If you are considering choosing hard drive disks (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD), there are important differences that you need to know before making your selection. While HDD has been around for decades and is proven technology, it does have issues that cause many to be concerned about its reliability. SSD products are newer and in some cases, may have limitations, but they also offer advantages over HDDs.
Durability
Arguably the main reason SSD systems are better compared to HDD is their enhanced durability. No moving parts means that SSDs are more impact-resistant and tend to breakdown far less compared to HDDs which have moving parts. Even moving around a computer with HDD makes it susceptible to breakdown while solid state driveย are far more resilient.
Silence
The familiar noise of the HDD computers is not present in SSD systems as there are no disks or parts that move around. This makes SSD systems far better for environments where silence is desired. Plus, the whir, vibrations, and noises of HDD computers can become quite annoying even over a short period.
Size
Solid state drives are far more compact and take up less room than HDD systems because no disk is needed. This is why their systems tend to be smaller or have room for additional storage. Tablets, Ultrabook, and the like enjoy improved operation because of having SSD instead of HDD as their primary systems.
Speed
Because SSDs do not contain any mechanical parts, they are inherently faster than HDDs which are discs that spin much like records. Not only is accessing the data from an SSD considerably faster, up to 100 times faster in some cases, the fragmentations that frequently collects on HDD systems is minimized. So, your computer boots up, transfers files, and enjoys greater bandwidth all at a far higher speed compared to HDD.
Power
Again, because there are no mechanical or moving parts, SSD systems consume far less power than their HDD counterparts. A hard disk drive consumes so much power because it must rotate a metal platter that is magnet-coated. So, not only are SSDs more power efficient, they are also far less likely to heat up because of their power use. The reduced threat of overheating makes them safer compared to HDD systems.
However, it is true that SSD systems are more expensive, do not store as much information, and have yet to become commonplace on the market. This is because the reliance on HDD systems is still present as most of the industry still relies on that technology. However, a bigger issue may be the limited write cycles of SSD systems means it wears down over time at a faster rate compared to HDD.
All things considered, SSD systems offer considerable advantages and even the disadvantages are not that bad when you consider the amount of data being stored and written on a typical computer. For those who are looking for greater durability, low power consumption, and faster access, solid state drive are the answer.
