External Hard Drive – A Portable Storage Device
External hard drive are like small portable hard disks that are designed to be used outside the main computer. They are used in office computers and small laptops.
When a PC is being used for all the usual activities, such as browsing the internet, it becomes a lot slower. The moment this happens, we use external hard drives as a backup. Although they are only meant to help out while the PC is running, they still are more reliable than the internal hard drives.
When using an external hard drive, one should always know what kind of drive is being used, and what its capacity is. If we do not know this, we may lose important files, and also the data will be lost too if the computer crashes.
There are two types of external hard drives – one is the external CD/DVD drive, and the other is the external SATA drive. Let us take a look at each type and their pros and cons.
External Hard Disk – this is a type of external hard drive that is most common. You can use it with both PC and laptops.
All you need to do is plug the external hard drive into your computer. It is really easy to set up. Your PC will connect to the external hard drive automatically, and you can insert any data.
When using the internal hard drive, it requires you to install the software on your computer. It can also cause much hassle and maintenance. However, when using external hard drives, you do not have to install any software or operating system to your computer.
This external hard drive has been designed to operate without any installation. It also takes less space than an internal hard drive. So, you can save even more storage space.
USB drive – the USB flash drive is used for external use. It does not require you to install any software on your computer.
Since it has a lot of power, it can be charged through a USB cable, which makes it easy to transfer data from computer to computer. You can also carry the data from one computer to another. You can also transfer the data from one drive to another, without any problems.
However, since the USB flash drive has a limited number of hours, and it takes a lot of the space and the energy in your computer. When you are using it, you should make sure that you backup your data regularly.
Whether you are using your computer to watch movies, listen to music, edit video, play games, or do research, the external hard drive is here to save your work. And you do not have to spend a lot of money to buy this device. It is easy to find one for less than $100.
Western Digital BS4B0020BBK-WESN My Passport 2TB Portable External Hard Drive (Black)
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Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2 TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – Light Blue USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac, 1 Year Mylio Create, 2 Months Adobe CC Photography (STHN2000402)
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Lenovo 2TB External Hard Drive F309 USB3.0
The 2 TB Lenovo F309 portable hard drive is a slim and sleek storage solution.
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Lenovo 2TB External Hard Drive F309 USB3.0
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Computer Memory Buying Guide
The Basics
Computer memory is the unsung hero of a PC’s performance. If you have too little, it can create a huge bottleneck that slows down everything from opening applications to Web browsing.
Many experts say that you can never have too much, and while there is a point of diminishing return, adding computer memory is one of the least expensive ways to boost your system’s performance.
We’ll talk about what computer memory is, the various types available, and what to look for when you’re shopping for more for your system.
Computer memory is known as RAM (Random Access Memory). It’s a form of short-term data storage for PCs, as opposed to hard drives and flash memory drives that allow for long-term storage of data.
You can’t save any data to your computer’s memory–when you reboot your system, all the information currently flowing through the memory is lost.
For example, if you have a term paper you’ve been writing, you can load an old version from the hard drive into your computer’s memory by opening it with a word processing program.
Then you can manipulate it and make changes. But you’ll want to save it often, because you’re just holding it in the RAM, and if your computer crashes you’ll lose the current unsaved version.
This is an oversimplified way of looking at computer memory; There are lots of ways that modern computers can use hard drive space to expand their working memory, but it shows the importance of having enough RAM.
If you’re limited to, say, 256MB of RAM and running Windows XP or Vista, you take up most if not all of that just running the operating system, so opening programs or Web sites will take a lot longer.
Like any storage device, RAM is measured in megabytes and then gigabytes (1 gigabyte equals roughly 1000 megabytes).
Most new computers ship with at least 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM if not a full gigabyte (GB).
We’ll talk more about how much RAM you want with your system depending on what you use your computer for.
But not all RAM is created equal. Computer memory has varying speeds that measure how fast that information can be loaded into it or out of it.
Like a CPU, memory speed is measured in hertz (cycles per second). For example, if you have memory that operates at 400MHz, that means that it can handle 400 million cycles per second.
Newer computer memory is all DDR–double-data rate memory. By processing data on the upswing as well as the downswing, DDR memory essentially doubles the performance speed.
Most systems ship with DDR2 memory, the second generation of double-data rate memory, and a lot of video cards use even faster DDR3 memory.
RAM fits into your computer’s motherboard as DIMMs (dual inline memory modules) that pop into slots on the motherboard, usually next to the processor.
DIMMs also vary in size, so only certain types of memory can fit into certain types of motherboards.
We’ll talk more about making sure you get the right computer memory for your system in our five questions:
1) What kind of memory does my computer need? Not all memory works with all computers. In fact, you need to make sure that the memory you’re thinking about buying will work with your computer.
Most memory manufacturers such as Kingston (www.kingston.com) and Crucial (www.crucial.com) have search engines that will show you what type of DIMMs will work with your computer or motherboard manufacturer.
Remember, you don’t have to buy directly from these companies–you can just use their memory configurator to find out what RAM works for your system.
2) How much memory should I have? The short answer is, it depends. In general, the more the better.
You don’t want any less than 512MB to run Windows XP and 1GB is even better (especially if you’re thinking about upgrading to Vista).
Most users are fine with 1GB, although if you do any graphics or video editing, you’ll want to think about upgrading to 2GB or more.
3) What’s a good price for memory? Computer memory used to be very expensive, but as with most technology, the prices have dropped considerably over the years.
Prices vary quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer as well as with the type of memory, but $50 to $75 per gigabyte of DDR2 RAM is a very fair price to pay.
4) How fast of computer memory should I get? In general, the fastest your computer will support.
If you have a newer computer, getting 533MHz or 667MHz DDR2 will provide a significant boost over 400MHz memory.
But again, you have to make sure that your computer will handle that faster memory.
And if you mix memory–for example, having 512MB of 333MHz memory and 512MB of 400MHz memory in two different DIMM slots–the memory will only operate at the slower speed.
5) How do I install computer memory? Installing computer memory is one of easier PC upgrades to make, but it still involves getting inside your system.
Power your PC down, unplug the power cord, and then remove the case cover. The DIMM slots are usually located next to the processor.
Make sure you have the notch in the DIMM lined up with the slot correctly and push one side in and then the other.
The DIMM should click into place and the side ejector tabs will snap in securely.
How to Shop
Computer memory can vary quite widely in price from vendor to vendor–even DIMMs of the same speed from the same manufacturer–so it’s best to shop around.
Start out by using a memory configurator at a manufacturer Web site such as Kingston.com or Crucial.com.
Write down the type of memory that your system can support and then you can start searching for the best price.
In our experience, buying memory online is much less expensive than going to your local brick-and-mortar store.
About the only reason to buy at a local retailer is if you’re not comfortable installing the memory yourself. Most local retailers will install the memory for a nominal fee–sometimes for free.
A broad Web site that covers a wide variety of vendors such as Bestgiftsfor.in will often yield the best price for computer memory.
Just be sure that the vendor you chose is a trusted one–it may be worth the extra couple of dollars to go with a company you’ve shopped with in the past. And watch shipping charges:
Memory is small and light, so you shouldn’t have to pay much (if anything) for shipping.
Also check the manufacturer’s Web site for any rebates they might be offering–computer memory is one of the product categories that almost always has some sort of rebate offer available.