Hard Disk
These babes sit in your PC, out of your sight, but be rest assured they're doing their jobs. As usual, there're a couple of stuff to consider before choosing these awesome things. Stuff such as the type of controller...

There is IDE and there is IDE, but that's not enough to satisfy us, isn't it? So out comes EIDE, which is an improvement on IDE (yeah, right, as if you couldn't guess from the name). If you're using Pentiums, IDE could already be integrated on your motherboard. (Newer boards get EIDE, yippee!) If you're using anything older, like 486s (change your computer), you probably have a card installed on your board.

Then there is SCSI, the arch enemy of IDE, together with its allies, SCSI-2 and wide SCSI. SCSI is generally faster than IDE, if you are running multiple drives. If you are running a single drive, forget SCSIs. Get EIDE.

Wait, that's not the end of the story. You still have to decide the size of your hard disk. Now, that's simple. Get the largest one available. What? You don't need such a big one? That's what you think...

And then there is the 3.5" and 5.25" hard disks. That's up to you. Just make sure there is space in your PC for the particular size.

One more thing is the speed. Sometimes, hard disk manufacturers like to advertise the speed in terms of the access time (in ms), sometimes on how fast the disk spins (RPM). I don't have to tell you faster means better (and more expensive).

CDROM Drive
You can't live without this gizmo nowadays. Everything is sold in CDROMs. Encyclopaedias, almanacs, games, utilities, screen savers, your upcoming test's answers...

CDROM drives come in IDEs and SCSIs as well, but the IDE ones are sufficient in most cases. So what does 10×, 12× and 16× mean? I think it has something to do with the transfer rate, like 150KB/sec for every 1×. Anyway, the days of CDROM drives with single-digit speeds are numbered. Just last year (that'll be '96), 12× drives are the fastest in the market. Now, slightly more than 6 months into '97, we already have the 24× models. However, the 10× drives still seem to be zooming away. Maybe software developers finally realize that end-users like us simply cannot upgrade all the time...

Some CDROM drives support multiple CDs so you can put a few CDs in at one time and that's it. You don't have to switch CDs during the course of your session. Most drives also support photo CDs and stuff so you can ignore this part.

What about DVDs, you say? Well, they are similar to CDs (but different, mind you), are capable of holding more data and are smaller.

Floppy Disk Drive
This is one faithful worker. The floppies have been around since time began, I think. Anyway, we are talking about high density disks here, and not those laughable 360KB or 720KB disks of the stone age. These drives come in two sizes (mostly), 3.5" and 5.25".

For the 3.5" drives, the more commonly used are the 1.44MB types. Another is the 2.88MB drive which is seldom seen. Your motherboard must support them in order for you to use them in the first place. I've never used one, but I think it should support 1.44MB disks as well. Recently, a third one popped out and is capable of supporting up to 120MB! Even better, it is backward compatible with your 1.44MB disks!

The 5.25" drives are, well, 5.25" drives. The capacity of the 5.25" disk is 1.2MB and if you're still using them, stop. These disks are bigger yet hold less data.

    Recommendation: A 1.44MB drive is all you should need.
 

Zip Drive
I think this drive is worth a special mention. There are many tape backup drives out there but the Iomega Zip drives lead the pack. The Zip drive allows you to back up your data on 100MB disks and, best of all, is the most affordable sensible solution that has entered the market. It even comes in two kinds, the external and internal.