Best Hard Drives

By Krishna Pérmi . Last updated Aug 2, 2013.

When deciding on a hard drive for a computer, storage capacity immediately comes to mind. However, storage is only one feature to be considered. Equally important are buffer size, interface type, and spindle speed. These factors are mainly important for traditional hard drives, not the newer solid-state drives. When deciding on the best hard drive 2013, it is worth taking a look at these newer drives, but the focus of this article will be on the traditional drives.

Solid State Drives
These drives have no moving parts and are kind of like the flash memory cards used in cameras, phones, and other devices. They offer unparalleled speed, but they are still quite pricey. Here are some of their benefits:

Speed
- Improved reliability over traditional drives
- Lower energy consumption compared to traditional hard drives

While these features are great, a 1TB internal solid state drive costs around $2,500.

Traditional Drive Spindle Speed
The speed at which the drive rotates the disc of a traditional drive generally translates into overall drive speed. Most hard drives on the market today run at 7,200 RPM. This is fine for 99% of tasks, but for those that need even more speed, 10,000 RPM drives are the best.

Buffer Size
All that spinning is fine, but having an internal buffer to help prevent lag is essential. The current standards are 32MB or 64MB of
cache memory. It is wise to choose a model with 64MB, as the price difference between 64MB and 32MB buffer drives is negligible.

Interface Type
How a hard drive connects to motherboard will also affect performance. Being able to quickly scan and locate files is meaningless unless that data gets transferred quickly. SATA III is the interface type to look for in the best hard drives of 2013. It sends data at 6Gbps and ensures that all that disc activity is not getting slowed down by an older connection format.

Bare Drives
It should be noted that most drives available on websites are "bare" drives, meaning they do not come with the original packaging and accessories found in the retail box. This is generally not a big issue, as most of the cables needed will be found in a computer's power supply or included with the motherboard.

Keep these factors in mind when shopping for the best hard drive 2013,and find that perfect match of value and performance.