In its simplest form, an SSD is flash storage and has no moving parts whatsoever. … SSD storage is much faster than its HDD equivalent. HDD storage is made up of magnetic tape and has mechanical parts inside. They’re larger than SSDs and much slower to read and write.
| Attribute | SSD (Solid State Drive) | HDD (Hard Disk Drive) |
| Power Draw / Battery Life | Less power draw, averages 2 – 3 watts, resulting in 30+ minute battery boost | More power draw, averages 6 – 7 watts and therefore uses more battery |
| Cost | Expensive, roughly $0.20 per gigabyte (based on buying a 1TB drive) | Only around $0.03 per gigabyte, very cheap (buying a 4TB model) |
| Capacity | Typically not larger than 1TB for notebook size drives; 4TB max for desktops | Typically around 500GB and 2TB maximum for notebook size drives; 10TB max for desktops |
| Operating System Boot Time | Around 10-13 seconds average bootup time | Around 30-40 seconds average bootup time |
| Noise | There are no moving parts and as such no sound | Audible clicks and spinning can be heard |
| Vibration | No vibration as there are no moving parts | The spinning of the platters can sometimes result in vibration |
| Heat Produced | Lower power draw and no moving parts so little heat is produced | HDD doesn’t produce much heat, but it will have a measurable amount more heat than an SSD due to moving parts and higher power draw |
| Failure Rate | Mean time between failure rate of 2.0 million hours | Mean time between failure rate of 1.5 million hours |
| File Copy / Write Speed | Generally above 200 MB/s and up to 550 MB/s for cutting edge drives | The range can be anywhere from 50 – 120MB / s |
| Encryption | Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Supported on some models | Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Supported on some models |
| File Opening Speed | Up to 30% faster than HDD | Slower than SSD |
| Magnetism Affected? | An SSD is safe from any effects of magnetism | Magnets can erase data |
SSD vs HDD
Most people now buy laptops for their computing needs and have to make the decision between getting either a Solid State Drive (SSD) or Hard Disk Drive (HDD) as the storage component. So which of the two is the better choice, SSD storage or HDD storage? There’s no straight-forward answer to this question; each buyer has different needs and you have to evaluate the decision based on those needs, your preferences, and of course budget. Even though the price of SSDs has been falling, the price per gigabyte advantage is still strongly with HDDs. Yet, if performance and fast bootup is your primary consideration and money is secondary, then SSD speed is the way to go. For the remainder of this article, we will make a comparison of SSD and HDD storage and go over the good, the bad, and the ugly of both.
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