EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES BATTLE FOR MARKET SHARE

There appears to be battle for market lead among brand external hard drive in the in the IT market, especially in the Nigerian IT market, popularly known as Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos, where almost anything that has to do with ICT peripherals can be purchased.

In today's technology driven society, storage is not just about keeping your valuable data secure, it's also about making your information and media accessible wherever you are. External hard drive is a hardware device that stores these valuable data and add a considerable level of safety and security.

Basically, an external hard drive sits outside the main computer tower in its own enclosure. The enclosure is slightly larger than the hard drive itself, and sometimes contains a cooling fan. This portable encasement allows the user to store information on a hard drive that is not inside the computer, but rests on a tabletop or surface nearby the computer.

The external hard drive is connected to the computer via a high_speed interface cable. The interface cable allows the external hard drive to communicate with the computer so that data may be passed back and forth.

Just last week, a close monitoring of market activities ishowed that many branded external hard drive are battling for market lead just like brands in PCs and cell phone.

Currently, the most popular brands in the Nigerian IT market are not limited to the following: Seagate, HP, Samsung, LG, Western Digital among others.

Their capacities range from 3TB to 4.9TB, 1TB to 2.9TB, 600GB to 999GB, 300GB to 599GB, 200GB to 299GB, 100GB to 199GB.

These products, according to findings cost between N6,500, N12, 500, N21,500 depending on the carrying capacity.

Although these brands have up to one year warranty, for most vendors in the biggest African ICT market, Seagate and Western Digital appear to be the toast of many buyers.

Although it is actually very hard to draw a perfect conclusion on which external hard drive is the best brand, of course, there are several factors users may consider before buying including, price, capacities, warranty, among others factors.

'The brands are good but Seagate is being patronized more than other brands in the market not because of mainly price. It is a matter of popular brand which gives users more value. They all have warranty' Ikpechukwu Okonkwo, the Chief Executive Office of Vitel Technologies, an ICT vendor in the Computer Village told Vanguard Hi-Tech in an interaction last Monday.

According to him, many people are becoming more aware the need to have storage facility like external hard drive to store their data, adding that LG and Seagate seem to be locking head over market lead.

For the Marketing Manager of PC logistics, an ICT vendor in the Computer Village who spoke on anonymous ground, external hard drive is becoming popular among people, especially core IT people who have big data to store in their digital warehouse.

The truth of the matter is that it is even difficult to make a conclusion on who have major market lead. But from indications, Seagate is still leading the market.

Seagate, according to available reports became the first manufacturer to produce hard drives with a capacity for it by releasing 3TB GoFlex

It would be recalled that Seagate Technology, and Samsung Electronics had recently announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Seagate and Samsung will significantly expand and strengthen their strategic relationship by further aligning their respective ownership, investments and key technologies