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Step 1
Determine the storage space you need. The smallest hard drive available holds 40 GB. Drives that hold up to 100 GB for a home computer are available at reasonable rates. However, if you need to store huge DVD files or want to do video editing, you'll need a drive with an even higher capacity.
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Step 2
Check the compatibility of the hard drive with the existing components of your computer. If you have a very old computer, the compatibility of a large hard drive needs to be tested thoroughly.
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Step 3
Remember to check the rotation speed of the drive. The better the rotation speed, the faster the information can be found. Rotation speed is an important factor in determining the price of the drive. A rotation speed of 7200RPM is ideal; but you can look for 10,000RPM to gain an edge.
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Step 4
Check the version of the program used for accelerating data processing between the hard disk and data processor. Older hard disks use IDE, which has four variants of ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment), ATA 33, ATA66, ATA100 and ATA133. Each number corresponds to the rate of data transfer in MB's. A higher number signifies a higher data transfer speed. Note that SATA (Serial ATA, or a serial link) is a new, useful and faster technology.
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Step 5
Decide how much you can afford before shopping for a hard drive. Drives that can hold between 40 GB and 100 GB cost about the same and are ideal for domestic use. Drives over 100 GB are significantly more expensive.
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Step 6
Search for the latest product information with Google and Yahoo.
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Step 7
Go for branded company products. They guarantee quality. Seagate, Maxtor and Western Digital are some well-known brands.
