Buying used hard drives can save you money, but “refurbished" storage media carries significant risks. Here’s what you need to know.

All electronic devices need to be connected to a surge protector, and that’s particularly true for devices that store data. Hard drives rely on controllers, which allow the drive to transfer information to (and from) your computer. A sudden surge...

Solid-state drives offer significantly faster read/write speeds than hard drives, and they’re less susceptible to physical damage. Dropping a hard drive can cause extensive damage to the read/write heads and other moving parts, but a solid-state drive has much fewer...

One of the most common misconceptions about solid-state drives (SSDs) is that they’re capable of storing data indefinitely. All storage devices eventually fail, and unfortunately, SSDs are no exception. That doesn’t mean that they’re unreliable — SSDs offer much faster...

As our lives become increasingly mobile, it’s only natural for people to seek portable storage options that can function on the go, as well. For years now, this need for portable storage has manifested itself in the form of floppy...

When choosing a new computer, the amount of storage on the laptop or desktop is often a huge deciding factor. Some don’t need much, seeing as they’ll just be using the computer for casual browsing, streaming, and the occasional work...

Garbage collection is a process used by solid-state drives (SSDs) to optimize space, improve efficiency, and keep your device working as efficiently as possible. It’s also a common source of confusion for personal computer users — and the name “garbage...

Defragmenting a solid-state drive (SSD) is a bad idea...under most circumstances. Here's a brief overview of how defragmentation works, why it's largely unnecessary for solid-state drives, and what you can do instead.

Solid-state drives (SSDs) provide better performance than hard-disk drives (HDDs), but with several significant caveats, including one big one: For the last decade or so, one of the major problems with SSD technology has been affordability.  That might change soon....

The TRIM command allows solid-state drives (SSDs) to function efficiently. An operating system tells the SSD that blocks of data aren’t in use; the SSD can then wipe out those blocks. If you’re having trouble understanding the concept of the...