SSD Vs HDD – Which is a Best Storage Hard Drive?

Till a few years ago, you had very few options regarding the type of Hard Drive you would get on your personal computer. Only if you had purchased an ultraportable Windows-based system, you were likely to have a Solid State Drive (SSD) as the primary storage drive, rest all the laptops and desktops had a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) as the primary storage drive. However, times have changed, and with technological advancements over the years, you can now choose the type of Hard Drive you want to have on your Computer or Laptop – SSD or HDD.

Watch the video on “SSD Vs HDD – How to Choose a Better Storage Hard Drive“

However, the confusion that arises is whether you should choose SSD or HDD as the storage drive for your laptop or desktop. This is because there are no straight-cut answers as to which is a better hard drive. Each user has a different set of requirements, preferences, and budget depending upon which the decision must be made as to which storage media is to be used. It is essential to know the difference between SSD and HDD.

What is Solid State Drive (SSD)?

• SSD is a non-volatile data storage device.
• It is also known as a Solid State Drive.
• SSD stores data on microchips or integrated solid-state flash memory.
• It does not have any type of moving parts to break or spin up or down.
• It can be used as internal and external devices for storing data.

What is Hard Disk Drive (HDD)?

• HDD is a non-volatile data storage device.
• It is also known as a Hard Disk Drive or Hard Drive.
• HDD stores data on rotating magnetic disks or platters.
• It has moving parts to break or spin up or down.
• It can be used as internal and external devices for storing data.

SSD Vs HDD – Performance Comparison

Parameters	HDD	SSD
Access Time	5.5 ~8.0 ms	0.1 ms
Random I/O Performance	400 io/s	6000 io/s
Reliability	Failure Rate 2~5 %	Failure Rate 0.5%
Energy Consumes	Between 6 & 15 watts	Between 2 & 5 Watts
CPU Power	Average wait time is 7%	Average wait time of 1 %
Input / Output Request Times	Average time is 400 ~ 500 ms	Average Service time 20 ms
Backup Rates	20~24 hours	6 hour

Even though both Hard Disk Drives and Solid State Drives perform similar function i.e. stores your data and lets you access it as when required, however, both have their share of advantages and disadvantages. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of both will help you decide which is the best fit for your system based on your requirements.

SSD Vs HDD – Advantages

SSD	HDD
Uses less power compared to HDD	It’s readily available in the market
The boot time is approx. 10 sec	HDD is an economical option for users
Fragmentation of drive is not necessary to store data	Data recovery is less complicated
It does not make noise or vibration	HDD offers enormous storage capacity
SSD supports Disk encryption	Supports Disk encryption
It is Faster than HDD
It has overcome the physical limitation of HDD.

SSD Vs HDD – Disadvantages

SSD	HDD
SSD is expensive	It takes time to access the data
High-speed transistors cause the heat in SSD	It consumes more power to function than SSD drive
SSD’s are not readily available in the market	It uses more seek time
SSD’s data recovery is costly & complex	Makes noises & vibrates when in use
The top available storage unit for SSD is lesser than an average HDD drive	File opening & boot time speed is more as compared to SSD

SSD vs HDD – Which is Best Hard Drive?

• Even though the price of SSDs is low and has been dropping considerably, the price per gigabyte advantage is yet strong with HDDs. So, if performance and fast boot up is your prime necessity, and money is secondary, then SSD may serve as a good option and vice versa.
• SSDs are considered to be a more reliable data storage device as compared to HDDs. This is because HDDs are prone to both physical and logical damage that can result in data loss. However, in the case of SSDs, they are less prone to damage because they have a resistant strong magnetic field and temperature fluctuation. Further, data loss due to wearing out of the mechanical components is not possible in case of SSDs. Hence, Solid State Drives are considered to be more reliable as compared to HDs.
• In case of data loss in an HD, be it due to logical or physical failure, data recovery is possible for hard disk failures unless you have overwritten the data on the drive. There are several HDD recovery software tools available in the market, which you can use to recover the data. However, in a case of data loss in an SSD driver, data recovery process is tremendously complex. One of the major challenges which you may face is identifying whether your SSD is damaged. This is because unlike HDD, it does not send out any signal or symptom. The only way to identify that your drive has failed is when it stops responding completely.
• SDD data recovery gets highly complicated if it is TRIM enabled because the TRIM allows the Operating System on your computer to command the drive to swab off those blocks which are no longer required. When the blocks are wiped out, it fills in those blocks with new data, and this makes the data recovery process complicated.

When to Use SSD and HDD?

HDD may be the right choice in the following conditions:

• Large storage capacity, i.e. up to 6TB is required
• Cost-effective
• Unaffected by how fast the system boots up or opens programs

SSD may serve as a good option under the following conditions:

• The user is willing to pay a good amount for faster performance
• The user does not mind restricted storage capacity

Conclusion

Both SSDs and HDDs are used for storing data on your computer. However, to choose the right one, it is essential to know about the pros and cons of each as discussed above. This will help you assess which of the two would be the best fit for meeting your system needs.