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The hard drive: everything you need to know

The hard drive: everything you need to know

High-resolution images, extensive games, long videos and breathtaking movies. Where are you supposed to save all of this? A large memory must come. Hard drives are therefore the be-all and end-all if you want to store data securely. But what exactly are hard drives? What advantages does one have Multimediahard drive and what is it about HDD and SSD hard drives? We bring you closer to the most important things in a compact way.

What is a hard drive?

A hard drive is a Speichermedium for computers used to store data. One also speaks of hard disks HDD: hard disk drives.

Hard drives are usually internal installed in a computer, but can also connected externally become. Most use one magnetic discto save data. The magnetic disk has a surface divided into tracks where data can be stored.

The HDD comes with a Head read and written, which slides over the magnetic disc. The head is with one magnetic field connected, which can read or write the data on the hard disk. The hard drive is replaced by a Motor driven, which causes the magnetic disc to rotate.

Most HDDs can large amount of data store, which is why they are so important for computers. It is one of the most important parts of a computer as it stores the data that the computer processes.

When a computer shuts down, the data stored on the hard drive remains consist. As soon as the computer is switched on again, the data on the HDD can be read and processed again.

The multimedia hard drive

When it comes to hard drives, the terms “external” and “multimedia” come up again and again. But what exactly distinguishes an external hard drive from a multimedia one? Aren't they similar? In fact, there are big differences.

The main difference between an external and a multimedia hard drive is how it is used. An external hard drive is usually used to store additional Storage space for a computer provide while a multimedia hard drive usually for that Recording and playback of multimedia files how videos and music are used.

Multimedia hard drives usually have one higher storage capacity than external hard drives, as they often need to store larger files. While an external hard drive to the Desktop is connected, multimedia hard drives are connected via the HDMI-Connection with the TV or DVD-Player connected.

Some multimedia hard drives have one built-in monitor, so that you can watch the recorded videos directly on the hard drive. External hard drives with built-in monitors also exist, but these tend to be more expensive.

An external hard drive is also often small than a multimedia hard drive and has a lower capacity. External hard drives usually have a capacity of around 500 GB, while a multimedia hard drive only has a capacity of 1 TB or more.

In addition, external and multimedia hard drives differ in their connection and price. While external hard drives easily to take with you are and to one USB port must be connected, multimedia hard drives are connected to the power supplies connected, are too big to take away and something at that expensive as external hard drives.

HDD or SSD - What's the difference?

An Solid State Disk (SSD) is a hard drive that is based on a chip and contains no moving parts. SSDs are typically used in laptop computers and in high-end desktop PCs. The available capacity of an SSD varies between 32 GB and 1 TB. The Performance An SSD is higher than that of a traditional hard disk drive (HDD) because there are no moving parts that can affect speed.

The main difference between a hard drive and an SSD is that a hard drive has a magnetic head moved to read or write data while an SSD on a chip based and contains no moving parts. In addition, the performance of an SSD is higher than that of a conventional hard disk.

However, HDDs have great advantages: They offer more memory, although SSDs are slowly catching up. HDDs are as well günstiger and can easily store large data and possibly even to repeat. This is hardly possible with SSDs.

SSD and HDD hard drive

Which hard drive is the right one?

There is a lot to know and discover in the world of hard drives. Which type of hard drive is right for you depends on your wishes and needs.

HDDs can big data save and also have a good one Price-Performance Ratio. For files like videos and films However, we can take you to one multimedia hard drive advise. Her memory is even higher, the device itself is a bit bulkier. SSDs again have one higher performance than HDDs, but are also expensive with a lot of storage space.

FAQ

What do you need a hard drive for?

A hard drive is an important part of your computer. You need them to save and restore data.

How do I use a hard drive?

You can easily connect an external hard drive to your computer with the cable and then switch it on. The computer should now have recognized the device. It may then be necessary to format the hard drive. It is best to read the instructions for the supplied hard drive here.

What formats does my hard drive support?

Hard drives often come in two formats: FAT32 and NTFS. FAT32 is the older format and is supported by older operating systems such as Windows 95, 98 and ME. NTFS is the newer format and is supported by Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. When buying a new hard drive, you should rather get the newer FAT32 format.

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