Shinde: Ayush Vinod, IN647, 4381

Upgrade your data storage

Can you upgrade?

If you can physically upgrade the storage on your computer, then this is not usually a complicated
thing to do and can be carried out with few tools other than a screwdriver. While desk-top
computers usually have plenty of slots for extra disk drives, some slim laptops or all-in-one tablets
have no provision for upgrading their storage. If the storage can be upgraded, there may be
provision for only certain size or format of new storage devices, for example 2.5 inch bays or the
latest M.2 format. This will restrict the type of storage that can be installed.

Which drive works for you? Solid State Drives

If you can upgrade, then you need to find out These are available in two formats; the
which sort of drive is compatible with your familiar 2.5 inch disk drive and the newer
machine. It is worth considering what sorts of M.2 format stick. The SATA connected drive
storage devices are available. Here are will fit in most desk-top computers, while the
some of the current sorts on the market: newer M.2 format requires a special slot to
be available. This format is becoming
Mechanical hard drives
available in high-end and light-weight laptop
Solid state drives computers.
SATA connected SSDs The M.2 format is effectively a miniature
M.2 format SSDs PCI-Express socket with a theoretical
maximum bandwidth of 32 Gbits/second
compared with 6 Gbits/second for SATA
Mechanical Hard Drives connected drives. M.2 format drives can hit
much higher speeds than are possible over
These hard drives offer reliable performance SATA. Premium M.2 format drives using
at reasonable prices per gigabyte. They are NVMe technology can deliver close to four
much slower than SSDs and provide times the speed of a SATA drive.
economical solutions to large capacity
secondary storage where speed is not at a All M.2 have standard dimensions and SATA
premium. They are not recommended as the drives are usually supplied as 2.5 inch
main system disk where a smaller SSD will format. Just bear in mind that there are two
improve boot up time and system thicknesses of SATA drives – 7 mm or 9.5
performance considerably. mm. You may need to check on your laptop
computer whether it is limited to
the thinner size. The use of a spacer can pad the thickness of a slimmer drive in a 9.5 mm space.

Capacity or Speed?

The performance difference between an SSD and a mechanical drive is not only about data
transfer speed, but also on seek time. On a mechanical hard disk the head has to physically move
between different areas of the disk surface as it fetches bits of data for different programs or
processes. On an SSD all locations are instantly addressable so performance is fast, smooth and
responsive.
Type of Storage Benefits Disadvantages Notes
Mechanical hard disk drive Large capacity at Slow, not so good Reliable, tested
relatively low price as system drive technology
per GB

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 Shinde: Ayush Vinod, IN647, 4381
Solid state drive (SATA) Fast with commonly Quite expensive Premium storage
available 2.5 inch especially for large for data centres
slots capacity drives
Solid state drive (M.2 Small but very fast Need specialised Good for video or
format) slot and expensive very large files
Cloud storage Unlimited storage Not under personal Has an on-going
control cost
A large capacity (up to several terabytes) hard disk drive is economical if speed is not essential,
but economical storage is. Mechanical hard drives are available in both the larger 3.5 inch and the
2.5 inch size. For a primary drive SSD, a capacity of 256 GB or even better 512 GB would be ideal
and affordable. Similarly an M.2 format drive may be used as a primary (system) disk or as super-
fast secondary storage. So far we have only talked about internal storage. Using an external disk
drive to store your data is also a possibility using any of the drive types discussed here. An
advantage of this is that you have portability of your data and can take it from one computer or
location to another. You could also choose to store your data on a server in the cloud and have it
accessible from anywhere that you can use an internet connection.

Upgrading to a new system disk

There are several options to transferring the contents of the old disk onto the new disk. One
method is to make a clean install using a version of the operating system on disk. This method will
remove all existing programs you have. These will need to be reinstalled after the new disk is
operating. An alternative method which will preserve your existing programs is to use cloning
software (often supplied with a new disk drive) and make an exact copy of the current disk. This
can be quite straightforward, but if the new disk is a smaller capacity than the one it is replacing
may involve you in deciding what to keep and what to leave out. A third route is to make a virtual
image of the source disk and copy it onto external media, then boot from a disk containing the
imaging software choosing which files to keep.
Good luck if you decide to upgrade your storage.

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