Thanks to the constant improvement of technology, the unit cost solid state drives is steadily decreasing, and their volume and resource, on the contrary, are growing. Despite this, hard disks will be relevant for quite a long time and manufacturers do not stop striving to improve their performance characteristics.
Actually, the design of the HDD has not changed fundamentally for a long time - from one to four light round plates rotate inside the sealed case, and several magnetic heads move above them and record/read information. The efforts of manufacturing companies are aimed at modernizing the fastening units of moving elements, selecting the composition of the ferromagnetic layer on the disks, improving the parameters of the drive and heads, as well as optimizing control algorithms for all this equipment.
The most important selection criteria
Geometric dimensions
The term “form factor” is more often used, but there is one caveat. There are two main HDD sizes: 3.5 inches for desktops and 2.5 inches for laptops. As a rule, the thickness of the drive depends on the number of platters, and while for desktop PCs its value is not particularly important, for portable devices it can play a decisive role. Ultrathin laptops are designed to accommodate 7 or even 5 mm hard drives, while the most widely available devices are 9.5 mm thick.
Purpose of the hard drive
Perhaps the most important criterion is the purpose hard drive. If its main task is storing various information— volume requirements are brought to the fore disk space and unit cost. Currently, the optimal choice here is 2-4 TB drives with low energy consumption. At the same time, they do not pay much attention to the rotation speed of the plates. For HDDs of this category it is usually 5400 rpm, but it can be higher. For responsible data storage drives are organized into RAID arrays and reliability, expressed in the time between failures of the device, is added to the requirements. Hard drives for corporate sector have an expanded set of design features that increase the “survivability” of the HDD and the corresponding cost. Network-attached storage drives are required to be instantly ready for communication at any time, so the firmware for their controllers is modified accordingly, usually at the expense of energy efficiency.
System drives must provide maximum speed reading and, to a lesser extent, writing. Their distinguishing feature is more high frequency rotation of the plates (7200 rpm and more), and a side effect of intense engine operation is increased heat and noise. Of course, you need to focus on drives with the most powerful interface supported by the motherboard (currently SATA III). In operating rooms Windows systems XP and Windows 7 had problems with large boot partitions, so as system drives, drives with a capacity of 3 GB and higher were used taking this factor into account. A kind of compromise between the affordable cost of HDD and the high SSD performance are hybrid devices. In single-disk workstations or laptops, such drives can significantly increase boot speed operating system.
Volume
When choosing a hard drive, special attention is always paid to its capacity. It is its lack in most cases that is the driving reason for the purchase. From the point of view of the cost of a unit of information storage, the most profitable are HDDs with a capacity of 2 or 4 TB for desktop systems and terabyte ones for mobile devices. Advantage should be given to disks with fewer platters. Having a higher recording density, such media provide a higher exchange rate, and the device itself heats up less during operation.
Photo: domcomputer.ru
Other characteristics
- Relevant today interfaces are SATA III for consumer use and SAS for servers. There are also hard ones on sale. SATA drives II. While remaining fully compatible in terms of connectivity, they have half the throughput than the interfaces of the third revision of this standard. For older equipment, drives with a parallel bus (PATA - also known as IDE) may be required.
- The higher read/write speed, the faster the data will be exchanged with the disk. You just have to keep in mind that manufacturers like to indicate in the characteristics the maximum values that are ideally achieved. In fact, the speed decreases as the heads approach the center of the platter and depends on the size of the data block and the weight of other things. For example, in real conditions, exchange almost always goes in both directions. Typical maximum values for drives with a SATA III interface range from 130 to 180 MB/s.
- Plate rotation speed important if maximum performance is required, even at the expense of other parameters. For drives designed for other tasks, its value may be variable or not specified by the manufacturers.
- You can speed up hard drive performance to a certain extent. cache memory. During the reading process, data from neighboring blocks is also extracted and placed in a special buffer in the hope that it will be needed the next time the drive is accessed. When reading a large array, this always has a positive effect. The larger the cache size, the greater the performance increase - this was one of the reasons for the creation of hybrid devices. The other side of the coin is the increase in price and the difficulty of coordinating read/write operations.
- Power consumption indirectly characterizes the probable heating of the HDD. As expected, high-speed drives are more power-hungry and heat up faster, while their slow counterparts are more economical and relatively cooler. In read/write modes, the former consume power from 8 to 12 W, the latter require 4-5. Hard drives of the 2.5" form factor are much more modest in their appetites; 2-3 W are enough for them. Of particular interest is the amount of consumption at rest, which serves as a clear indicator of the energy efficiency of the device.
Main manufacturers
Hard drives are a fairly high-tech product, so the initially small number of companies specializing in their production is constantly shrinking. The most popular hard drives produced Western Digital, Seagate Technology, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) and, to a lesser extent, Samsung Electronics. Products are very popular in the 2.5-inch HDD segment Toshiba Corporation, and the drives of this company serve as the basis for 2/3 of external hard drives, produced under other brands.
Photo: www.komposervis.ru
When purchasing a HDD, first of all consider how it will be used. The operating system installed on “green” series disks will load more slowly than it could. The speed of data exchange with fast drives will delight your heart, if you forget about their cost. Losing information can significantly complicate life, so serious matters should be trusted only to hard drives with increased reliability.
Choosing HDD for a laptop, do not forget to pay attention to the size match. The thinner mobile device, the higher the likelihood of installing a Thin or Ultrathin drive in it. On the other hand, the HDD bay of almost any laptop has one or another system for increasing shock resistance, which is based on installing the disk surrounded by damping material. A good option Here you will purchase a hard drive that includes a special thickening pad.
When planning to purchase a hard drive of the required capacity, remember that the value indicated by the manufacturer and the actual capacity of the formatted drive are, as they say in Odessa, two big differences. As a rule, hard drives indicate capacity in billions (G) or trillions (T) bytes. And since one terabyte consists of 1,099,511,627,776 minimally addressable data sets (1024 to the 4th power), then the volume in the corresponding units is smaller.
Good afternoon, dear readers! 🙂
I think it would be useful for you and me to consider this question, which concerns the choice of a hard drive, or rather, to talk about their volumes.
A seemingly simple question: “How much space do you need?” delivers after wrong decision a huge number of problems. Perhaps you don’t quite understand what I mean yet, but now I’ll explain….
HDD- a seemingly simple device designed for storing information on a computer.
Nevertheless, this device has many parameters (and in order to choose the right hard drive you need to take them all into account, or contact a specialist), inattention to which leads to the biggest, without exaggeration, the most bitter and expensive problems who only meet with computers - loss of information. Data loss is the biggest problem a user can face. Data, as you know, is the highest value. These are some works that you have done over the course of months or years, a photo archive, valuable videos or text materials... Whatever! Personally, I experienced such a situation as once upon a time my HDD, which was large at that time and had a capacity of 400GB, failed irretrievably!!! All data I'm irretrievably lost- and there were a lot of them - regarding my business, work, life... I would need some things today, but this is no longer there... 🙁 This cannot be conveyed, but when this happens, you understand for the rest of your life the importance of data storage security...
Therefore, I think there is no need to explain this to anyone further, everything is already clear. This is precisely why, even if you saved on some other PC components, or chose them incorrectly, then ANYWAY when purchasing a PC choice of hard disk - IT IS MOST IMPORTANT!!! You can't save money on this! It's better to have someone help you specialist…
So, the first question in the series of articles is the size of the hard drive...
It is not enough to just roughly “estimate” how much space you need. We must again start from REQUIREMENTS to your PC and your tasks. If this is an office PC, 120-160 GB will be more than enough for the coming years.
If it is a multimedia computer, make sure that it has a HDD of at least 200-250GB. After all, multimedia is large volumes: photos, videos, just extraneous data...
A gaming computer should have a disk of at least 320GB - this is the minimum or optimal for now. But since data volumes are constantly growing rapidly, if you are building a PC with an eye to the future, it is better to take (for a gamer) a disk of 400GB or more. It will be enough for 3-4 years.
This is so - approximate estimates of what it's for... They're suitable if you don't have a PC right now and you just want to buy one. For those who have already worked with a PC:
See if you are running out of space on your old PC? Maybe it once happened that a friend brought you an amateur video from a vacation, but it was difficult for you to place this file, several GB in size, on your HDD? Take a closer look at all this, count... Look at how many this moment space on your hard drive(s) is occupied... Add to all this your plans for the future: Maybe you will play modern games, each of which (modern) takes up from 5 to 10-15 gigabytes on the disk? Maybe you are planning to buy a good photo or video camera later? The volumes of modern photos (about 10 MB image in 8 megapixel resolution) and video are quite large. Add it all up and look what you get - how many gigabytes.
One more point: if you do not do this, but determine the HDD volume you “need” by eye, then in the future there may be problems such as lack of space, close to 100% HDD load. Then you will need to buy another, more capacious hard drive, install it in the PC along with this one, etc. the result is two (or several) small disks, which, among other things, create noise and are absolutely unprofitable. One capacious HDD will cost less than two (or even more so several) HDDs, the total equivalent to one capacious one.
Next, choosing the volume you need is half the battle. You also need to take care of the RELIABILITY of data storage. For example, a 500GB disk is 75% loaded - it stores your personal documents and files... HDD - can fail, the reception is irreversible, completely “out of the blue” completely and irrevocably!!! Conclusion - you need to take care of where to archive or copy “all your acquired goods” in case of a failure. Storing especially important data in a single copy and in one place is completely unacceptable!
The archiving device can be a writer DVD drive(if out of this 75%, you want to write down only the MOST VALUABLE). Or it will be another HDD. However, this is the topic of a separate article, let’s not mix everything together. Subscribe to RSS or stay tuned to be the first to read future articles!
So, I told you about how you need to select the size of your hard drive... Of course, this is not ALL that you NEED to pay attention to when purchasing, but this parameter is one of the main ones...
That's all for today! See you! 🙂
You can find out the capacity of your hard drive by looking at the sticker on the case. How can I see the capacity of an already installed drive? Under Windows 10, the amount of memory can be found through “Control Panel” - “System and Security” - “Administration” - “Storage Devices” - “Disk Management”. Thanks to last point you can see the entire volume of the hard drive, how many drives are connected to the device and what partitions they are divided into.
In the world of computing, HDD volume is calculated a little differently than in mathematics. So, 1 TB is not 1000 GB, but 1024 GB. How can I find out the capacity of a hard drive that says 250 GB? In reality, its capacity is 250000/1024=244, plus correction division by a factor of 1.05 to obtain more accurate data. As a result, we have 244/1.05 = 232.5 GB - this is the maximum capacity of the disk labeled 250 GB. What is the actual capacity of a 500 GB hard drive? Approximately 465 GB, and the 1.5 TB version is only 1,395 TB. The top 2 TB models actually have 1860 GB. The manufacturers' marketing move was a success, but users actually have to pay for a much smaller amount of data. In addition, it is worth considering the HDD layout for the specific file system with which the OS works. Although there are small losses, they still amount to tens of megabytes. Moreover, it does not matter what type of media is used - HDD or SSD.
Most often, information capacity misleads beginners. Programmers are aware of this situation and always buy media with a reserve. It is worth understanding that the capacity of the HDD may vary depending on its condition. For example, in workshops sometimes they hide sections with bad sectors magnetic disk.
Hard disk memory
To check the capacity of the hard drive on a laptop, you need to go to “My Computer” or “This Computer” (in different versions Windows OS). Sometimes the computer incorrectly detects the hard drive capacity. But you need to know that there is only one reason: either the manufacturer (this happens extremely rarely) or the repair shop reduced the size of the drive in order to hide the non-functioning areas. Thus, a worn-out SSD gradually loses its size, and automatically (non-functioning memory cells are simply turned off). In magnetic HDD drive the situation is slightly different - the magnetic properties of the surface are often lost, and individual sectors or clusters are simply not overwritten, causing failures. Typically, a “refurbished” disk can continue to work for many years, but its capacity will be less. The main thing is not to get into the markings and not try to restore the HDD yourself. But there are also cases when a laptop comes across after an amateur simply mislabeled the drive, leaving entire arrays of hard drives unclaimed. In this case, you can actually increase the maximum amount of available disk space.
HDD checking methods
The easiest way to increase the capacity of your hard drive is by deleting hidden partitions or re-partitioning logical volumes in a particular file system. For "windows" this is NTFS (from Windows 2000 to 10), for Linux - ext4 or 3 (outdated versions). From file system depends on the stability of data safety, the speed of their recording and reading. Each operating system has its own methods for finding out the available disk space. Even the BIOS shows how much data is available.
By pressing the Del or F1/F2 key when starting the computer, you can enter the BIOS and, by finding the corresponding menu item (usually at the beginning), view information about the installed disks.
Users often wonder how to increase the capacity of hard drives on a PC? Tips like removing unnecessary things and re-partitioning volumes are useful only when your HDD is really large, 500 GB or more. But what should owners of an SSD with 60 GB of memory do?
Typically, increasing additional space is possible by replacing the drive. Without disrupting the existing system, you can simply select external hard disk and use it to access additional space.
Gradual reduction of free space
The computer hard drive has a limited size, which the operating system is constantly trying to occupy. Updates are regularly downloaded to the PC: browser, antivirus program, operating system. In Windows 10, each cumulative update exceeds 500 MB. The volume of your hard drive will also be greatly reduced by frequently watching movies online. high quality HD (one movie requires up to 5 GB).
So, 54 GB can be detected in the BIOS ( SSD drive 60 GB), and free in fact after installing the system and all programs, resource-intensive games no more than 10 GB. If you do not clean the disk, then over time a decrease in free space is inevitable. This is especially critical for eMMC drives, whose capacities rarely exceed 64 GB. As a result, when choosing such a drive, you have to come to terms with the fact that there will always be little space on it.
Constantly increase free place can be done using regular system tools. To do this, just click on the disk icon right click mouse and select “Properties” - “Disk Cleanup” (relevant for Windows OS from 2000 to 10). For Windows 10, you can select from the Start menu: “Settings” - “System” - “Storage”. Next, you need to select the disk of interest and clean up the folders: “Temporary files”, “Other”.
SSD Capability Level
Since industry and computer technology do not stand still, disks with an increasing amount of information become available to the user every year. Not so long ago, the largest SSD disk had a size of 1 Tb, but now this figure is 10 Tb, and manufacturers say that this is not the limit. Therefore, in the world of computer technology, development occurs instantly, which allows products to become cheaper every year.
If you are buying a netbook for gaming, then check right away how much disk space is installed in it and whether the memory can be expanded. A regular laptop uses drives with an extension of the SATA 3 standard; for this standard, you can choose both hybrid SSHD and HHDD systems, as well as classic mechanical HDDs. The market will also offer large but slow solid-state SSD drives with TLC memory type. In addition, MLC SSD drives are also gradually becoming cheaper.
Remember: as soon as the SSD drive has less capacity than before, this will indicate its wear and tear. From this minute until failure, its volume may decrease several times more. Torrent clients place the heaviest load on SSD drives, so using cheap drives with TLC memory, it’s better to stop downloading movies.
Low budget
The most common cause of PC failure is problems with hard drives. BIOS motherboard the device does not see the entire volume of the drive, failures occur when loading data. If the volume of the hard drive has decreased, then it is necessary to carry out diagnostics.
It is best not to “repair” the disk, but to immediately replace it with a new one, even if it is smaller in volume. The new device will work for at least a couple of years, and during this time you can change the laptop several times. The quality of modern hard drives is quite satisfactory. To choose best option drive according to your capabilities, it is worth considering:
- cost of the device;
- data volume;
- form factor.
To make the correct replacement of a broken HDD, it is better to ask advice from professionals from service center or a computer store.
The computing market offers a wide variety of devices:
- hard disks;
- solid state drives;
- hybrid devices.
You can get a reliable, high-capacity and relatively fast drive with a hybrid device (includes two devices: in the form of a solid-state chip and a classic HDD with a large and fast buffer).
How to restore volume
If your computer starts to boot and work slowly, and often freezes even during simple, everyday operations, then the problem is either minor or minor. random access memory and a weak processor, or in the HDD. Moreover, errors and overload of the latter with data directly affect the efficiency of the entire system. The drive, which has no complaints, works quickly and does not heat up. If it was installed new in the PC, then the amount of available space shown in the BIOS is its “native” one, which was installed from the factory.
The actual storage capacity can be shown by special programs, such as AIDA, HDD Life, service programs for SSD drives. Usually the volume visible in these programs is real, taking into account everything hidden sections(sometimes they are used on laptops for backup recovery operating system). If your system is licensed ( Windows Vista and newer 7, 8, 8.1, 10), you should not touch this section. Also, you should not touch hidden partitions on old laptops after repair or used, with pirated systems, since restoring these HDD sectors It won’t work out physically - they’re broken.
So it is in a constant way.
Naturally, the ability to save this or that amount of information depends on the storage capacity. In this article we will talk about a relatively simple and logical, but for many, rather ambiguous characteristics of the capacity (volume) of a hard drive. Namely, what size hard drive should you choose for your system.
The volume (capacity) of a hard drive is an indicator of the maximum amount of information that your hard drive can hold. Currently, hard drives with capacities ranging from 80 GB to 4000 GB (4 TB) are common.
Let's look at what is the current maximum and optimal storage capacity of the average home system among the drives presented in stores.
If you quickly analyze the drives presented in several online computer hardware stores, you can clearly see that the maximum is somewhere around a capacity of 3-4 TB. The cost of such pleasure is on average $300-400. It cannot be said that such large hard drives will appeal to a wide range of users, due to their not very friendly price. Yes and why to the average user 4 TB hard drive? For vacation photos?
In general, we come to the conclusion that such a capacity will be superfluous and is needed only for specific requirements. Still, it cannot be denied that there are fans of rather strange collecting films of 10-30 GB. Or those who actually need to store sources, for example, uncompressed video clips after editing. If you take Adobe program After Effects, then the finished file after rendering A 3-minute video on a standard codec (in AVI format) can take up about 50 GB. So for fans of uncompressed video files, you may even need RAID array from several such hard drives.
Let's return to the analysis of the capacity of drives presented in online stores and see that the most popular class (as we know, demand creates supply) are drives with sizes of 500 GB - 1 TB.
As for me, for a typical home system, 500 GB is more than enough. This is the case if you do not have the above-described passion for collecting films on your hard drive. In any case, the complete package installed programs It will take you no more than 60 GB. Music will most likely “float” in the range of 10-40 GB. In the photo and home video You can also allocate about 50 GB, if you shoot a lot, then 100-150 is possible. Also, about 70-90 GB for games (for avid gamers) and residual files various types. In total, after several years of active use of hard drive resources, you will only have 250 GB occupied, and the remaining 250 will simply be empty. By the way, I recommend using special software for hard drive testing in order to avoid information loss. In general, as we see, for those who are especially economical, the option with hard drive 250 or 320 GB.
I would like to note that everything here is purely individual, but the above calculations will more than cover the needs of the average user. Before buying, you just need to think about what you will store there, but even if an error is made in these approximate calculations, then nothing prevents you from purchasing another hard drive (in the case of a desktop). In the case of a laptop, you can easily use an external drive.
These are the considerations regarding the capacity of the hard drive. As a result, the final choice of volume is, of course, yours.
This article was an introductory article to a series of articles regarding the characteristics of hard drives, the rest of which we will discuss in detail in subsequent articles.