BUYING GUIDE: HOW TO CHOOSE AN EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICE

One thing every person requires now is storage. All those music and movies need a lot of storage space on our mobile devices. Unfortunately most of the devices come with a very limited amount of internal storage with is generally not enough to satisfy our appetite. So to combat this problem, external storage devices have been made. These include devices like External Hard Drives, Pendrives, Micro-SD cards and so on. The devices come in a variety of capacities and are really useful for storage and backup purposes.

There are a variety of these devices available in the market today. People generally ask why spend more on one pendrive when another pendrive of the same capacity is cheaper. Or why is this hard drive costlier than the other, when both are of the same capacity. So to get rid of all these confusions, read on to understand how to chose an external storage device.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE:

These are storage devices for laptops and computers which allow the storage of a lot of data and can be used for taking a backup. The main things to consider before buying one of these are listed below:

• Storage Capacity:  The amount of storage capacity you require depends on your main purpose of usage. If you are a kind of person who likes to store a lot of music, videos and movies, then you should buy  1TB-2TB storage capacity. On the other hand, if you just store some documents, emails etc. then you would be better off with a lesser capacity like 250GB. These hard drives are really cheap these days starting at just around ₹2500 or $40. Backing-up your data using these are really simple and cheap and so I suggest you to buy one of these and save your data.
• Transfer Speed: If you have to backup your data once a week or so then any hard drive would be good for you. Otherwise, if you have to use your external storage device frequently then it's better to go for a one having a faster data transfer speed. These are the ones having USB 3.0 instead of the more common USB 2.0. These have much higher transfer speeds and are highly recommended. But make sure that your computer/laptop has USB 3.0 ports before buying these.
• Portability, Security and Compatibility: An external hard drive should generally thin and portable for easy carrying. Though thin, it should not compromise on safety and should be safe from mechanical damages and shocks.
  If you carry sensitive data then look on to hardware encryption of data. It is very important so as to protect your privacy.
  Before buying a hard drive you need to check whether it is compatible with your Windows or Mac OS computer.

PENDRIVES AND MICRO-SD CARDS:

Pendrives can be chosen similarly as external hard drives. They are also sport USB 3.0 compatibility which increases the transfer rate significantly.

Micro-sd cards are the perfect companion for your smartphones. These are really useful for those who like to store a lot of videos and music in their devices. They come in different varients such as class 4, class 6 and so on. The best of the lot is 

class 10 which are the fastest and the most expensive ones. If your store your app data on your external sd card then go for a class 10 card other wise a class 4 or class 6 card would suffice your needs.

Hope this post would help you to decide the best storage device for you.

You could follow me on facebook, twitter and Google+ to be updated about my future posts:

Twitter

Facebook

Google+

You May Also Like:

Buying Guide: Cellphones

Choosing a display for cellphone

Buying Guide: How to Buy A Laptop