Hard Drives - SSD vs. HDD
The tech sector is full of acronyms. IP, ISP, BIOS, RAM, SQL, and of course there's also SSD and HDD, both of which are types of hard drives. While SSD (pictured on the left in the above image) stands for solid-state drive, HDD (pictured right) stands for hard disk drive. While both perform largely the same task, the difference between the two is often noticeable.
What Is The Difference?
Looking at the picture above, you probably think to yourself that one seems sleeker than the other - and you'd be correct as it is in fact one of the main differences. While an HDD features parts that physically move and spin around to store and access data, an SSD does not have these same parts. This is what leads to the three main advantages of an SSD.
First, an SSD, because it does not have the moving arts, does not make noise within the system while and HDD will. Second, there moving parts makes it more likely that a HDD will have a part fail and result in data loss while an SSD is far less likely to encounter a similar error. Finally, speed is a major advantage of an SSD as the lack of mechanical parts allows the drives to find and read data at a quicker pace - a change that is very noticeable to many users.
The advantages of HDDs are that they tend to be more inexpensive and they are often available with larger storage sizes. While they are often big enough for the average user, SSDs are not easy to find for someone who is storing lots of large files like videos and graphic designs.
What Is Suggested?
We suggest the use of SSDs for all of our clients. The reliability and speed are what really sets them apart from HDDs in our opinion. For the past few years, our stock PCs as well as the laptops we have sold have almost all come with SSDs to make sure performance is that much better. In some cases, we have installed SSDs in older machines that were running slowly and seen them gain a few extra years of life.
The difference is very visible to any user, so unless there is an extreme cost constraint, SSD drives should be considered the standard moving forward.
We strive to look out for the best interest of our customers and their procurement in the IT venue. Be it hardware, software or service related, we want to guide you in the most effective manner possible.
