Choosing an… Internal hard disk best buy
A basic 1TB internal hard disk will be fast enough for general use and will provide enough storage for most users.
Make sure the hard disk you choose has the appropriate interface type for your PC. Some mechanical hard disks still come with SATA2 interfaces, but newer models and most solid-state drives (SSDs) have faster SATA3 interfaces. You’ll need a motherboard with a SATA3 port if you want to benefit from SATA3’s faster speeds; SATA3 disks will work with SATA2 ports but can only transfer files at SATA2 speeds.
SSDs can make the most of SATA3’s extra bandwidth for fast file transfers. They use flash memory similar to that found in USB flash drives, and although they tend to provide less capacity than mechanical hard disks, they’re significantly faster.
Buy a hard disk that provides more capacity than you think you need, as your storage requirements are likely to grow. A 3TB disk strikes the best balance between capacity and low cost per gigabyte, but in general you should aim to buy the largest disk you can afford.
If you want more disk space or you want to protect your data against disk failure, think about buying several hard disks to create a RAID array. These use multiple hard disks to create one large logical disk with better performance, or to duplicate your data for better protection. RAID arrays require hard disks of the same size. In theory, they can be from different manufacturers, but it’s better to buy identical disks if you can.
A hard disk’s spindle speed determines how quickly it can transfer data. A spindle speed of 7,200rpm is common in desktop drives and is fast enough for most purposes. Desktop hard disks with 5,400rpm spindle speeds are quite slow but use less power and generate less heat and noise.
To strike the best balance between speed and storage capacity, use an SSD as your system disk and store your files on a larger mechanical disk.
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
This SSD achieves excellent performance and reliability using Samsung’s 3D triple-level cell (TLC) technology.
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Part of the capacity is devoted to a single-cell (SLC) mode to improve write speeds, which, along with the usual compromises with storage amounts, leaves you with 465GB. In our tests, the 850 Evo beat everything else in its price bracket and many costlier drives.
Samsung 850 Pro 512GB
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Our test machine actually took slightly longer to boot Windows 10 from this drive than the cheaper Evo (above), but in more demanding tasks it led the way. It’s rated for 150TB of writes, much higher than cheaper drives, and guaranteed for 10 years.
Samsung 750 Evo 500GB
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The 750 Evo is based on less sophisticated technology and is cheaper , but it kept up with the Evo and Pro in speed tests. When work ed harder , for example handling lots of small files, it lagged behind. So for intensive work, especially doing several things at once, you might want to pay a bit more, but it’s faster than many in this price range.
SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB
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This has been around a while but still impresses, coming out behind the Samsung drives in some tests and ahead in others.
However, its endurance rating – how many gigabytes you can write to the drive before it wears out – isn‘t quite as high. It’s guaranteed for twice as long as the Evo – 10 years.