2.5, 3.5???

[graham7773]

I have been on this forum for a little while but I now have a question. What are specs referring to when they say 2.5 or 3.5 hard drives. This might sound silly but right now, I have 3 computers and all of the hard drives are 4.0 inches wide. Is it possible that the 2.5 and 3.5 refer to the size of the disc/s in the hard drives concerned?

 

[johnb35]

2.5" drives are for laptops and they are also SSD drives. 3.5" drives are only for desktop computers.

 

[Des_Zac]

I have been on this forum for a little while but I now have a question. What are specs referring to when they say 2.5 or 3.5 hard drives. This might sound silly but right now, I have 3 computers and all of the hard drives are 4.0 inches wide. Is it possible that the 2.5 and 3.5 refer to the size of the disc/s in the hard drives concerned?

2.5" and 3.5" are not exact dimensions, 3.5" is just the average size of a desktop hard drive and 2.5" is the average size of a laptop hard drive.

Also, (Don't quote me on this) I believe it's the diagonal measurement not width.

 

[claptonman]

I thought it meant the length/width of the platters.

 

[strollin]

2.5", 3.5", etc... refers to the diameter of the platters used inside the drive.

A desktop can't tell the difference between a 2.5" or a 3.5" drive so you can use either in a desktop. You more than likely cannot use a 3.5" drive in a laptop since it will be physically too large.