Hard Drive

What the heck is a...?
The hard drive (sometimes called a "hard disk") is your computer's permanent storage area. It is a little 2"x3" box inside the computer filled with magnetic disks (called "platters") stacked one on top of the other. Each of these disks contains billions of little pieces of metal similar conceptually to iron filings called "bits", organized in circles around the surfaces of the platters. Each of these bits can be oriented in one of two ways, the first representing a "0", the second representing a "1". Magnetic "heads", which look like the head of a pen and which function like the needle on old LP record players, has the power to (magnetically) manipulate the bits to change them from a 0 to a 1 and back. Because this mechanism is all magnetic, the bits hold their orientation even when there is no power - allowing your computer to store data even when it's turned off. Parenthetically, this is also why you should never have magnets near your computer ... because they could randomly reorient the bits on the drive, destroying your data.

Computers group these bits into sets of 8. Each group is called a "byte". (And half a byte, or 4 bits, is called a "nibble", but that's not really important here. And, yes, I'm serious.) Combining this with what we already know about Latin prefixes, this is why you see terms like 100 GB (gigabytes) associated with modern hard drives. This is a measurement of size. 100 giga-bytes means 100 billion (100,000,000,000) bytes of storage capacity, or that you can store 100 billion bytes of data on your drive. So again, the larger this number, the better. But, just like your processor, the cost-per-gigabyte curve is exponential. Buying a 120- or 250GB drive is cheap, but after about 320GB, you start having to pay way too much for each incremental increase in size.

The average user needs no more than 100GB of permanent storage, but since 250GB drives are so incredibly cheap (easy to get one for under $100 at the time of this writing), that's usually what I recommend for people. Keep in mind also that it's easy to upgrade your drive (great article on HowStuffWorks.com), so don't feel like you have to go crazy here.

Two Different Types
There are two different types of drives - SATA and IDE (also called PATA or just ATA). SATA is much faster than PATA. Always get an SATA drive if buying a new computer.

Rotational Speed
Drives have rotational speeds - which is the speed at which the platters turn - that directly impact how fast you can get data off the drive.

This factor is measured in "rpm" or revolutions per minute, the number of times the disk will spin around each minute. Desktop hard drives typically come in the following speeds: 5,400, 7,200 and 10,000. The bigger the number the better, because it will speed up the overall performance of your drive, but 10K rpm drives are still too expensive at this juncture for me to recommend to the average user. 7,200 rpm, however, is a must.

Brand
Here, as with most computer equipment, brand is important. Cheaper isn't always better. Stick with good brand names for your hard drive, such as Western Digital or Seagate. But don't worry, their prices are very competitive.

Upgradeability
Unlike your PC's processor, your hard drive is imminently upgradeable. It's a challenge to transfer the data (I typically send people to use a service like Best Buy's Geek Squad - costs $100 for them to transfer / backup your data, but at least you don't lose all of it), but it's really easy to buy a new hard drive and have the Geek Squad (or a computer-savvy nephew) drop it in for you. So, don't blow all your cash getting too big a drive. A) You won't really need it. B) You can always upgrade.

And to make things even better, when it comes to hard drives, one size fits all. Every hard drive (as long as it's the same type - SATA vs. IDE vs. ATA, etc) is standardized, so upgrading from a 250GB drive to a 320GB drive down the road is made even more straight-forward.

Let's cut to the chase...
So, to sum it up... I recommend a 250GB Western Digital SATA 7,200 rpm drive.

Introduction
Overview

The Parts of the Modern PC:
Processors | Hard Drives | Memory | Other Hardware | Software

Smart Buyers Will Also Consider:
Manufacturer (Where to Buy) | Service Plans and Warranties | Prices (What to Pay)

Conclusion:
The Final Word

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