Hard Drives

Ratings and Reviews of Hard Drives

Hard Drives

MP3 audio files, video, digital photos, presentations, large documents and drawings - it seems we never have enough storage.

That 40GB hard drive that looked like it would be more than big enough to meet your needs is now more than 80 percent full and you just KNOW that it won't be long before you'll need to do something to add more storage capacity to your system. And, the thought of that almost full hard drive failing...well...

So maybe it's time for a new hard drive - to add capacity, back-up your system or add capacity AND backup your current system as a whole. But which hard drive is "right" for you, your business and your system? There is an abundance of type of drives that support a number of interfaces, capacities, speeds and formats. And that's just the beginning. So before you purchase that new hard drive for your system, here are some of the factors you should consider in your hard drive purchase:

Form Factor - Internal or external? Do you have an open drive bay in your desktop or laptop? Then an internal drive might be the answer. But if you don't, an external drive is your only option. And, with an external drive you'll need to make another choice...
Interface - USB 1.1 (12 Megabits per second), USB 2.0 (480 Megabits per second) or 1394 FireWire (400 Megabits per second and now FireWire 800 at 800 Megabits per second) are the easy port standards, however, there are also SCSI connected drives on the market (80 Megabits per second) as well as PCMCIA for your laptop.
Speed - Speed for a hard drive is measured in a number of ways:
- Rotational Speed (RPM) - the faster the better
- Seek Times - Read, Write, Track-to-Track and Full Stroke - in other words, how fast does the drive get to the data you or your applications require.
  
  Web Home Office Reports
- Transfer Rates - how quickly data moves from across the interface between the drive and the system itself.
Capacity - the "big" issue. Prices for hard drives have fallen dramatically over the last few years so you don't have to spend a lot to get a lot of Gigabytes these days! But consider - you can purchase anything from 20 to 400GB fairly cheaply and very easily.
Compatibility - PC or Mac of course, but some drives don't function with some file systems (Windows oriented ones in particular). Make sure that your OS and file system are compatible with the drive you choose.

So, ready to take a look at what is out there? We've tried to hit on the majority of hard drives and their manufacturers. In fact, the number was so large, that we had to build a separate document with all the choices on them (and relevant information). You can find this document at: Hard Drives. Additionally, we've done a quick analysis that will tell you the cost per GB of every drive and drive size so you'll have an even better idea of what you're paying to store your data.

And, as always, we've chosen our favorite drive from every manufacturer. Just look for the Í symbols!

Hard Drives Review

Hard Drives*

(Rankings - best, 5 symbols, worst, 1 symbol)

Company	Best For*	Simple Start-Up	Cost	Time Savings	Ease of Use	Works With	Support	Features	Overall Rating
Actiontec	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY	pppp	iiii	%%%%
Adaptec	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYYY	ppp1/2	iiii	%%%%
Apricorn	ARP	¹¹¹1/2	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	pppp	iiii	%%%%
ARCHOS	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp	iii1/2+	%%%%
AVB	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY+	ppp1/2	iii	%%%+
Buffalo	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	pppp1/2	iiii+	%%%%
BUSlink	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	ppp1/2	iii1/2+	%%%1/2+
CMS	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iiii	%%%%
CODi	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	ppp	iiii	%%%1/2+
Creative	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY	ppp	iii1/2	%%%1/2+
D-Link	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY+	ppp1/2	iii1/2+	%%%1/2+
Edge Tech Corp.	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	pppp+	iii1/2+	%%%%
EZ Quest	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp	iiii	%%%%
Fantom Drives	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iii1/2+	%%%1/2+
Freecom	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iiii+	%%%%
Fujitsu	ARP	¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY1/2	pppp1/2	iii+	%%%%
GeCube	ARP	¹¹¹¹	Inc.	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY	pp	iii	Inc.
Hitachi	ARP	¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYYY	pppp	iii+	%%%%
Inter-active Media Corp.	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iiii1/2	%%%%+
IO Gear	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iii1/2	%%%1/2+
I/O Magic	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	ppp1/2	iii1/2+	%%%1/2+
Iomega	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY1/2	pppp	iiii1/2	%%%%+
LaCie	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY1/2	ppp1/2	iiii1/2	%%%%1/2
Lenovo	ARP	¹¹¹1/2	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY	pppp	iii1/2	%%%1/2
Linksys	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	pppp1/2	iiii	%%%%
MCE	ARP	¹¹¹1/2	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	ppp1/2+	iii+	%%%1/2
Memorex	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	pppp	iii1/2+	%%%1/2+
Plextor	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY1/2	pppp	iii1/2+	%%%1/2+
Pocketec	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY1/2	ppp1/2	iii1/2	%%%1/2
Samsung	ARP	¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@	YYYYY	ppp	ii	%%%
Seagate	ARP	¹¹¹1/2	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@	YYYY1/2	pppp1/2	iiii	%%%%+
Shining Tech.	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp	iiii	%%%1/2
SimpleTech	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	pppp	iiii	%%%%
SmartDisk	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iii1/2	%%%1/2
Sony	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYY	pppp	iii1/2	%%%1/2
SOYO	ARP	¹¹¹¹	Inc.	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp	iii+	Inc.
TEAC	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY	ppp1/2	iii1/2	%%%1/2
Toshiba	ARP	¹¹¹	$$$1/2	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYYY	pppp	iii+	%%%1/2
Tritton Tech.	ARP	¹¹¹¹	$$$$	¹¹¹¹	@@@@	YYYY1/2	pppp1/2	iiii1/2	%%%%1/2
Verbatim	ARP	¹¹¹¹

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