The Difference between Solid State, and Hard Disk Drives

Solid State Drives, or SSD, are the newest form of storage for Computers and Laptops. Unlike a standard hard disc drive, or HDD, an SSD doesn’t have a hard disc. SSDs run off flash memory, similar to the way a flash drive works with all of the data stored by electrical charges. The one down side to this is the SSD needs to be plugged in once a year, otherwise the data could be lost. But that’s not the only difference between Solid State and Hard Disc Drives.

SSDs are lighter, use less energy, and run cooler than an HDD. SSDs also preform significantly faster and are also more reliable than HDDs. The reason for the increase in reliability is because of the lack of moving parts. An HDD Drive has many moving parts for the actual hard disk to store memory, like the hard disk and read write arm. While an SSD has zero moving parts, everything is done with charges that are converted into data on the Drive.

But HDDs are better in a few other areas, the biggest one at time of writing is the price. You could purchase a 2 TB internal HDD for $50 at Best Buy, while a 2 TB Internal SSD would cost you over $200. HDD can also hold data for longer without needing to be plugged in. So anything that you would want archived should always be put on a Hard Disc Drive.

These are the main differences between the 2 types of drives. Currently it looks like SSDs are coming down in price which is going to make them more common in the coming years. Sony has confirmed that the next PlayStation console will be running off of SSDs. And since Solid State Drives are mostly internal, its unlikely that you will lose the data on the drive.

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-hard-disk-drive-hdd-and-solid-state-drive-ssd/

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-to-solid-state-drive-ssd/