New Harddrive

My dad has a 40GB hard drive and it's constantly full. I've convinced him to get a new one so that he doesn't have to delete things every month. The thing is, what's the difference between a 2.5" and 3.5" hard drive? Is that the radius of the actual disk inside it? What does that actually mean and what one will he most likely need?

Thanks in advance everyone,
Steven

Get Western Digital 7200 RPM SATA II 300 GB Hard drive.

2.5" HDs are for laptops & 3.5" are for PCs... I think.

Haris, I have a Hard drive in mind already, but thanks anyway

Thanks for that, Indy. I wasn't entirely sure.

2.5" is commonly used in laptop's, but it is also more durable compared to a 3.5". Though the downside is that a 2.5" usually spin's at 5400rpm (3.5" spins at 7200rpm) (yes you can buy some 7200rpm 2.5" drives). Also i'm not sure if RAID is compatible with 2.5". But if your main concern is storage, go get a 3.5"

Thanks guys.

He got an 80GB IDE drive (I know SATA is better, but it'll do for what he needs).

Originally Posted by Steven Fergus Thanks guys. He got an 80GB IDE drive (I know SATA is better, but it'll do for what he needs).

My 250gig sata was $60...Tell him to check UK computer sites next time

I have the Western Digital 500GB

Hmm, I was going to recommend a SATA 150 GB Raptor. I didn't think it would make much of a difference from an IDE, but SATA + 10,000 rpm = a fast combination. This 150 GB drive formats at nearly the same speed as my old 40 GB drive.