-The hard drive is a big decision and can seem complicated. There are a few key features to look at when buying a Hard Drive. Two main features will be the controller format such as SCSI or IDE. Which one is for you is really a hard decision. If you have the money maybe a SCSI is the right purchase, however the IDE has been around a long time and seems to do a good job. Look for this below when shopping:
Seek Time, the lower the number the better. This determines the time it takes for the read/write heads to move over a track, 7.5 is the average seek time.
Transfer Rate, this the rate at which the controller sends data to the system from the Hard Drive. The average is about 16.6Mbps per second. The higher the number the better.
Disk Cache, this is a memory buffer and should be 128k or better. The higher the better. Look for 512k if possible.
Speed, this amounts to how fast the Hard Drive platters spins. The faster the better performance to expect. Look for no less than 5,200 RPM.
Space, the amount of storage you have is important. If you are running a server you may want a big hard drive such as 20GB. For the home user going with 6GB is usually adequate.
-Look for name brands such as Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, are all good drives and offer long term performance.
-Getting a hold of a floppy doesn't require much brain power and is simple. There isn't much to worry about as far as spec just look for a simple 3.5" floppy that holds a 1.44MB disk. Not to big of a deal really and will run you about $20.00.
-If the floppy is a little to boring for you consider a Super Disk which can hold an enormous amount of information. It will also support the older floppy disk.
