Well, this is becoming a very common question these days, which storage drive is better SSD or HDD? To make this doubt clear I have created this guide and it doesn’t matter if you have no idea about these drives. Because here I’ll explain to you everything about both the drives (SSD vs HDD) so you can easily understand why one is better than the other.
Also, by going through this article, I am sure that you’ll get a proper idea and you can also be able to choose which one is better for you and your system. In recent years, SSD drives demand is increased rapidly due to its faster performance and all the latest laptops come equipped with an SSD drive or with both drives.
Not only that, while SSD drives demand is increasing and on the other side HDD drive demand is decreasing day by day due to its slow performance. Today we are living in an era where we all need a faster performance whether it was a laptop, internet, or anything.
Ok so now, let’s started with this article. But before that, we will see what SSD and HDD drive is and how it works, it will give you a proper idea about these storage drives.
What Is An SSD Drive (Solid State Drive)?
The very first time SSD (Solid State Drive) was launched by SanDisk in 1991.
This SSD storage drive is a new kind of storage technology that uses integrated circuits to store all types of data such as document files, videos, music, games, and others.
On top of that, the flash memory which it uses is combined in a laptop as a secondary storage drive.
What is the best thing about the SSD drive is that it doesn’t have any spinning disks and movable read-write heads, that’s why it makes no noise when it is in use. In addition, it is physically shock-resistant also.
Further, the overall performance of the SSD drives depends on the number of NAND chips it has got. Also, it stores the data in its semiconductor cells which contains between 1 bit and 4 bits of data. However, the properties of the SSD storage drive may vary depending on the number of bits stored in each cell.
There are three types of Cells available such as Single level cells (SLC), Multi level cells (MLC), and Triple level cells (TLC). The Single level cells is one of the fastest, reliable, durable, and expensive one as compared to the other two.
Pros- Shock resistant
- No movable parts
- No noise
- Read/Write speed is faster
- Expensive
- Difficult to recover data
What Is A HDD Drive (Hard Disk Drive)?
An HDD (Hard Disk Drive) was built by IBM in the year 1956.
This is a traditional storage drive which uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve any data by using one or more rapidly rotating disks.
Simply if I’ll tell you about how HDD works then the performance of the HDD drive depends on how fast it rotates.
An interesting thing about the HDD drive is that its storage capacity is more than any other storage device which is available in the market right now. But due to its slow performance compared to SSD, almost all laptop manufacturers are moving towards the SSD drive. The pricing value of an HDD is comparatively less expensive than the SSD drive.
There are many of you who may don’t know that from the overall storage space the system uses disk space for the operating system, other system files, along with backup and recovery files too.
Pros- Possible to recover the data
- Longer lifespan
- Affordable
- Durable
- Comparatively slower performance
- Have movable parts which make noise
SSD vs HDD : Which One Is Best For You?
So, after going through the above section of what is SSD and HDD storage drive, now you may have got a basic knowledge about them. Now, we will move toward each and every important aspect of these drives such as their Speed, Capacity, Life Span, Data Loss & Recovery, and most importantly Pricing.
1. Speed:
Let’s begin with speed, this is one of the reasons SSD technology replacing HDDs. Actually, the speed of the drives depends on their read/write speed.
A traditional HDD drive with 7200 RPM will provide an 80 to 160MB/s read and write speed while the SATA SSD offers read/write speed up to 200 MB/s to 550 MB/s. When it comes to NVMe m.2 SSD, then it is 10x faster than the SATA SSD as it delivers read/write speeds exceeding 5000 MB/s.
After seeing the speed differences now you may understand that the main differences lie here. The other factors such as price and capacity are the basics when comparing these drives’ performance or speed. So, this is one of the main reasons why companies and users are moving towards SSD drives is its incredible speed which it provides.
As you know that SSD has no moving parts which help to boot the system fast and takes very less time. On other side, HDDs are slower because it has moving parts and their rotation rate ensures their speed. Also, there is very less chance that HDD achieves the speed like SSDs.
So, there is no confusion about which provides better and faster performance SSD or HDD because now it’s clear that SSD wins the game here.
2. Capacity:
When we are going to buy a new laptop, many of us first we check or ask how much storage it has. In that case, HDD wins the game because HDDs are available with much more storage capacity than SSDs. So, if you are one who wants good storage space then there is no doubt you need to go for HDD.
HDDs are available with a storage capacity of a few hundred MB and up to 16TB of storage. If you have an old desktop then maybe it has an HDD drive with 128GB to as high as 1TB space. You’ll also get to see a higher storage capacity of HDD drives when it comes to enterprise use.
As we know that HDD drives are non-volatile but in some cases, you may lose data if the drive gets corrupted or damaged or for any other reason. Here I suggest you to don’t buy a hard drive with the huge storage capacity to store all your important data into that single drive.
Let’s talk about SSD or Solid State Drive, the SSDs are also available with high storage capacity but not as much as hard disk drives. SSDs are available with up to a few Terabytes of storage space but at the same time, it is expensive than HDDs. For instance, if we see MacBooks then it is combined with SSD for storage which contains up to 4TB of storage space.
There are very few laptops available in the market which come with dual storage such as SSD and HDD both. So, you can install all your apps on an SSD drive and store all your files, videos, images, and other data on an HDD drive.
3. Lifespan:
Well, this is also a very important factor that we can’t ignore and many of us are concerned about the lifespan of these drives. So, here is the question that comes to mind, and that is which one last longer?
SSD has a number of more advantages than only speed. Like, it uses less power compared to HDD drives and also saves energy and battery life of your laptop. However, HDD drives have moving parts and this is one of the reasons it may wear out sooner as compared to SSDs. In case, if you drop your laptop for any reason then the HDD may damage very easily.
As we all know SSD storage drive is physically shockproof but there is also an equal chance of data loss in some cases. Many of you may be heard that SSD is durable and can’t be harmed but it is a pure myth. After all, it depends up on your usage also.
Since the hardware purely works on the spinning disks and this is the reason it may wear out year over the years. But when it comes to the SSD, the more data you stored on it or use it the more it will wear out in the span of time. This is why most of the companies who build SSD provide around 5 to 6 years of warranty just to be on the safer side.
4. Data Loss & Recovery:
If anyone of you have faced a data loss issue because of a hard drive corrupted then you may definitely understand the pain of this situation.
Talking about HDD drives, data loss is a common problem in HDD drives faced by users in all over the world. There are many reasons for facing this issue such as physical damage, corrupt the disk, or any other reason. Recover HDD drives is easier than SSD drives as it is a non-volatile storage drives. On top of that, even if the power is off still you can recover your data from it.
When it comes to SSD drives, many of us tend to believe that there are no moving parts available inside the drive and this is why they don’t suffer data loss issues. But on the other side, you may face other mechanical issues with SSD drives like errors in reading files, firmware corruption, or many more.
Recovering the SSD drive is quite difficult and the same time costly too. In case, the drive is broken then there is no chance to recover it and you may lose your data forever.
The more data you write on a flash memory the sooner it will wear out. These things happen because of the complicated algorithms used in the architecture of building SSD and that’s why it is quite difficult to recover it.
5. Pricing:
Last but not least, pricing is also an important factor for any device or product. When it comes to choosing a product between two then pricing plays a very important role if you have a limited budget.
As we have discussed earlier in this article, SSD is more expensive than HDD drive. If you’ll choose a high storage space of SSD then the costlier it will be. Also, the pricing may vary as per the SSD types because there are few types of SSDs available in the market.
Moving towards the HDD drive, it is less expensive and affordable compared to SSDs. Also, SSD is one of the main reasons why laptop cost is higher than the one which comes with an HDD drive. Well, the choice completely depends on your need and budget. If performance matters for you then simply choose a laptop with SSD but if you have a limited budget then HDD is the only option.
Final Word
Finally, we have reached the end of this article and I hope you have got an idea about this both storage and now you are able to choose which one is suitable for you. For better and faster performance, SSD wins the race but if you are the one who wants a huge storage space at an affordable price rather than performance then the HDD drive is the only option.
There are very few laptops available that come with dual storage such as a small amount of SSD to install the apps and a good storage space of HDD to store all your files. Actually, it’s a great option for maintaining a perfect balance of performance and storage.
Now, you have got a perfect idea about which storage drive is better and suitable for you as per your needs and budget. Still, if you have any doubts regarding these storage drives then feel free to ask me.
