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The Seagate ST9500420AS 500GB is a 3.5" 500GB Hard Disk Drive.
It uses the SATA 3Gb/s interface and has a speed of 7200 RPM.
| Drive Type | Hard Disk Drive | This defines whether the drive is a large-capacity slower hard disk drive, a smaller-capacity but much faster solid-state drive, or a hybrid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Size | 3.5" | The size of the drive dictates which drive bays it will fit into - generally a small drive will fit into any bigger drive bay with an adapter | |
| Capacity | 500GB | The drive storage capacity is the limit to the size of files that can be stored | |
| Cache Size | 16MB | The bigger the cache, the more data that can be temporarily stored for faster access | |
| Power Required | 5W | HDDs should generally require very little power to run, and SSDs even less | |
| RPM | 7200 RPM | The higher the RPM, the faster the hard drive, and the faster stored data can be accessed | |
| Drive Interface | SATA 3Gb/s | The interface is the type of motherboard connection and defines the bandwidth limit of the drive |
The Seagate ST9500420AS 500GB is a hard disk drive, which means it stores data using quickly rotating disks, or platters, that can be read and written on via the moving actuator arm. Hard disk drives generally have a large storage capacity, and so are perfect for large amounts of data. The potential performance is well below that of solid-state drives, but they can definitely still hold their own. The Seagate ST9500420AS 500GB is a fairly poor primary hard disk drive choice, as its performance leaves a lot to be desired. It would be fine to use as basic data storage, though.
With a cache of 16MB, the Seagate ST9500420AS 500GB can store a relatively small amount of data temporarily, which will result in fast loading times but only for a small amount of previously loaded data. At a speed of 7200 RPM, the hard disk drive spins at about the market average for desktop PCs. This speed is widely considered the desktop standard, providing a good balance between reliability, cost, performance, and noise.
With a capacity of 500GB, the Seagate ST9500420AS 500GB has a fairly small amount of storage for an hard disk drive. Using the SATA 2.0 3Gb/s interface this hard disk drive will not be limited by its connection with the motherboard, and there is currently no real reason to choose SATA 3.0 over SATA 2.0 for a mechanical hard disk drive (SSDs are another matter).
A form factor size of 3.5" is standard for desktop drives, and this will fit into any standard case drive bay, or into a 5.25" drive bay with an adapter.