently, 20 gigabytes of internal memory space seemed luxury and excess, but today not every game can fit on such a modest hard drive. When discussing what size hard drive you should buy to make the purchase profitable and effective, you should first look at the current state of affairs on the market.
In the segment of hard drives, as with other computer components, you can notice a trend - top options are much more expensive than competitors that are not so much inferior to them. In order not to overpay for the fleeting right to feel like the owner of the best toy, you should look towards the middle price range, and there, in turn, notice that a 500 gigabyte screw is not much different in price from its 2 terabyte counterpart - then why save a few percent of the cost getting four times less free space?

Connection interface

The hard drive is connected to motherboard, and therefore all other components system unit via cable. This cable can have one of two types of interface - current SATA and outdated IDE. If your current home computer was purchased not 15-20 years ago, but much later, then you don’t have to look at IDE, but SATA is divided into three types - SATA 1, SATA 2 and SATA 3, respectively.
The first of them, like the IDE, cannot be found during the day, and the second and third generations differ in data transfer speed - 3 Gb/s and 6 Gb/s, respectively. By the way, these two types of interfaces are interchangeable, but if you want to insert a SATA 3 hard drive into the connector for the second one, then it will work at SATA 2 speed. If you decide to purchase external hard drive, then preference should be given USB connector 3.0.

Rotational speed

The faster the spindle rotates, the higher the read/write speed of the hard drive will be, and therefore this aspect is also one of the main ones when choosing suitable hardware. In fact, this parameter has long reached its reasonable limit, which is at around 7200 rpm, and therefore choosing almost any screw regarding this characteristic will not be a mistake.
However, if you are buying hardware for a gaming computer, we recommend choosing hard drives with an indicator above 10,000 rpm, and the most preferable purchase will be a hard drive made using SSD technology, but such copies will be discussed later. By the way, the vast majority external hard drives run at 5400 rpm and no special problems this fact doesn't call.

Buffer memory

Buffer memory, also known as cache memory, is a place in which data is localized that has already been read from the disk, but has not yet been transmitted through the interface, which means that the larger it is, the higher the overall performance of the system. External drives are content with 8 MB, but for an internal drive you should choose 32 MB or higher - 64 will be ideal.

Dimensions

Hard drives despite identical functions can have very different sizes, the main ones being Small Form Factor of 2.5 inches and Large Form Factor of 3.5. The former, as a rule, have lower basic indicators, for example, the spindle rotates at a speed of 5400 rpm, but they are used in laptops due to their compactness. Large ones are suitable for familiar personal computers, but in recent years there has been a noticeable tendency to transfer even more powerful hard drives to a smaller format.

Manufacturing company

Despite the fact that dozens of brand names appear in the price lists of computer hardware stores, only two giants produce them - Seagate and Western Digital. It is difficult to say anything unambiguously regarding the advantages of a particular manufacturer, but after sifting through hundreds of reviews on the Internet, we came to disappointing conclusions for Seagate - their screws are much less reliable. Yes, many of those reading these lines may well do this thanks to the use of a screw from this company that has been faithfully and faithfully for five years, but why hope that you will be lucky if you can choose a more stable option?
By the way, we recommend that after purchasing a new disk, you immediately give it an increased load, this way you will test it under stressful conditions and if it was defective, then you will have time to take advantage of warranty service or replace a low-quality product, and if it survives this stress test without excesses, you can be almost 100% sure that it will last a long time. We must understand that Russia is far from the main market for computer equipment manufacturers, and then the task is to find service center often looks almost insurmountable; those who have experienced sending their components abroad for repairs know very well how long and expensive it is. In general, in 2019 I personally would give my preference to WD, but this is not an advertisement and the choice is up to you.

External screw selection

In this case, a third is added to the two giant manufacturers - Transcend. The advantages of such gadgets are obvious - no fuss with mounting into a laptop case or system unit, you just need to connect it using one of the current connectors; we remind you that preference should be given to USB 3.0 - it is compatible with USB 2.0 and can be connected to absolutely any system.
The form factors of portable hard drives are the same as those of their older brothers, but in this case the dimensions are even more important - a compact device is much more convenient to carry, so if you plan to use it often outside the home, take a closer look at the 2.5 inches. The speed, of course, will most likely be lower, but the ability to tuck a screw into a jacket pocket is priceless. By the way, since you are going to carry it with you, it would be nice to think about its durability - anything can happen. Such equipment often fails when dropped from a height of only 10-15 centimeters, and therefore a rubberized case or case is almost a must-have.
In recent years, connecting conventional hard drives as external ones through special boxes that have a USB connection to a computer has become widely popular, and modern system units often already have such a compartment - very convenient.

This is all well and good, but what about SSDs?

In recent years, SSDs, also known as solid-state drives, which are sometimes mistakenly called hard drives, have become increasingly widespread when storing information. They are more like a large flash drive with microcircuits, because they do not have mechanical parts like the usual HDDs. All data here is transmitted electronically, and to connect such a device we use SATA interfaces 2 or SATA 3, but buying one powerful tool It's worth getting the most out of it, so we recommend using the much faster PCI Express connection.

Such drives are much more compact than their predecessors, and therefore they almost always go on sale together with an adapter that will help insert the device into the HDD slot. Despite the fact that SSDs are much more problematic to damage, they, unfortunately, still break, and therefore reliability can hardly be considered one of the undeniable advantages of these devices today. Another drawback is the significantly higher price, and therefore not everyone who is faced with an urgent need to purchase new hard the disk will be able to afford this option.

If only a very wealthy user can purchase an SSD drive with a capacity of several terabytes, then small solid state drives are available to almost everyone and this opportunity must be used. The fact is that the performance of the operating system very much depends on the physical object on which it is located, and therefore with the help of a small SSD, for example, 128 gigabytes, you can make incredible progress in the speed of the OS.

Just place Windows or another operating system on an expensive medium, as well as a number of the programs you most need, and store the rest of the information on the HDD and you will be happy at an affordable price. By the way, owners of older systems should remember that this media is supported by Windows seven and higher, so you won’t be able to overclock your XP with it.

We hope that this material was useful to you and now you can imagine the sequence of actions if you decide to update the hard drive in your personal computer. You shouldn’t overly trust sales assistants in an electronics store - they have their own goals and motives, which may be far from the desire to choose the best option for you, and then keep your finger on the pulse and constantly update your knowledge about the most important components of the system unit, good luck!