Don't Waste Your Money On Faster Storage

Most of the time when we work on our computers, the files we create are relatively small. We load the files into the RAM memory of our computer and work away.

Working with media, however, is different. Media files tend to be massive. Most often, they need to be played in real-time and they are too big to be fully stored in RAM memory.

Why am I saying "RAM memory?" Because many people use the term "memory" to mean "hard disk storage." For me, computer "memory" means RAM - that which disappears when power to the computer is turned off.

The "Data Transfer Rate" is the speed data travels between your hard disk storage and the computer, and it is measured in "bits per second"

To keep the numbers from getting too big when discussing hard disks, bps is often converted to MBps, or "megabytes per second." The conversion equation is simple: bps/8,000,000 = MBps. (Engineers sometimes use 8,388,608 instead of 8 million.) We also write MBps as MB/s.

There are three things that determine the speed of your data between the hard disk and your computer: read more...