SSDs; short for Solid State Drives, have been regarded as super fast in the technology industry. As time goes by, they are being implemented into laptops more and more and are more readily available for desktop computers. They are advised for faster speeds and cost a considerable amount more than Hard Drive Disks (HDDs), but is this all really true?

SSDs vs HDDs

The problem with comparing SSDs and Hard Drive Disks (HDDs) is that it is like comparing a pen and a pencil. Each have specific uses and each are better at doing different things – hence why they are different. Let’s discuss the two.

Performance

SSDs

SSDs are all about little data transactions, it is what they are very good at doing, but what does this mean? It means that when you have little files all over the place that need to be recalled to carry out certain tasks in your computer, it recalls and deals with these files rapidly.

Examples of this would be an operating system such as Windows 10, or a program which needs to access a tonne of little files like photoshop. In simple terms, SSDs literally destroy HHDs for these sorts of transactions; they are tonnes faster, but what about other transactions?

HDDs

What if you have lots of data to store for example, videos or pictures, in other words something that doesn’t require great performance as such? This is where Hard Drives win. By spending £150, you will find that you can buy a 250GB SSD or a 4TB HDD, where 4TB is equal to 4000GB. That’s roughly 16x more storage space for the same amount of money.

This is why we are a long way away from replacing HDDs with SSDs.

Reliability

HDDs

Nowadays, Hard Drives are fairly reliable. The only problem with HDDs is that since it has a moving disc inside it, with a pin reading data off this disc; it is prone to wear and tear - meaning it will eventually die.

Thankfully if this is close to happening they tend to give you warning signs so that you have time to back up your data - but this still does not protect them from eventual permanent damage, so what about SSDs?

SSDs

SSDs don’t really wear out very much and can last for pretty much ever if used properly. BUT. There is always a ‘but’; but, if you write to them heavily, you can kill them off pretty quickly. This includes frequently downloading files on to it, for example.

Conclusion

After determining my needs; for example, if I would like good performance for games but don’t need that much storage, SSDs is what I would go for – and vice versa.

What if I was stuck between the two? There is a fairly new bit of technology called Hybrid Drives. This is a combination of the two and are becoming more and more readily available. If this interests you, do your research on them as they may end up being beneficial!

Hope this article has helped. If you have any questions, leave them below and I will get back to you!

Until next time, take care.

~ Mystifact