Which Are the Top Hard Drive Manufacturers?
This, or a close equivalent, is often the first question out of the mouths of first time buyers of hard drives. As our storage needs ever expand, a hard disk (or several of them!) is the centrally critical component of computer setup. Without a well-functioning hard drive, we are totally cut off from our photos, videos, games, projects and other files we expect to conveniently access. We demand quality because a hard drive 'crash' is the worst things that could happen to us in managing our file libraries. So obviously, it pays to know who are the major, reputable players out there.

The total market is not small. More than 200 companies have entered into the business as hard disk drive manufacturers. However, only few of them really stand out as stable, large and reputable companies. Here is a list of the top manufacturers who currently have multiple bestselling models. Generally, you can feel safe purchasing products from these names.

Seagate Technology
Starting from their first 5MB hard drive called ST-506, the company has managed to launch a series of successful hard disk models to become the world’s largest hard drive manufacturer. In 2008, the company became the first one to ship its 1 billionth hard drive. Since size matters in the hard drive industry, we note that Seagate was the first to release a portable external hard drive with a 1.5TB capacity (2010). Currently, there are more than 500 products that the company sells under brand names like Barracuda, Maxtor, Momentus, and Cheetah.

Western Digital
Western Digital was the first hard disk manufacturer to introduce the mainstream ATA hard disk with an 8 MB cache buffer. In 2009, the manufacturer came up with the first internal hard disk drive having a 2TB capacity. In news as of this writing, the company has recently announced the design of the first internal hard disk with 3TB capacity. With nearly 300 bestselling products in the market, Western Digital is one of the most respected and preferred names for internal and external hard disks.

Samsung
Samsung is rightly considered to be one of the top hard disk manufacturers, with over 10% of the market share to its credit. The manufacturer has gained a reputation for offering optical disk drives and standard hard disks. The company recently launched a hard disk with a data storage density of 250GB per 2.5 inch and 320GB per disk, showing that it is not to be discounted in the highly competitive arms race between manufacturers. Combined with the external hard disk drives, the company has nearly 150 bestselling products in the market.

Toshiba
The company is best known for its hard disk drives for portable devices like laptops and mobile phones. Toshiba also specializes in external hard drives that offer high speed data transfer and other desirable features. Their internal hard drives with very small 2.5 and 1.8-inch form factors are popular products of the company.

Hitachi
Hitachi owns the popular hard disk drive brands such as Ultrastar, Deskstar, and Travelstar. Nearly 275 bestselling products of the company are available in the market.

Other manufacturers like Fujitsu, Dell, and Quantum too have made their presence felt in the hard disk drive manufacturing sector. All these are offered on our site, ComputerHardDrives.net, at the lowest prices you can find on the web. Please browse through and have all your storage needs amply met!