Tag: Hard Drives

Samsung USB Hard Drive “Story”

Mobile storage solutions are coming out like crazy and here is another one from Samsung. In a move that is obviously aimed to give Western Digital’s My Book a run for their money, the Story hard drive is something that serves as a great back up device.

The brushed aluminum slab with “passionate red lines” plays host to your choice of 500GB, 1TB, or 1.5TB 3.5-inch disks. The Story Station can backup your data in “real-time” or be setup to backup on a set schedule of your choosing. Data is secured via password with an optional SecretZone virtual drive setup for encrypting all your swine-flu conspiracy data. This device is single-port, USB 2.0 only so you’ll have to take your dreams of network attached storage, eSATA, or FireWire 800 elsewhere.

Use it either for audio, video or pictures, the Story Station will surely come in handy for people who want to make sure that all their data and files are safe and secure. With an easy plug n play interface via the USB, expect this mobile hard drive to be a hit for people who value their backup and storage needs.

Available in Europe first sometime in May for an undisclosed price.

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Seagate Launches Enterprise Terabyte Drives

Last week there was a post about Western Digital’s new 1 Terabyte hard drive. In that post as well, it was mentioned that Seagate had also launched its own higher capacity hard drive which was 500GB. Thanks to that first new flash, Seagate took the initiative to finally unveil its own terabyte hard drive, the 3.5 Constellation ES which comes in 1 or 2 TB.

The 2.5-inch Constellation will have capacities ranging from 160 gigabytes (GB) and 500 GB. The 3.5 Constellation ES comes in 500 GB, 1 terabyte (TB) and 2 TB. The Constellation family ships this quarter. Seagate’s Barbara Craig, senior product marketing manager, said that the drives are designed to offer a smaller footprint, cut energy consumption and be more stackable in tight data centers. “The new drives basically cut power in half,” said Craig.

Also, similar to what Western Digital unveiled, these are eco-friendly since they consume lesser power, making them an ideal hard drive solution for people who really want to cut down on cost. And if you were the computer geek, you would have to note, which do I get?

If you are brand conscious, Seagate has always been known to be a reliable brand. While Western Digital priced its hard drive at $299.00, it is likely that Seagate will have a higher price. They may practically have the same specs but it all boils down to which brand is reliable and tested.

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Set a Cut-Off Date for Stored Files

Do not let storage space stop you from deleting current files such as documents and spreadsheets on your computer. If these files have been around for years, back them up and take them out of your computer. Other than taking up space, you just have to consider the worst scenarios such as hard disk crashes or imminent formatting caused by system software malfunctions that are common today.

Formatting a hard drive is the last resort but is the easiest solution when it comes to program conflicts and crashes. While there are programs that try to help you restore a system, it remains that your PC will never be the same again due to buggy installation. Overwriting may be a good option but you will notice that after you do this, your computer slows down a bit more.

So to address speed and consistency of the operating system of your computer, it would be best to clean it from scratch and start a fresh copy of your preferred Windows operating system. It is a hard decision to make but at times you are left with very few choices to make.

If you have files that have been around for over 2 years which you don’t access, just copy them to a CD or a tape drive. Do not leave them on your PC hard drive for easy access. At times you will never know when you would need to recover them and normally, backups are the best way to safeguard them in case something untoward happens to your PC.

Out of Space? Get an External Hard Drive

At times, we may find ourselves running out of space as far as our internal hard disk drives are concerned. So you can turn to burning them to a DVD or CD but the thing is, how often can you do this practice? Are you sure that your burned files can still be accessed when you need to restore or access them?

It has always been better to store files and programs on a hard disk. Other than not having to worry about proper access of files, it is much convenient. PC users could care less how much files they have on their hard drive but the fact of the matter is that hard drives, external or internal, are better solutions for most.

External drives via USB connections pose as another storage device to which can be accessed. Such has been the gift of technology towards techie geeks these days and one thing you will notice is that you can bring it anywhere and plug them to any PC when you need your files to be safe and with you always.

The cost for getting one is not the expensive. In fact, with the right resources, you may be surprised that it can be close to the same amount of CD burners and discs. Further, you don’t have to worry about running out of space since hard disks are known to have larger storage spaces. So if you use it all up, you just buy a new hard drive, but that would really take some time compared to traditional optic storage drives capacity.

Housecleaning your Hard Disk

Chances are, no matter how large your hard disk would be, you will always run out of space. With new files and demands that the Internet supplied, you are bound to use up that space regardless of how large your gigabyte storage would be. So what is a person to do? Well for one, you can always clean up, delete unused files or burn them to a CD or DVD for later reference. But the question is which files would you still want?

Normally, documents and spreadsheets would be retained as they eat up lesser space on computers. Downloaded software, audio and video files would normally be the best space savers when it comes to deleting or backing them up for later use. For some, there will be files that they want to remain on their computer. But get real. It would be crazy to want all those files always there. Just leave out what you want.

For songs, it could be your favorite tunes. Videos can be a couple but not the ones where full length movies are bound to reach 4 gigabytes per file. Software would be best burned to a disk since one time installation would not no longer require them after they are installed.

After deleting these files, it would be best to do a scandisk or defragmenter to optimize your PC. In most cases, they will leave some fragments which if not properly defragmented, will slow your PC performance. Depending on your hard disk size, it can take a while. That is perhaps the downside of having large hard disk storage. It takes longer to defrag.

Backups Save you a Lot of Headaches

One thing about computers is that it is really the data inside that is important. The price for getting a new one will always be there but if you weigh out the cost of one computer desktop compared to the valuable data you have inside, it is pretty obvious that no amount of money can replace the records and files you created, mostly important when you talk about work or educational means.

It is easy to buy a computer or upgrade it as you wish. But once you lose certain files, trying to recall and bring them back may be too much of a burden if not a lost cause since historical data may no longer be feasible to remember.

Some computers last for as long as 5 years. This is assuming you are doing the proper maintenance for both internal systems and external parts of the standard desktop. Imagine the number of files you have by that time which can be deleted at an instant. It will probably make you break down in tears if you think of it.

There are alternatives. The reason why optical media is offered with your computer is for you to have external backups of files just in case something undesirable happens. Whether it is the standard CDR or DVDR, what is important is you have files safe and stored somewhere outside your computer. Remember, one system crash or accidental deletion can not be undone. Backup your files and save yourself the trouble of headaches such as these caused by tactless actions you may suddenly do.

It is All About Storage in Desktops

If you will notice in desktops, the feature that allows you to upgrade storage in the form of hard disks and optical media players bolsters the need of addressing storage issues. Unlike in laptops where hard disk changing may not always be present, the use of various hard drives such as SATA or SCSI has made all the difference in addressing the storage issue.

Storage for some desktop users would depend on what files they are pointing. Normally, it is not plainly about documents and spreadsheets. With technology offering a lot of things for the modern computer geek, audio, pictures and videos have likewise entered the fray. With that in mind, you can just imagine the space that these files would occupy and normally it can negate the usual gigabyte capacity of hard drives as well.

Laptops are not made for storage of large files. Some of these mobile computers have been equipped with higher capacity drives these days but you will notice the timing. They only offer larger storage after some time. At this age, we are already exposed to larger capacity drives, perhaps double than what laptops can carry. Why? For one thing, laptops are not designed to be storage space. They are made for assisting mobile users and not the hardcore programmer or designers.

So the next time you are wondering why desktops differ from laptops, just look beyond what they have to offer. The specifications are there but you need to look further. Storage is only one part of the entire picture for their variance.