It was not long ago when the choice of what storage tech was right for your needs meant purchasing the one that had the most capacity. However, with the development of different types of hybrid and solid-state drives, you will need to know a little more about which may work best for you. What follows is a list of common storage drives, their advantages and potential drawbacks that will help you decide the one that is well suited for your needs.
Solid State Drives
Like hard drives on some levels, the biggest difference is that they use NAND flash memory and not magnetic platters or heads. With no moving parts, solid state drives perform at a higher rate of speed and access data far more quickly. In fact, they operate at more than double the speed of hard disks. Because they are solid-state, they are far more durable and resilient to damage which means that drops, bumps, and scrapes have little effect.
However, they are far more expensive compared to hard drives and do not have the capacity of their counterparts either. Unlike hard drives that give off warnings of imminent failure, solid state drives tend to go without any warning. Also, the fuller the drive gets, the more it slows down, but that is a relatively minor issue.
Hard Drive
Or, hard-disk drives, these are the most common type of storage system for PCs. Although the technology has evolved considerably over the decades, the basic principles of storage remain the same. Much like an old-fashioned record, the disk rotates on a magnetic surface with heads that both record and retrieve the data. Hard drives offer plenty of room, are simple in their construction and are inexpensive.
However, because they have moving parts, they are not as reliable or perform as well as drives which are solid-state or hybrids. While their reading and writing speed are good, they are nowhere near what solid state drives can do. So, if you need a lot of storage for a little money and do not care much for speed, then hard drives are for you.
Hybrids
This is a combination of solid state and hard disk drives that carry all the advantages and disadvantages of each. Because their inherent strengths complement each other, each system works well together. The data that is used the most often is stored on the solid-state drives while the hard drive keeps older files intact. The overall price is slightly higher than hard drives, but the performance is boosted as well.
Of course, they carry all the disadvantages of both drives as well. This means that impacts will affect the hard drive portion and the storage capacity of the solid state is still limited. However, you can custom design hybrid systems to carry what you need so that it can be stored and accessed more readily.
It can get a little pricey unless you know exactly what you want and are willing to live with the consequences, so be sure to look over the advantage of each type ofย storage drive and match them to your needs.
