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An Overview of Hard Disk Drive(HDD) Form Factors
Common Hard Disk Drive Form Factors
Sum Up
Before replacing or upgrading your hard drive, choosing the right hard drive with the correct form factors is the key to ensuring a successful HDD upgrade. Do you know how many different types of hard disk driver form factors there are?
This page from EaseUS will show you the specific types of HDD form factors, including their sizes, connection methods, protocols, and common user cases. Keep reading.
HDD form factors refer to the physical size and shape of the hard disk drive. Common form factors include 3.5-inch, 2.5-inch, and 1.8-inch sizes. The 3.5-inch form factor is typically used in desktop computers, while the 2.5-inch form factor is commonly found in laptops and portable devices. The 1.8-inch form factor is often used in smaller devices such as tablets and ultrabooks.
Form factors also dictate the mounting and connection options for the HDD, with different sizes requiring different interfaces such as SATA or SAS. Overall, the form factor of an HDD plays a crucial role in determining its compatibility and use in various devices.
The 3.5-inch HDD form factor is one of the most common sizes used in desktop computers and larger storage devices. These hard disk drives (HDDs) are typically used for storing large amounts of data, such as operating systems, applications, and media files. They are known for their reliability, high storage capacities, and relatively low cost per gigabyte compared to solid-state drives (SSDs).
Sizes:
Connection method: through SATA (Serial ATA) interfaces, which provide fast data transfer speeds and compatibility with most modern motherboards and storage devices.
Protocol: The SATA protocol allows for easy installation and hot-swapping of drives, making it convenient for users to upgrade or replace their storage devices.
Common-used cases:
Example:
The 2.5-inch HDD form factor is commonly used in laptops, gaming consoles, and portable external hard drives. These hard disk drives (HDDs) are smaller in size compared to the 3.5-inch HDDs, making them ideal for devices where space is limited or portability is a priority. Despite their smaller size, 2.5-inch HDDs still offer decent storage capacities and are a cost-effective storage solution for many applications.
Sizes:
Connection method: through SATA (Serial ATA) interfaces, similar to 3.5-inch HDDs.
Protocol: enables fast data transfer speeds and compatibility with various devices, making it a popular choice for connecting these drives to laptops, gaming consoles, and external enclosures.
Common-used cases:
Example:
Toshiba L200 1TB
HGST Travelstar 5K1000 1TB
The 1.8-inch HDD form factor is one of the smallest HDD sizes available and is commonly used in ultra-portable devices such as tablets, compact laptops, and portable media players. These hard disk drives (HDDs) are known for their compact size, low power consumption, and silent operation, making them ideal for devices where space and energy efficiency are critical.
Sizes:
Connection method: through various interfaces, including PATA (Parallel ATA) and, more recently, SATA.
Protocol: utilize specialized ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) connectors for compact and secure connections within ultra-portable devices.s.
Common-used cases:
Example:
Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 160GB
Samsung Spinpoint N2 120GB
Our post shows you the specific hard disk drive form factors, and having a clear understanding of them will help you choose the right hard drive for your computer. After that, you can use EaseUS Disk Copy to clone and upgrade your HDD easily.
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EaseUS Disk Copy
EaseUS Disk Copy is a well designed and very easy-to-use HDD/SSD cloning and migration tool, a tool which should be ideal for anyone wanting to quickly and easily migrate an existing system disk to a new disk (or newly installed SSD drive) with the minimal of configuration required.
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