In order to choose the right size of external hard drives, you need to also know about the different types of external hard drive enclosures available in the market. A majority of users prefer to use two kinds of external hard drives:
SATA Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
HDDs are the most traditional form of hard drive enclosures for PC storage market segments, as they hold more data than writable DVDs. On any budget, you can get more storage for your PC with an external drive, depending on the disk drive’s capacity and read/write speed.
Solid State Drives (SSD)
Even though SSDs are not technically hard drives in the traditional sense, they are used for the same purpose. SSD stores data in integrated circuits instead of rotating plates since there is no moving part. In comparison to HDD, SSD offers a greater speed advantage. A typical SSD file would work ten times faster for you and is mostly used in advanced devices. Due to the spectacular speed capacity, they also come at an expensive price compared to equivalent-sized HDDs.
When you don’t require exceptionally fast access and work with resource-intensive graphics or audio applications, HDD would be an ideal option for your external storage requirement.
Key Features of a Hard Drive Enclosure
While deciding on the hard drive size, when you don’t want to account for internal hard drive capacity and the physical size, the more physically smaller the hard drive enclosure you prefer to buy, the more expensive it would be if they have higher storage capacities. However, the price would be worth it, as it offers you more easy portability.
In your purchasing decision, the storage capacity size is also a crucial factor, which is typically measured in gigabytes or terabytes. The smallest external hard drive on the market offers around 128GB, and the biggest sizes fall around the 10TB capacity range. So, you can surely find multiple hard drive enclosure that suits your needs. Consider the below features for buying hard drive enclosures:
Physical Size
Compared to past desktops, today, most desktops use 3.5-inch drives. However, that size of drive can be too heavy and thick to use for portability. Hence, laptops use 2.5-inch drives as these hard disks are slim, light and use less energy.
Storage size
You can find high-end 3.5-inch drives with 4TB storage capacity, but expensive laptop drives can range in size from 750GB to 1TB.
Drive Speed
The high-speed drives available in the market rotate at 10,000 per minute. But most desktop hard drives have 7,200 RPM running ability. Laptops can use drives running up to 5,400RPM to keep the heat, power, and noise level down.
