The largest hard drive. Large Capacity Alternatives. The best HDD hard drives for a laptop
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, and 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 currently common on the market hard drives:
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, expensive disks are often 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, a small volume, in the case of a high-speed model, can be used exclusively for installing the operating system, and the data can be stored on a slower disk with a larger capacity.
· 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– the maximum capacity for hard magnetic disks for 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. Alternatively, create RAID array of the same volume from 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 one, which in different types array increases speed or reliability. Definitely worth choosing if you need maximum reliability or maximum speed in an array.
Computer technology has reached unprecedented heights and the largest hard drives have surpassed the capacity mark of 60 TB. This is shocking because the average user has a maximum of 1-2 terabytes of storage and still can't get full. The professionals understood what kind of 60 TB equipment we were talking about - this is the so-called Lacie STFK60000400. In essence, it is a modular box, inside of which 6 hard drives of equal capacity are placed, but the convenience is that the device clearly regulates their operation. There is somewhere in the world the largest HDD of 100 TB, but it is excessively bulky, comparable to the first punched card processors. But what should ordinary people do who don’t really understand the issue and get bogged down in various buses, spindles, and caches? It’s simple: you need to read this material and put everything in order, defining the selection criterion for yourself. The study was conducted to identify the volume/price/functionality ratio, so some manufacturers were not included in the list. It is worth noting that manufacturers have modular systems, ready-made home cloud storage, etc. - all this was also ignored.
This review covers standard 3.5” drives and external drives HDD format(not to be confused with SSD), which are commercially available and acceptable for home use. If something is really worthy of attention, it is mentioned in inserts in the text without participation in the rating.
The most capacious hard drives
3 TOSHIBA MG07ACA12TE
Best price/quality ratio
Country: China, Thailand
Average price: 27,500 rub.
Rating (2019): 4.6
Third place is again occupied by Toshiba, and it is here for a simple reason - price. Of all the most capacious 12 TB drives, without division into server and home ones, the MG07ACA12TE model is the cheapest. 1 TB of this device will cost a little more than 2,000 rubles, with a difference from the previous ones of only 2 TB. Server hard drives are more reliable, work according to a different algorithm, and are able to warn of the onset of a crisis in order to save data. One question: why is the data of an individual user less important than the data of a corporation?
This product does not stand out in anything special - the same equipment, which is an order of magnitude better than a regular disk for personal use. By the way, the closest model in terms of price, which is positioned for the home, costs more than 32,000 rubles. Perhaps this is the most acceptable option among large HDDs.
2 TOSHIBA MG07ACA14TE
The most reliable and safe
Country: China, Thailand
Average price: 39,500 rub.
Rating (2019): 4.7
Toshiba MG07ACA14TE does not use the latest technology, so it ends up in second place. No, he's no worse. Why is this so: the manufacturer paid attention to the reliability and intentional destruction of data in the product, but the technology for reading data is previous. Relatively speaking, Toshiba convinces with great caution, while Seagate tries to test everything new as quickly as possible. The disk is convenient for quickly hiding information: Sanitize Instant Erase technology allows you to instantly delete all data from the drive. It should be noted that the probability of an uncorrectable bit error occurring is 1 * 10 16, which is 10 times more than its main competitor, Seagate, but the differences are still negligible. For greater reliability, the “Persistent Write Cache” function has been introduced into the disk; when working together with “Power Loss Protection”, it can ensure the safety of data in the event of a computer power failure. Additionally, if the buyer was able to purchase the product under review with a SAS interface, then it may be worth reconsidering this rating, provided that home computer also supports it. If you need automated security, look no further than the MG07ACA14TE. You will also be pleased with the energy consumption (lower by ~15-20%), but this is already important for those who are building large infrastructure.
Disadvantages include: high price, lack of firmware for home use. However, even under such strict conditions, the model received approval from ordinary consumers and professional testers. The following products are slightly less capacious and here it is necessary to explain the nuances of purchasing and using those already listed. Both models have a high price, at which you need to pay almost 2800 rubles for 1TB of memory. With the same success, for the Euro-Asian territory you can buy 2 disks of 8 TB and pay only 2000 rubles for 1 TB, and get a total of 16 TB. In addition, it is difficult for the average user to obtain objective information. So, the Toshiba website is basically not for quality choice, and Seagate is mostly in English and without details.
1 SEAGATE ST14000VN0008
Most modern
A country:
Average price: 39,500 rub.
Rating (2019): 4.7
If the average buyer does not distinguish between noise of 2 dB, if for him there is no difference between an operating life of 115 years or 289 years, then he has surpassed everyone HDD Seagate ST14000VN0008. A similar drive from a competitor is also good and gets second place in the rating, but here’s why the one in question HDD is better. First of all, it is adapted for working with other drives in a NAS scenario, in which up to 8 similar instances can be combined, for example, for a home station. A total of 112 TB is reached. The next leading feature is the IronWolf Health-Managment system, which scans almost 200 parameters. It notifies the user of violation of operating standards: too heat, shock, shaking, etc. Other advantages include Maximum temperature 70 degrees (suitable for Sochi, Gelendzhik) and is better suited for single use on a home computer, thanks to the separately supplied firmware. There is no point in comparing with capacious predecessors of 8-12 TB, and given that there is only one competitor for the next 3-6 months, other characteristics will not be an advantage, but standard technical parameters, such as: access speed to a block with information - 7200, disk RAM capacity (cache) - 256, form factor - 3.5”. For Russia and other CIS countries, slightly increased energy consumption plays practically no role. This parameter is more sensitive for Europe and large businesses such as Sberbank, Aeroflot or Yandex.
The only disadvantage of the device is its high price. At the time of writing the review, the device was difficult to find for general sale, but it has already been tested on specialized sites, where it received a high rating. If the reader prefers to wait until 2019, then Western Digital planned to release a disk with 16 TB memory, however, like the following manufacturer. Now the bulk of the volume is being bought by data centers and, as soon as they satisfy their demand, the retail price will drop and some will begin to flow to the mass consumer.
The most capacious external hard drives
3 SEAGATE STEL8000200
Best price
A country: China/Malaysia (assembly), Ireland, USA, Thailand (parts)
Average price: 14,000 rub.
Rating (2019): 3.8
The last place among the drives should have been taken by the WDBWLG0100HBK from Western Digital with a capacious memory of 10 TB, but it is not on sale in Russia. Therefore, the Seagate STEL8000200, which was mentioned earlier, comes here. The computer community gives good mark since the product has been tested by time and users, has the best price/terabyte ratio, and is also accompanied by detailed documentation and software.
The disadvantages include, like the entire product line, a high design and small legs, which do not at all reduce sensitivity to shocks. Reviews note heating and slowness. If the goal is backup data storage on external media, then this is the best option.
2 SEAGATE STEL10000400
Optimal set of features
A country: China/Malaysia (assembly), Ireland, USA, Thailand (parts)
Average price: 19,000 rub.
Rating (2019): 4.0
The Seagate STEL10000400 model is positioned as external storage For backup storage data. In this regard, full compatibility with the Time Machine program for creating backups is provided. The product does not have particularly outstanding characteristics among analogues of the same capacity: interface speed 160 MB/s, USB 3.0 A, plastic case. As users correctly note, this disk costs much less than its internal counterpart by as much as 6,000 rubles. Therefore, savings can be made if volume is more important than speed.
Among the shortcomings, the lack of anti-vibration feet is noted. Instead, they have 3 mm racks and a high design – it’s not difficult to hit them with your elbow and drop them. The older brother STEL8000200, at an average price, will be a more suitable option for a computer, since the manufacturer has thought out a built-in hub for it and developed copying software.
1 LACIE D2 THUNDERBOLT 3 10TB STFY10000400
The fastest
A country: China/Malaysia (assembly), Ireland, USA, Thailand (parts)
Average price: 33,000 rub.
Rating (2019): 4.6
If you need all the power, speed and latest advancements in one drive, then you can't overlook the LaCie d2 Thunderbolt 3 10TB STFY10000400 external hard drive with 10TB of space. Its price is incredibly high - at 33,000 rubles. Suitable for those who care about interface bandwidth and shock protection. However, if you take away 2 TB, you can buy the same technologies at half the price. Why choose this device: When using Thunderbolt interface 3 speed reaches 40 GB/s, is suitable for working with 4K video and 3D graphics, can be supplied in a metal case, has shock-absorbing struts and vertical stability.
The disadvantages include: it only works with systems above Windows 8.1. and Mac OS X, heavy weight of almost 1.5 kg, the highest price per 1 TB. If the criterion for choosing an external hard drive is thoughtfulness and the best technology, then it’s worth taking. There are no analogues among single-disk systems. It’s worth passing by: a 12TB external hard drive is the most spacious of all its counterparts, but overly expensive - more than 50K rubles. At the same time, according to reviews, it is very heavy and slow - instead of the stated 15,000 rpm, it produces only 7,200.
Annual results for hard drives Every time you have to start 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 hand, hard drives 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 high access speeds as SSDs provide. 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. HDD shipments keep high NAND Flash prices afloat while three survivors HDD manufacturer(Seagate, Toshiba and WD) presented 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 Western Digital catalog 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 in the new Ultrastar Hs14 model it was possible to to a large extent compensate for the inherent disadvantages 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 increased recording density (the disk contains eight 1.75 TB platters), the Hs14 managed 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 the hard drive runs on peak performance. On this 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 spare 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. Like Seagate's enterprise 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 deliveries of 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 rotation speeds of 10-15 thousand rpm look gloomy in comparison widespread implementation solid state memory in mission-critical storages, but in the end the fastest of magnetic storage devices continue to go on sale, and manufacturers are releasing 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. Against, regular disks Deskstar series for desktop PCs have long stopped at the 4 TB mark.
Seagate once again offers the highest capacity drives of any NAS hard drive manufacturer. 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 manufacturers of hard discs support the hype around machine learning, because the peculiarity of the SkyHawk AI firmware is that, in addition to continuous video recording from 64 surveillance cameras using ATA Streaming Feature Set commands, the disk provides sufficient speed for 16 reading threads, which can be used by a neural network that analyzes the data. Unlike standard models SkyHawk, in discs marked AI, the spindle speed is increased 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 the Seagate BarraCuda and the FireCuda hybrid model. 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. superparamagnetic limit dictates minimum size a single grain from several hundred grains that make up a magnetic domain on the surface of the plate. 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 relied on an alternative version of the 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 over 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 spaced tracks. Engineers propose increasing 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, the most in a simple way— by placing two such components in the housing of a single HDD. 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.
- 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 hard drive segment, like others 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 of the 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, and 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 hard drive SATA type 3 into the connector for the second, 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 according to SSD technology, but such instances will be discussed below. By the way, the vast majority external hard disks operate at a speed of 5400 rpm and no special problems this fact does not cause.
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 are 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. You need to understand that Russia is far from the main market for computer equipment manufacturers, and then the task of finding a service center often looks almost insurmountable; those who have encountered sending their components abroad for repairs know perfectly 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. 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, SATA 2 or SATA 3 interfaces are used, but when buying such powerful tool it’s worth getting the most out of it, and therefore we recommend using much more high-speed connection PCI Express. 
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 trust sales assistants in an electronics store too much - they have their own goals and motives, which may be far from the desire to pick you up best option, and then keep your finger on the pulse and constantly update your knowledge about the most important components of the system unit, good luck!
