When you choose a hard drive, think about the future space needed.
An 80Gb may sound like a a lot of space today but when you start
downloading programs and the ever popular MP3's, you will find
that 80 gig is not a lot especially if you convert them to wav files


Think about the the access speed and speed of the of the hard
drive itself. The "NORM" is still the IDE 7200 rpm drive but SATA is
quickly becoming the expected format

Other things that many do not think about are..
As the hard drive fills up.. the access and response of the drive
will slow down. Sometimes it is better to run two smaller drives
that one large one

Some systems may have to update / flash their bios in order to handle
the larger - newer drives. Check to see if your bios can handle the drive size
and format before you make your purchase. Also, will your system handle the
NEWER S.AT.A. drives?