Buying a computer | storage options | SSD, HDD and external

Storage might actually be the most important part of a computer. Sure, it does not compute… but it does hold all your “valuables”…

When it comes to storage and especially long-term storage, the best place to keep your data is in cloud storage. The recommendation here would be Onedrive, as it seems to work best in different environments and you get insanely great deal when getting MS Office subscription. Of course, cloud storage is great for keeping your files safe and maybe working on small files (e.g. Excel, Word), but you still need some local storage.

SSD or HDD?

Every modern computer should have at least one SSD, this is where operating system and most programs will be installed. For the most part, these are not expensive anymore, you can get about 500GB storage for only around 60 bucks, which is a great deal. HDD is used for storage as well, but it is a lot slower (and cheaper), but at the same time a bit more durable.

External

For the external options, you basically have a choice between those tiny USB drives and an external HDD (which connects via USB as well). This option should only be used for moving large files in the office. People do use them for long term storage, but it is quite dangerous as these are external, they are not protected by the computer case and somebody might break it.