How to Buy a 5 TB 2.5-inch Internal Hard Drive
You find yourself running out of space with the photos from your latest vacation, those movies you just downloaded from iTunes, and the games your kids play every day taking up room on your hard drive, which may mean it's time to upgrade your storage. A 2.5-inch internal hard drive is the storage form factor used in many computers, and you might want to consider a larger capacity, such as 5 TB, when storing your media and data in one place is the goal.
What is a hard drive?
The hard disk drive (HDD) provides storage for data on magnetic disks.
- An HDD uses platters and a head that reads and writes data using magnetism. Conversely, an SSD does not have moving parts and uses semiconductors to store data by changing the electrical state of capacitors.
- Moving parts are more prone to breakage or failure than devices without them, but HDDs are still appropriate in many cases. Laptops using HDDs won't necessarily fail, but preventing falls or drops is especially important.
- HDDs are used in extremely large enterprise-storage systems as well as in consumer setups. The drive uses a SATA cable to transmit and receive data from the computer it is connected to, though drives used in external devices may be connected to a computer via USB.
When is buying a 2.5-inch drive appropriate?
Most desktops use 3.5-inch drives and laptops generally house 2.5-inch hard drives, though a 2.5-inch hard drive can be used in a desktop setup as well.
- When a new hard drive is needed for a laptop, a 2.5-inch drive is likely to be a fit. Despite their smaller form factor, they can still store large amounts of data. 1 TB is often enough storage, but there are sizes that range up to 5 TB drives as well.
- In a desktop, a 2.5-inch hard drive can be used with an adapter. One reason is to take advantage of the quiet nature of smaller drives. Media computers used in living rooms may benefit from producing less noise, for example.
- 2.5-inch drives are not as fast as 3.5-inch drives are and have a maximum speed of approximately 101 MB/sec, which may affect tasks like gaming and video editing in particular.
Which features should be considered when buying a 2.5-inch drive?
When you decide on 5 TB as your desired storage capacity, there are still a number of features to consider.
- Speed can differ between different models of hard drives. For backup storage, a slower speed can mean a less costly investment, while for a computer being used heavily, a higher speed is often worth it since speed can make a huge difference in user experience.
- Connection type can vary. SATA is common, but eSATA and PCIe are also used, in addition to other types being available as well. You'll also want to make sure that the drive can be connected properly.
- Review the experience of buyers regarding how long their drives lasted and what their general consensus is since numerous manufacturers make 2.5-inch drives.