External Hard Drives Overview
An external hard drive is a hard drive that is connected to the outside of a computer. It is just like an internal hard drive but with a hard casing.
Advantages of external hard drives
External hard drives are useful for so many different purposes which are described below:
- They are an easy way of expanding the storage of your computer
- They are portable. They can be easily connected or disconnected from your computer and can also be connected to other computers to share data
- They can be used for backing up files.
- They are a convenient way to store your files because when storage is almost full on your computer it gets slow. So, they are good to use.
Difference between internal and external hard drives
Following are the differences between an internal and an external hard drive
- Internal hard drives are connected on the inside of the computer directly to the motherboard whereas external hard drives are connected to the outside with a wire, USB or wirelessly.
- External hard drives are easy to install and use as compared to internal hard drives.
- Internal hard drives are powered by supply from the motherboard whereas external hard drives are powered through cables.
- External hard drives are portable, can be moved easily, placed anywhere whereas internal hard drives are embedded inside the computer.
Variations in external hard drives
External hard drives come in different sizes and speeds and their prices vary according to them. The larger and fast an external hard drive is, the more it is expensive. Following are the different sizes of external hard drives
- 1 terabyte
- 2 terabytes
- 3 terabytes
- 4 terabytes
- 5 terabytes
- 6 terabytes
- 8 terabytes
- 128 GB
- 512 GB
- And few more sizes
Samsung, adata, Seagate and western digital are some of the best external hard drives available in Pakistan.
Life of external hard drives
The life of an external hard drive is about 3 to 5 years. External hard drives last for a longer time if it is used with care and proper handling. Data can be lost if you break the hard drive, so you should be careful while using it. High temperature and humidity can damage your external hard drive.
You should change your external hard drives after 3 to 5 years so that your data is safe, and you should also back up your data in your cloud.