Mini Hard Drive

Mini Hard Drives for Laptops

Mini Hard Drive

By Anne Ahira

As the name implies, a mini hard drive is a small, portable, external storage disk that comes complete with a standard interface or USB cable. But why, you ask is it mini? Well, mini hard drives are used primarily for laptops where portability and price is a primary concern.

By comparison, a standard external hard drive or a flash drive is far bulkier and much more expensive than a mini. In fact, a mini can often be slipped into the pocket of a tight pair of jeans and it does not require an AC adapter, as it draws power from the computer (USB port) itself.

When purchasing a mini hard drive it is incumbent on the buyer to do his research. While it is true that most minis are PC and Mac compatible, buyers should always be sure before they buy. It is also important to get a warranty on all hard drives. Though most will include a standard one-year warranty, the buyer must read the fine print to see what the warranty covers.

What are they used for? Now we come to the crux of the article. Really, why are these external devices even necessary? Shouldn’t everything be included on the inside of the computer? Well, the answer is both yes and no. Mini hard drives are clearly a response to the dramatic shift away from desktop PCs and toward laptops. As you may or may not be aware, the standard desktop is far more powerful than the standard laptop. And while the power and portability of laptops have been steadily increasing, they still pale by comparison to most desktops.

For example, an average laptop includes a hard drive of only 250 Gigabyte. This is only about half of the power of the average desktop. And that is where mini hard drives come in. They can be used to augment the power of the average laptop while retaining its primary advantage-portability.

What are they used for? If you own a laptop and use it for everyday applications, you may not encounter a serious problem, even with a standard hard drive of only 250 Gigabyte. However, if you use your laptop to download music, movies, or massive amounts of data, a hard drive of that size simply will not be enough to accommodate you. In all honestly, your laptop will seem slow and sluggish and may even freeze or stall if you try to use it for advanced applications with a standard hard drive.

That is why mini hard drives are so popular these days. Not only are they relatively inexpensive, when compared to a regular external hard drives or flash drives, but they are also highly portable. The standard mini hard drive has 160 Gigabytes and is competitively priced. Of course, the smaller and lighter the drive, the higher the price.

When shopping for mini hard drives, the primary concerns are power and portability. For instance, if you will be moving around quite a bit with the device, then it may be best to purchase a smaller, lighter unit. However, if the unit is going to be used mostly at home, then power is the more pressing concern. But whatever the question or concern, the best place to shop for mini hard drive is at Amazon.com.

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Here's Mini Hard Drive Selections:

Oyen Digital 500GB External USB 2.5" Mini Portable...	Customer Review: I bought this to backup pictures and itunes. No complaints. I love how small it is.... Read More	$129.95 (26)
Hitachi SimpleDrive Mini 250GB USB 2.0 Portable Ex...	Customer Review: I purchased this drive just about two weeks ago. After loading my favorite files, the drive worked just fine. I accessed my files on this drive maybe 6 or 7 times in the last two weeks. Then, all of a sudden, three days ago it decided not to show ... Read More	(15)
Hitachi SimpleDrive Mini 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable E...	Customer Review: I purchased this drive just about two weeks ago. After loading my favorite files, the drive worked just fine. I accessed my files on this drive maybe 6 or 7 times in the last two weeks. Then, all of a sudden, three days ago it decided not to show ... Read More	(15)
Aleratec HDD Copy Cruiser Mini Hard Disk Drive Dup...	Customer Review: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/RSZGXLSU5DZOY">Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RSZGXLSU5DZOY</a> ... Read More	(1)
320GB External USB Powered 2.5" Mini Portable Hard...	Customer Review: Fuji has been known to be a reputable brand and this is no exception in this case. The hard drive with it's included pouch works perfectly and fits neatly into my shirt pocket. Great for carrying around and compared to other brands almost twice the p... Read More	(2)