Before you lay down your money,
you should first think about what you want from a portable hard drive. Here are
a few factors to consider:
Cost
First, determine how much you want
to spend. If money is no object, then get the biggest and most expensive drive
that you can. The benefits of data transfer speed, storage capacity, and all
around convenience will help the drive quickly pay for itself. If, on the other
hand, you're on a tight budget, look at a smaller drive.
Storage Capacity
Storage capacity will be your main
concern when looking for a portable drive. Don't just think about your present
needs, but your future needs as well. Sure, a 1 GB drive might be enough for
all your MP3 and graphics files, but somewhere down the road you might want to
digitize your family videos. One GB of storage space definitely won't be
enough.
If you plan to use your portable
drive move only documents between computers, then something like a ThumbDrive
will be more than sufficient for your needs. But if you want to store a lot of
larger files or even back up your system, you should seriously consider buying
the largest drive you can afford.
Speed
If you have a need for speed, at
least where data transfers are concerned, you'll want to get the fastest drive
you can. This is especially true if you're going to use the drive like a second
hard disk. So, if you regularly work with a large PowerPoint presentations,
with a lot of graphics and some multimedia waiting while the data moves from
the drive to your computer is frustrating..
Conclusion
Portable hard drives are a small,
fast, and convenient way to add storage space to your computer. And if you move
large files between systems, a portable drive can be an indispensable tool. One
is waiting for you. All you have to do is find it.