External Hard Drive Capacities

As of 2010, the falling price of hard-disk storage has produced a new generation of external devices for backup and everyday use. These drives range in capacity from about 40 gigabytes (GB) to 8 terabytes (TB).

Desktop RAID

Some external hard drive packages combine several drives together using a scheme called Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID). For a premium price, they offer capacities up to 8TB and use the eSATA interface.

Standard Size

About the size of a cigar box, these external drives offer decent capacity for most home and office use, from about 500GB to 2TB. Some of these devices connect to your computer with the USB interface, others use the faster eSATA connection.

Mini

Smaller drive packages, about the size of a paperback novel, have capacities ranging from about 100 to 350GB. These drives primarily use the USB interface.

Pocket Sized

The smallest external drive format fits easily in a pocket and store from 40 to 500GB. They rely on the USB data interface.

References

• Serial ATA Organization: eSATA
• PC World: "Top External Hard Drives;" Melissa J. Perenson; March 8, 2010
• PC World: "Hard Drives for Your Pocket;" Melissa J. Perenson; December 24, 2008
• CNET: "Best External Storage Drives and Hard Drives;" Dong Ngo; May 25, 2010