2.How to get more storage to laptop
Running out of disk space can really cause problems with using your computer. Photos, music, and videos all take up a lot of space, and they are the most important things in our lives. We also work a lot with computers, which means it's vital that we can store important work files. Not having room to store everything we want is a nuisance!
Not only that, but if your space is too small, it can actually affect your computer's performance. Without disk space to perform critical updates, you may find yourself running outdated software that doesn't have the latest security features.
And you'll find it harder to install new software without free space. This could mean you're missing out on getting the most out of your computer!
Most mainstream computer hard drives are now configured to 512G capacity. Taking 512G solid state drives as an example, my personal hard drive division:
- System: 100 GB
- File: 100 GB
- Game: 300 GB
The biggest advantage of placing the system and games on the solid-state drive is that the boot and the game load quickly. The main reasons for the insufficient hard disc are games and some ultra-high-definition 4K movies, and the usage rate is still relatively high. However, the actual capacity of many hard drives will be smaller, and the corresponding reduction in capacity has little effect.
Hard disk expansion scheme:
- M.2 solid state: the second piece of stand-alone masterpiece with high loading requirements
- SSD hard disk: not as fast as M.2, but compared to mechanical shock
- Mechanical hard disk: as a large file storage disk, game hard disk can also be used
- Portable hard drive: second only to M2, for storing games and 4K movies
- U disk: slow, easy to damage, often used as a system installation disk
The lowest cost of the above four is the mechanical hard disk, the other three are relatively high cost, and in terms of mobile, only U disk and mobile hard disk have more advantages, support hot plug, if you have multiple computers, or will be on different computers Play games, watch movies, it is more recommended to use a mobile hard disk.
Note for desktop pc hard drive expansion:
It is relatively simple to expand the capacity of the hard disk. Generally, you can increase a solid state hard disk or a mechanical hard disk. There is enough space in the chassis. Many motherboards can add at least one M2 and at least 4 SATA ports. These can be connected to SSD or mechanical hard disk, as long as All interface pairs can be added. If it is a desktop comparison recommendation:
- Low cost: add mechanical hard disk (new or old)
- High speed: add M2 solid state drive (some motherboards have lower speed)
- Often copy: use M2 mobile hard disk
Note for laptop hard drive expansion:
Because of the internal interface and space of the notebook computer, it is generally good to add an M2 solid-state hard disk. The position of the 1.8/2.5-inch SSD or mechanical hard disk is basically not available on the thin and light notebook (increased weight, no shock resistance), and the same is true for game notebooks In addition, factors such as warranty and other factors are not friendly to users, so the hard disk is not enough. I personally recommend using a mobile hard disk. There are basically only two hard disk expansion schemes for laptop hard disks:
- High speed: add M2 solid state drive (depending on the interface support, damage the warranty)
- Frequent copy: use M2 mobile hard disk (easy to move)
Whether it is a desktop computer or a notebook computer, M.2 solid state is more practical. It can be built in or can be directly made into a mobile hard disk through a mobile hard disk box. In addition, the current price of M2 solid state hard disks this year has dropped a lot, and several common brands are There are several solid-state drives with lower prices and higher cost-effectiveness (500G):
Different hard drives use different interfaces, but there are three main interfaces to check:
M.2 is relatively simple, all solid-state drives, with low-speed SATA protocol, high-speed NVMe protocol, and M.2 interface is actually divided into ABC, but most of them are universal and compatible. The hard disk with M.2 interface is equivalent to being directly installed on the motherboard. Usually, the general motherboard only has 1 M.2, and there is a high probability that it is used to insert the wireless network card, and cannot be inserted into the M.2. hard disk.
Usually H/B series motherboards only have one M.2 hard disk interface, while Z/X series usually have two. Of course, the demon board is an exception. The demon board I am talking about here refers to the brand of ASRock, whose motherboards often do not follow the usual path. For example, it may have an additional interface; or the Intel and Microsoft alliances do not allow new motherboards to support the installation of Win7, He may leak a firmware, which can be installed after flashing.
The most expensive way to get the most extra storage space on a laptop is to upgrade the internal drive. The cheapest is to use cloud storage. Use the tips below to decide which option is best for you.
- Upgrade the internal drive: This option is the best option if you use your laptop for a lot of offline work and want to do a bulk upgrade from an existing drive. It's also the most convenient because you don't have to worry about carrying anything with you or getting files from the internet.
- Use an external drive: If you rarely access most files, and only need very few files to access all the time, then an external drive is your best bet. In this case, thumb drives and Micro-SD cards will be considered external drives.
- Cloud Storage: Cloud storage costs nothing when used to a certain limit. After a certain limit, you can even sync a folder on your computer with cloud storage for a small monthly fee.
How to upgrade an internal drive
First, you need to determine the type of hard drive currently installed in the laptop. The best way to do this is to visit Critical's upgrade site, select your computer make and model (see Computer System Information), and select Store in the left menu.
Critical will show whether your particular system uses a solid state drive (SSD) or a spinning hard disk drive (HDD). When you scroll down, you will see all the options. Choose your preferred drive size.
Once you have your new hard drive, it's time to install it. Before you start you will want to move your data and all programs to the new hard drive.
Wear an antistatic wrist strap when you're ready to swap drives. Look for any possible hard drive access covers on the bottom of the laptop. Not all laptops have it, but if you do, it's a lot easier to install. Just remove the screws that hold the panel in place. Remove the old drive and insert the new drive.
If there is no access door, you will need to open your laptop bag. Carefully locate and remove all screws on the bottom of the case. On some laptops, you'll also need to carefully remove the screws on the bottom of the screen to unplug and remove the screen.
Once you open the case, you should have no problem finding the hard drive. It's usually under a metal shield. You can slide the old hard drive out and install the new one.
We've simplified this because each manufacturer does it slightly differently, so if it's unclear what you should do once you get to this point, go to the manufacturer's website to see how they handle it.
Replace the laptop cover and reinstall all screws. Plug in your laptop and start it. If you correctly cloned and copied all the data and programs from the old hard drive, your laptop should boot normally. Except now you have extra storage!
Use external drives and other storage devices
Today's mobile hard disks have a large storage capacity, and with the development of technology, their size has been shrinking. A palm-sized mobile hard disk has a capacity of 2TB, which is small in size and sufficient to meet the needs of daily storage. I believe it is still deep It has won the hearts of many business people.
The most important thing is that some mobile hard disk manufacturers have specially built websites in order to please consumers. Consumers only need to complete the steps of registering and binding the hard disk, and then they can use the mobile hard disk as a network disk, saving the trouble of carrying.
Instead of going through the process of replacing the internal drive, many people opt for the simpler external storage option. If you like this route, you have a few options.
- When you buy an external hard drive, you'll find that its storage capacity is impressive, sometimes exceeding that of an internal hard drive. The only downside is that you need to plug it into a USB port, which reduces the number of USB ports available for other devices. When you plug in an external drive, the operating system will automatically detect it and add it to Windows Explorer as another drive letter.
- Another very convenient option that people use to increase storage is to use a thumb drive (also known as a flash drive). These are very small sticks that work like external drives when plugged in, but usually offer small storage sizes.
- If your laptop has a Micro-SD card slot, another handy option is to use a Micro-SD card to expand your laptop's storage. These are very small cards, no wider than two fingers. Once slid into the Micro-SD slot, they were barely detectable and showed up in Windows Explorer as another drive letter.
Use cloud storage
To upload the data to the cloud disk, you need to download it again, or even read and use it directly online. The cloud disk is relatively convenient. Although today's cloud disks are no longer as lively as they used to be, there are not many options for free storage cloud disks, but if you look for them carefully, you can still pick good ones, and you can also exchange which cloud disks are good to use.
Why buy hardware if you really don't need it? As long as you have a reliable internet connection, cloud storage offers you a perfect solution to increase storage on your laptop.
However, it should be noted that the cloud disk itself has the risk of closing, or the risk of shrinking. After all, this storage space can be used for free for you, but the initiative lies in the hands of the management enterprise. In order to ensure the safety of your data, you can choose to purchase their membership services to avoid losing the data you have worked so hard to collect.
There are plenty of free cloud storage solutions to choose from anywhere from 2 GB to 100 GB. For example, Google Drive offers 15gb of storage for free, but you can buy 100gb for $1.99 and up to 10tb for $49.99 (per year).
Each service provides software that lets you connect and sync cloud storage on your Mac or Windows 10. You can also continue to update sync files while offline, which will automatically update once you reconnect.
Microsoft's OneDrive is integrated into Windows 8.1 and Windows 8, and it offers a full 1TB of storage along with Office 365 for $7 a month. Both Dropbox and Google Drive offer 1TB of space for $10 per month. If you need less capacity, you can buy hundreds of gigabytes of capacity for just a few dollars a month.
In the way of expanding the capacity of the computer hard disk, it is recommended to purchase an additional mobile hard disk, which can save a lot of trouble. If you feel that the built-in hard disk is easier to use, and the ability to do it yourself is poor, then it is a good solution to ask a professional to help you install it. When storing data, you can divide it according to your own needs. If it is not important, it does not need to be kept confidential. It is also a good choice to store it in the cloud disk!