You buy a computer, turn it on and it works great. But after a while, in a conversation with friends or family, you may wonder what kind of hard drive I have... It may be because they told you they bought a computer with a very fast SSD, or because it has broken. and you have to buy the same one (because if you can't, the machine won't accept it).
Anyway, knowing the type of hard drive your machine has is important because that way you make sure, first, of knowing what features it has, and second, because you can act in case it fails you. Can we give you a hand in that aspect?
What hard drive do I have in Windows 10
Let's start with the most used operating system, which is Windows. If your computer uses this system then to find out which hard drive you have You have to go to task manager.
There a screen will appear and, one of the tabs, it will say Performance. He clicks on her.
Now, you must select the disk 0 which, normally, is the C drive and the computer drive. If you look closely, it will show you a larger graph on the right and, in that same place, the brand and model of your hard drive, along with other information such as how old it is or the type of hard drive.
But what if that data doesn't come out? Nothing happens, there are other ways to get that information:
Open device manager, and under Drives, select the one that corresponds to disk C. There it will also show you data about the hard drive.
what hard drive do i have on linux
It may be that you are one of those who uses Linux and has gone from Windows. If so, there is also a way to know the type of hard drive you use.
It should also be noted that, as there are many types of Linux, each may have different forms to do it We have searched Linux Mint and, in this case, in its menu, we have the option of Discs, where all those that are connected.
The first one would be hard drive C, where it shows you the brand and model of this.
And how to know if it is SSD or HDD? Then pFor this, it is best to use the finish since, with a simple parameter, it will get us out of doubt.
You must open the terminal (which is like an MS-Dos in Windows) and put:
cat /sys/block/sda/queue/rotational
This should return you a number: If it is 1, you have a HDD.; if it is 0 it is an SSD.
And nothing else, so you know everything.
What hard drive do I have on Mac
Finally, we would have the Mac option. And in this case to know what hard drive your computer has you just have to go to the Apple menu and select “About this Mac”.
Various data related to the hard drive will be reflected there, but to delve even deeper, nothing better than going to System Report.
In the Hardware section, you must select Disk drive and when i get out, press Macintosh HD. That will open a screen just below where you can get the model and much more data related to that disk (if it is HDD or SSD, what brand...).
As with Linux, also here you could use a terminator. To do this, use these two commands:
system_profiler SPSerialATADataType
system_profiler SPStorageDataType
You will get almost the same data as doing it manually.
What is the difference between a HDD and an SSD
Now that you know the type of hard drive you have, it's time to learn the differences. And is that, if you have an HDD, do you know what characteristics it has? What if it's an SSD?
For this reason, we are going to comment a little on each of the hard drives that currently exist.
SSD hard drive
Also called solid state drive. It is characterized by using a flash memory which is the one that saves both the data and the files. Therefore, it is an electronic disk (because it works with memory chips).
It is true that they are much more expensive than HDDs, But also they are much faster and more efficient when it comes to “asking them for things”.
For example, on power up. A computer with HDD might take longer to boot the machine than an SSD (we are talking about differences of seconds, yes, but enough to notice the difference).
HDD hard drive
In the case of these, they are mechanical hard drives. They are characterized by saving data and files in a standard way (mechanical) and, although they are older and slower, they are more common in computers.
Yes, tThey are also much cheaper, although they are currently disappearing Because SSDs are proven to be more efficient and the machines themselves, because of the programs to run and concurrent tasks, you need a hard drive that can handle heavy loads and respond fast.
HOOF
Although when looking for hard drives the decision to make is between an SSD or an HDD, the truth is that there are other types, like this, PATA, or what is the same, Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment.
They are among the first to be made (created in 1986) and Right now they are not used much but they are on the market.
They have one low data transfer rate, 133MB/s, and connect a maximum of 2 devices to the drive.
SATA
They are Serial ATA storage drives, and they are the ones that took over from the previous PATA.
Its connection method is the same as the others, but change the interface. In addition, you find them with different spaces and capacities.
SCSI
As well known as Small Computer System Interface or small computers. These they are faster, flexible, are adapted to moving large amounts of data and they can work 24 hours (7 days a week).
Now that you have solved the question of what type of hard drive do I have, and that we have told you about the types of hard drives that you find on the market, is the one you have in your computer really the one you should have or are you considering changing it? for another? Tell us.