When buying a new PC or updating the disk system of an old electronic computer, the question necessarily arises: “Which is better - SSD or HDD?” Five years ago this question did not arise. There was no alternative to a conventional hard drive (its second name is “Winchester” or simply “screw”). Therefore, it was precisely such devices for storing information that were used universally. But now the situation has changed dramatically. Increasingly, users are paying attention to solid-state drives, which although they are more expensive, but at the same time they have a much higher performance.
Story
Before we find out what is the difference between SSD and HDD, let's take a short historical digression and look at the storage technologies that are used in each type of device.
The first full-fledged hard disk drive (official name) was made by IBM in 1973. Then its volume was 60 MB (2 plates of 30 MB each). Over the past 40-plus years, such devices have evolved, and their characteristics have improved significantly - both capacity and speed. But the essence of technology has not changed. At the heart of any HDD (from the English words “hard” - hard, “disk” - disk and “drive” - in this case a drive) is a plate covered with a ferromagnetic layer. Using the head, a certain orientation is created in it (the “north” and “south” poles, which correspond to the logical “0” and “1”). SSDs were first introduced in 1978. But their widespread use began relatively recently - the first PCs equipped with them as the main drive appeared in 2009. Solid-state storage devices are built on the basis of semiconductor materials, which consist of "cells". Only two values “0” (no signal) and “1” (potential present) can be recorded in such a “cell”. Hence the difference between a hard drive and an SSD. Unlike HDD it consists in the fact that another material is used in the production (silicon against a ferromagnet) and a different principle of information storage (microcircuits against plates) is completely different. You need to remember this when choosing a new device of this class.
Classic version
In order to answer the question of which is better - SSD or HDD, we consider each device for storing information separately. Let's start with the second one. This is a classic version of organizing a disk system. The main characteristics of the hard drives are as follows:
- Capacity - the amount of information stored in the decimal system. At the same time, this indicator in the operating system will differ, since here the calculation is carried out already in the binary system. Now available drives with capacities from 250 GB to 8 TB.
- The connection interface can be IDE, USB and SATA. The first of them is morally and physically outdated and is used only on PCs that were released 5 years ago and earlier. The second is great for portable information storage. And the third, main - is now used almost everywhere. Its latest version has an index of "3". All devices capable of working with this version of this interface allow data transfer at speeds up to 6 Gb / s. SATA also has a special version with the “m” index, which is used only on laptops and netbooks.
- Data transfer rate. As noted earlier, it depends on the type of interface used. The higher it is, the better.
- The frequency of rotation of the plates. Now on sale there are models with 5400 and 7200 rpm. per minute. The higher this indicator, the higher the performance.
These are the main characteristics of hard drives. To answer the question of which is better - SSD or HDD, you need to consider the parameters of solid-state drives. What will be done next.
Know how
There is no other name for SSD than know-how. These devices went on sale 5 years ago. Immediately constraining factors were their high cost and not large size. But now the situation is gradually changing. Increasingly, they can be found on desktop computers and laptops. The main characteristics they have are as follows:
- Capacity is the same as hard drives. Now models are available from 32 GB to 1 TB.
- Manufacturing technology can be from 19 nm to 26 nm. The smaller, the greater the speed, but this reduces the number of cycles of rewriting cells.
- Connection interface. All of them are similar to those given previously for the HDD, except for the IDE, which is not used for the SSD.
- The number of rewrite cycles. It can be from 1000 to 5000 cycles. The higher this value, the longer the SSD will last.
Based on the above, you can easily give an answer to how the HDD differs from SSD and which one is better.
Drive Comparison
Comparing the performance of each drive, it can be noted that solid-state drives have a higher data transfer rate. This is provided by the technology itself. Microcircuits in this regard are better than magnetic plates. This is where the benefits of this type of device end. If you compare the cost and size of the drive, it turns out that at a price of 40-50 USD you can buy either 32 GB
SSD, or 160-250 GB of HDD. Hence the choice of most users. At the same cost, a larger volume will be better than speed. Also, the maximum capacity of an HDD is 8 times greater (1 GB vs 8 GB).
What and where is better?
Now let's figure out which is better - SSD or HDD - in each case. For multimedia stations and office PCs, hard drives with a capacity of 160-320 GB are perfect. And the price is small, and this size will be enough for the tasks to be solved. The situation is similar with entry-level netbooks and laptops. But high-performance mobile computers will be better equipped with a solid-state drive of 128-256 GB in size. Gaming PCs, graphics stations and servers must be equipped with 2 drives. One for systems and programs is SSD. And the second is the hard drive on which user data will be stored. This will allow to obtain both high speed and the necessary volume for storing information.
Summary
In the framework of this article, a comprehensive comparison of HDD and SSD was made, their main characteristics are indicated, recommendations for their use are given, following which you can easily select the storage device that is best suited for your needs.