Walnut Creek, CA: What you should know about SSD vs. HDD for your computer

If you are looking to purchase a new computer or thinking about upgrading your current one, you may have heard a lot about Solid State Drives (SSD) and hard drives (HDD). You may also wonder what the difference is, and which one should you get. In this blog we will explain what they are and hopefully give you enough information so you can choose the best option.

If you have purchased a new computer within the last year or so, more than likely it came with a SSD, however there are some desktop computers that may have both an SSD and an HDD. There are also some desktops and budget friendly laptops still offer HDDs. Either way is very important to know that the latest version of Windows – W10 requires an SSD to run efficiently.

One of the best things about hard drives is the price; you can get HDDs for a lower cost in comparison to SDDs. The price for commonly used 1or 2 terabyte (TB) hard drives usually cost 40-50% of the price of the equivalent SSD. However, prices change quickly when it comes to technology so may want to do a price check yourself. The prices for SSDs have dropped considerably over the last few years but prices can fluctuate.

That brings us to the next point. Hard drives have sizes that can go up to 18 TB. This is especially important for those that have large media collections or saving video files. Currently it is rare to find solid state drives that come in sizes beyond 4 TB. If you are someone that works in content creation, it is also beneficial to have a large data storage on your computer.

The way data is retrieved on an HDD is by a small read/write head on the end of a stick that hovers over a spinning disk. The concept is similar to how a record plays on a record player, HDDs work best with large file data that has continuous blocks. This is so the read/write head can process the information in a constant movement, again like a record player. The downside to this is that “fragmentation” can occur. Fragmentation is when the hard drive starts to fill up and large files disperse throughout the disk. This affects the overall performance of the HDD which is one of its cons.

In solid state drives, data is stored in “flash memory” chips instead of a spinning disk. The flash chips are also known as “NAND” (these are not the same flash chips that are in USB thumb drive). Because there is no spinning disk needed to retrieve data, SSDs do not use as much power on your computer. They are also sturdier than HDDs, handling extreme temperatures and unintentional drops better because it’s structure. This makes it an excellent choice for people that work out in the field or for people that need to transport their laptop on a regular basis.

Solid state drives are much faster and reliable than HDDs. It can take less than 1 minute for computer with an SSD to boot up. It also transfers data faster and can run apps faster. HDDs much slower overall because of its record player like structure. It is slower whether you are booting it up or just using it in general since each time you pull data, the small disk spends, and the arm moves back and forth. This is also the reason HDDs produce noise. Some HDDs may be quieter than others, but there is always sound coming from it. With SSDs, there is no noise at all. And since HDDs commonly fail, especially with age, SSDs are overall more reliable. SSD’s will still fail, but not as often and will usually warn you before it happens.

When choosing a computer with a hard drive or a solid state drive, consider what you need your computer for, how you handle your computer and what your budget is.

Call to Action: If you would like to update your current HDD computer to a SSD or if you would like more information to compare the two, Cantrell’s Computer Sales and Service is here for you. Contact us at 925-827-1200.