Buying a computer component shouldn’t be considered a gamble now. It is possible for us to check popular online websites, such as Amazon to read user reviews and get the impression on the quality and reliability of a product. We could find out whether specific products are worth buying before we actually consider investing on them. A product may sound wonderful, but they could have specific deal breakers. External hard drives are increasingly more important because we are able to store larger amount of data in a relatively compact device. Here are things to consider:
1. Any Hard Drive would eventually Fail
Hard drives use mechanical components and they are not designed to operate for eternity. The read-write head or the mechanical device that reads and modify data on and from the platters will eventually wear off. It is a normal thing and shouldn’t be a big problem if we are prepared beforehand. We should take reliability issues into account from the very beginning. For this reason, we should regularly back up our data in other hard drives or in optical mediums, such as DVDs.
2. Don’t trust Features too much
Some external hard drives could have killer features that separate them from other products in the market. Although some of the bundled features may sound great, we have to be aware whether we really need them. There are dozens of options in the market and it can be rather difficult to device the one we should consider spending our money on. There are multiple criteria we should look for when weeding out between multiple contestants, they include
- Customer support quality
- Probability of failure rate
- Noise levels
- Warranty
Reduced noise level is important if our computer is located in our room and we want to download files at nights. Higher noise levels could make the external hard drive inappropriate, because they could us during high file transfer activity. In general, there are a few features that we don’t need, such as one-button capabilities and bundled software. Regardless of models we choose, one significant feature we need to prioritize is their ability to transfer and keep our files appropriately. We should determine whether product will be to the job.
In general, longer warranty indicates the company’s confidence that the product will work well. The price of an external hard drive should be properly calculated and there are also additional costs such as maintenance and possible replacement of components. If companies grant one year of warranty for the product, it should still be able to work well in the second or third year. However, any device may start to show signs of failures after being used continuously for a longer period of time.
3. Don’t Trust user reviews too much
Every product and brand has its haters and fans. In general, the more user reviews we read, the more accurate they will be. More popular products will get reviews and we can better trust reviews that explain things objectively. Good reviews should include all pros and cons to let us know things about the product.