Introduction
A hard drive is a device which is used to store a computer data. It is an essential component of a computer as it stores most of the digital data of the computer. Though a hard drive laptop differs from that of desktop computers, both have the similar function and both work on the same principle.
History
A hard disc or drive of both desktop computers and laptops have platters which are hard rotating discs coated with a magnetic material and magnetic head. This magnetic material and head are used to write the data. Both the hard drive laptop and desktop computers perform the function of storing data and both laptop and desktop computers can't function without a hard drive. However a hard drive laptop is smaller as compared to a desktop hard drive. The custom size of a laptop hard drive is 2.5 inch whereas for a desktop computer its 3.5 inch. In laptops since the space is small the hard discs should be smaller as well so that they can rotate easily. A small size does not affect the RPM (rotation per minute) of the hard drive laptop. Many laptops, even the notebooks, today have hard drives that have an RPM of 7500 which is equal to that of a desktop computer. Also the hard drive of a laptop uses the SATA interface at similar speed like that of a desktop computer.
Features
The small size of a laptop can be a limiting factor when it comes to the storage space. Since a small hard drive can't have many platters and the number of platters refers to the memory stored in gigabytes we can say there is a limit to their storage capacity. Many latest laptops have the maximum capacity of 300 to 350 GB. Also some laptops have slots for two hard drives. In 2009 Hitachi released a laptop of 1 TB (tetra byte equal to 1000GB) memory and now we have laptops that have a hard drive laptop of 2 TB memory. There are basically three types of hard drive laptop but we can say that generally there are two: internal hard drive and external hard drive. The internal hard drive are solid state drives and SSD drives. The former are the most popular and most commonly used. They require less power and have a good storage capacity. An external hard drive is connected to the laptop via a wire through the USB port. It can be compared to the flash memory but it has a much greater storage capacity. Today we have external hard drives with a memory of 1 TB to 2 TB. An external hard drive however isn't a necessary and a laptop can function without it as well.
Tips and comments
The capacity of your hard drive depends on your laptop greatly. a laptop of an old model would generally have the hard drive of a small capacity and a hard drive with higher capacity won't fit into it. In such cases an external hard drive can be used to store excess information. Relatively newer laptops like that of 2007 or above can have hard discs of higher capacity adjusted. If you have a laptop with slots for hard discs then its better if you utilize them both.
