How to Buy a Hard Drive to Store all of Your Digital Movies

Digital movies and multimedia files take up a lot of space on your computer's hard drive. Because they can slow down your computer, you'll need a hard drive where you can store them. Still, you should be selective about what you keep. Even your extra hard drive will fill up quickly. Follow these steps to buy and install the hard drive you need.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Identify your computer's requirements. To enjoy multimedia on your computer, a large hard drive is recommended. A one-hour mini-DVD camcorder tape can consume 14 GB of storage. Buy a 750 GB drive if you intend to store more digital audio or video files.
2. Check the compatibility of the hard drive with the RAM (Random Access Memory) installed in your CPU. Using a new hard drive with an old computer may generate problems. Make sure you have all the necessary cables and other attachments.
3. Choose a drive with adequate rotational speed. A drive having faster rotational speed will read and write the data quickly. The result will be prompt audio/video output. A 10,000 RPM disk is ideal for extensive multimedia usage.
4. Decide how much you can afford to spend on a hard drive.
5. Look for good offers. Because there's intense competition among dealers, hard drives are often sold at reasonably low prices.
6. Visit online stores such as Yahoo Shopping and eBay to learn more about the kinds of external and internal hard drives. Remember that the internal hard drive will be fixed within your computer case and needs more care. External hard drives are plugged into the existing case using cables. They're easy to use.
7. Learn more about the features and prices of various hard drives by referring to online buyer’s guides. Browse through reviews and compare pricing. Some popular buyer’s guides are NexTag, Windows Marketplace, MySimon, Bizrate and Epinions (see resources below).
8. Browse through blogs and tech discussion forums. These are good ways to gather more information on features, trends and other insights on hard drives.
9. Only buy a hard drive after comparing prices both online and offline. Search for online vendors with search engines like Google or Yahoo. Browse through popular online stores such as CompUSA, Best Buy and Circuit City (see resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Look for good return policies and bargains.
• Choose hard drives with longer warranty and better durability.
• Ensure that the power supply to the system components can handel the hard drive you want to install.

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