What is the Difference Between a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and a Solid-State Drive, (SSD).

It's easy for people to become overwhelmed by all the different computer drives. You should be familiar with the fundamental differences between HDD and SSD. What is the difference between an HDD and SSD? Which drive is the best? Which type of drive is most likely to fail?

We spend a lot time thinking about HDD and SSD. This means that we are well aware of the pros and cons to each type of drive. It's useful to compare the pros and cons of each type of drive if you are looking to upgrade your computer or just curious about which one is best. This "What's the Diff?" post will help you understand the differences between the two types of drive. Continue reading to find out how drive technology has evolved over the years, and how you can make the right decision about your data storage.

The Hard Disk Drive is in this Corner

For many generations, the spinning hard drive has been the standard for personal computers. The constant advancement of technology has allowed hard drives manufacturers to offer more storage capacity at a lower cost per gigabyte, making them the most affordable hard drives.

Hard drives have been around as long as 1956, and they are still as sophisticated today. Back then, they were only two feet in size and could store a few megabytes. But technology has advanced to the point that you can fit 10 terabytes of data into something as small as a kitchen sponge.

A hard drive looks more like an old record player. It contains a platter or stack of platters that spin around a central spindle, typically at 5,400 to 7,200 revolutions each minute. There are different types of hard drive available today. Some hard drives are faster because they were designed for high performance.

An armature known as a read-writehead allows information to be written to the drive and then read from it by altering the magnetic fields of the platters. It looks somewhat like a record player's arm, except that it is equipped with a needle to run in the groove of the record. Instead, the read-write heads hover slightly above the disk's surface.

Hard drives come in two common sizes: 2.5 inches for laptops and 3.5 inches for desktop machines. External drives can also be found with 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives. Standardized sizes make it easier to repair or replace things if they go wrong.

Most drives today connect via a standard interface known as Serial ATA (or SATA). Specialized storage systems may use Serial Attached SCSI, Fibre Channel or other interfaces that are designed for specific purposes.

Hard Disk Drives Cost Advantage

Hard disk drives are much cheaper per gigabyte than SSDs because they're based on proven technology that has been around for decades. HDD storage costs as little as three cents per gigabyte. Although you don't have to spend a lot, you still get plenty of storage. HDD manufacturers continue to increase storage capacity while keeping costs low. HDDs are still the best choice for anyone who needs a lot storage but doesn't want to spend a lot.

HDDs are not as efficient as SSDs in terms of power consumption, noise generation, heat production, and can generate as much heat as SSDs. The biggest difference between HDD and SSD is the fact that they are mechanical devices. Mechanical devices will eventually wear out. It's not about if it will happen, but when.

HDD technology isn’t static. The price per unit of storage has fallen dramatically. In 60 years, the cost per gigabyte of HDDs has fallen by 2 billion.

HDD manufacturers have made significant technological advances to store more data on HD platters.  Consumers have been able to benefit from increasing drive sizes as HDD manufacturers compete for market share. One way to reduce friction and increase density is to replace air in drives with Helium. The latest technologies are microwave and heat-assisted magnet recording (HAMR and MAMR, respectively). HAMR records magnetically with laser-thermal aid, while MAMR uses a microwave generator called a spin torque oscillator or a lazer to store more data on a platter. The drives are still in development and will soon be available for purchase by enterprise partners.

It will continue to be in competition for more storage space within the familiar 3.5 inch HDD format. This means it will remain a very small storage option with a high capacity for many years.

In the opposite corner: The Solid-state Drive

SSDs are becoming more popular in recent years. SSDs are standard equipment across Apple's laptop lines, including the MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

Solid state, which is the industry term for an integrated circuit in shorthand, refers to an SSD that doesn't have moving parts. Instead, they use flash memory, which is a type of computer chip that keeps their information even if the power is off.

SSDs function in the same way as your smartphone's storage. SSD cards found in modern Macs and PCs are faster than storage on your smartphone or tablet.

Their overall performance is limited by the mechanical nature of HDDs. Although hard drive manufacturers do their best to increase data transfer speeds and decrease idle time and latency, there is a limit to what they can accomplish. SSDs offer a significant performance advantage over hard drives: they are faster to boot up and shut down, and can transfer data faster.

You can experience a significant performance boost if you are still using a SATA hard disk. In addition, SSDs are now much less expensive than they were a few years ago.

There are many SSD form factors

SSDs are smaller than hard drives and require less power. Because they are not mechanical, SSDs don't produce any noise and are therefore more reliable. SSD-powered computers can last longer than hard drives, and are smaller, lighter, and more reliable.

 A wide variety of SSD forms are now available. Memory sticks, which were once limited to 128MB, are now available in larger sizes, such as 2TB. These memory sticks are used in mobile devices that are small and dense, such as phones, drones and cameras. For data center applications, there are other high-density form factors such as the Intel 32TB P4500. The Intel SSD DC P4500 is a 12 inch ruler with a 32TB storage capacity. The P4500 SSD is the world's most dense, with 64 layers of 3D NAND. Although the price of the DC P4500 SSD isn't yet available, you can be certain that once it does, there will be a market.

2018 saw the ExaDrive 100TB SSD from Nimbus Data. The SSD holds twice as many data as Backblaze's original Storage Pods. The Exadrive was initially only available for purchase. However, in 2020 the company launched online pricing. The Exadrive 100TB model retails for $40,000, while the 50TB version is $12,500.

Manufacturers of SSD drives are also looking for ways to store more data in smaller forms and at higher speeds. It is becoming less common to see an SSD drive look like a 2.5-inch HDD drive. Because SSDs can read and copy data at very high speeds, storage and computer designers are naturally keen to make the most of this capability. Storage is becoming more integrated into the computer's motherboard and taking on new forms.

Comparison of the size of an mSATA SSD (left), and an M.22242 SSD (right).

These can be as small or large as a few pieces of chocolate, but they have the same capacity and speed as any 2.5-inch SATA SSD.

NvM Express, or NVMe, is another interface technology that has been moving from data centers to consumer laptops. NVMe SSDs connect to the PCI Express slot (PCIe), instead of using SATA bandwidth. They can achieve faster read-write speeds, but are almost twice as expensive than SATA SSDs.

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Failure of SSDs

SSDs, like hard drives can also wear out. However, SSDs are not affected by the same factors. Hard drives wear down due to the mechanical nature of a spinning motor. An SSD does not have moving parts, but each memory bank has an end-of-life limit. This means that it cannot be written to or read from more than it can handle before it ceases working. These operations are managed dynamically by logic built into the drives to reduce problems and prolong its life.

Practically, SSD longevity is not something that most people need to worry about. A SSD that you place in your computer today is likely to outlast it. It's important to realize that SSDs are more durable than hard drives but still subject to the same laws as all other things in the universe.

Storage Future Planning

A good backup plan is vital, regardless of whether you are using an SSD or a HDD. Any drive can fail eventually. A combination of a local backup and secure off-site backup is necessary to satisfy the 3-2-1 backup strategy. We hope you found this information helpful about SSDs and HDDs. We welcome your comments and questions, so don't hesitate to ask!