What Capacity Hard Drive Do I Need?

The hard drive capacity you need depends on how you will be using your computer. Capacity requirements can increase with the number and size of program applications installed on the computer, as well as the amount of data you plan to store on the hard drive.

Desktop Computers and Workstations

Desktop and workstation computer systems usually need 80 GB to 1 TB (terabyte) of hard drive storage capacity. A computer used only to surf the Web and check email requires less storage capacity than a computer used to create and store documents, websites or multimedia content. You should consider how you use your computer when choosing drive capacity.

Large program applications, graphics-intensive games, desktop publishing applications and Internet caching all contribute to the need for increased hard drive storage capacity. The Barracuda family of drives is designed to fit the needs of desktop computers.

Notebook Computers

Notebook computers use 2.5” drives rather than the 3.5” drives used in desktop computers. Yet notebook computers have similar storage needs. Notebook drives come in a range of capacities from 80 GB to 250 GB. You should consider how you use your computer when choosing drive capacity. A computer used only to surf the Web and check email requires less storage capacity than a computer used to create and store documents, websites or multimedia content; while large program applications, graphics-intensive games, desktop publishing applications and Internet caching all contribute to the need for increased hard drive storage capacity.The Momentus family of drives is designed to fit the needs of Notebook computers.

Home Multimedia Computers

Home multimedia computer systems usually require large amounts of space to save music, photos and videos.If you are using this type of computer, you should consider hard drives of 250 GB or more. The Pipeline HD family of drives is designed for storing video and running 24/7, so these drives are usually the best fit for multimedia computers.

DVR

Digital video recorders (DVRs) are used for recording, playback, time shifting, archiving and streaming of video content. High-definition (HD) video can take up to five times as much storage space as standard-definition (SD) video. Seagate Pipeline™ HD drives offer capacities ranging from 160 GB to 1 TB, enabling storage of up to 200 hours of HD content or 1,000 hours of SD content. Other important requirements satisfied by the Pipeline HD drive are quiet acoustics and low power consumption as well as the ability to stream content to as many as 12 different points from one centralised location.

Audio/Video Computers

Audio/video computer systems usually need high performance and high hard drive capacity to create content and store the finished files. 400-GB to 1-TB hard drives usually meet the need for editing audio/video content. Storing large amounts of high-quality video takes more space and may require a multiple-drive storage array. Specific consumer electronic drives such as the Pipeline HD and SV35 drives have features for specialised A/V computers. For professional A/V, the SCSI Cheetah family of products offers flexibility.

Servers

Servers usually require high-performance drives to handle the extensive needs of a large number of users. For example, if you are required to keep the email records of 1,000 email users for an extended period of time, you will need a large amount of capacity to store the files. When considering storage capacity for servers, keep in mind the types of applications being used and the number and type of users being serviced by the storage. The Cheetah and Savvio products are designd to perform as primary storage on servers and the Cheetah NS and Barracuda ES drives are available for lower tiers of storage such as backup.

What Capacities are Offered by Seagate?

Seagate currently offers ATA (IDE) and SATA hard drives in capacities ranging from 80 GB to 1 TB. Seagate also offers SCSI hard drives in capacities ranging from 73 GB to 450 GB. For a complete list of drive capacities offered by Seagate, see the list of All Hard Drive Products.