Computer Drives Option

Running out of storage space on your PC? Or maybe you want to back up your files? There is no shortage of options, but bone up on the good and bad of each.

Upgrading your 40GB drive to a 320GB one should give you storage space to the max. Plus, it is cost efficent since you don't have to pay for extra cable or casings. But don't forget that you will have to re-format your hard drive. Arrrgh....messy!

This is cost efficent and all you need to know is where to plug the cables. It also has some of the highest data transfer speed.

But this adds more heat and needs more power. So you might end up spending more upgrading your power supply and your fans. Expect more noise too.

Everyone has one these days. Simply plug this small gizmo into any PC for instant space. What is good is its solid state, which means you will not lose your data if you drop it.

But the biggest capacity hits just 4GB currently. And on a per MB basis, it costs alot more than hard disk drives. It is also slower than a SATA drive.

This is probably the most common external storage. USB casings do not cost an arm and leg, and can be plugged into any computer since it is universal. But it is slower than those running the eSATA.

There are 2 types of USB hard drives. The ones with On The Go (OTG)technology let you connect to your camera, MP3 player and other mobile gadgets with a USB port jacked into the drive. A non-OTG one works only on your PC.

This makes use of the same Serial Advanced Technology (SATA) technology to transfer the sata as your internal hard drive, so the PC races along at full throttle.

Since it is external, there are no problems of heat and power to contend with. But eSATA ports are only found on newer laptops and desktops. A casing is also require.

This one is pretty new. The flash-based card is more robust than the mechanical hard disk, but you need to plug it into a laptop PC which has the corresponding slot. The card comes in 8GB and 16 GB sizes, with the 32GB version on its way.

Its data transfer rate is much higher than the USB's and is just slightly below the SATA speed demon since it runs on something called PCI-Express. However, it is costly and you need new laptop with the slot to use it.

If you have multiple users at home, and want to share your pictures with everyone, an external Network-attached storage (NAS) hard disk is ideal.

Multiple users can log into the hard disk at the same time and you can even get remote access over the Web. But you must have an existing network at home, and that does require some tweaking to get it up.