HDD vs SSD: Which Is the Better Performer?
Do you want your operating system to boot faster? To wait shorter for files to copy from one partition to another? And for that 500-page PDF or 300MB TIF file to just load already?
You need a better hard drive. One that can write and read files faster. But should you get a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD)?
Solid-state drives generally perform better than hard disk drives, making them the preferred choice for gamers and other high-performance users. But is this true? And if so, why are SSDs better than HDDs?
The Key Difference Between an HDD and an SSD
A hard disk drive uses a moving head to read and write data stored on a platter. By comparison, an SSD doesn’t have any moving parts. While on the outside an SSD may look like a smaller HDD, if you remove its casing – it’s better to just imagine this rather than actually do it – you’ll find that it contains a series of microchips, much like a memory stick.
SSDs use flash memory. This means that any data point they store can be almost immediately accessed without waiting for a mechanical part to locate it. Also, because of the way SSDs store and retrieve data, you don’t have to worry about fragmentation.
In other words, using an HDD is pretty much like searching for a piece of information through a stack of papers. It takes a while, even if you know exactly what you’re after. Using an SSD, on the other hand, is like having all the papers in front of you already and quickly scanning them for what you need. It’s a lot faster.
This essential difference in design between an HDD and an SSD is the reason why the average SSD handles files faster than most HDDs. And it’s the explanation for why SSDs have virtually no data access time, unlike HDDs, which tend to have an access time of at least 10 milliseconds.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement then to say that SSDs are not just a better alternative to HDDs, but a next-generation technology that comes with undeniable improvements and is slowly supplanting HDDs.
So How Much Faster Are SSDs?
When you look at the specs provided by the manufacturers, most SSDs promise file writing speeds of over 200 MB/s, while the best-performing models go over 500 MB/s. By comparison, most HDDs promise speeds of just around 100 MB/s.
We are talking here about data transfer speeds, which affect many of the tasks you perform on your computer. Data speeds govern the following:
- File transfer speeds, e.g. when you copy a large folder with many files such a music collection from one location to another
- Application open time
- Gaming performance, especially for games with a complex game world
- Backup times for local backups
- Overall operating system performance and boot up time
- Performance for resource-intensive applications, such as photo editing or video rendering tools
You can expect a good-quality SSD to be 2-3 times faster on all these tasks than a top 7,200 rpm HDD. And that’s a big difference. SSDs enable you to copy files faster and open applications in half the time, run games more smoothly, speed up backups, and give your operating system and resource-hungry apps a nice performance boost.
When you compare a cutting-edge SSD to a low-end HDD, the writing speed for the former can be up to 7-10 times faster.
Is There Any Reason to Choose an HDD Instead?
When you’re looking at the actual performance across tasks, the simple answer is no. Whether you are shopping for a new desktop or laptop or are looking to upgrade an old HDD, an SDD will offer you better performance. It will help you get all file-related operations done faster, and that means an overall performance boost to your computer.
But there’s one area where HDDs continue to have the upper hand, and that’s the price for storage. HDDs offer more storage space at a lower cost. While most consumer-grade SSDs stop at 500GB or 1TB, HDDs offer 2TB and 4TB worth of storage at a good price.
For multimedia users, 500GBs may simply not be enough. For them, a 4TB HDD could prove more cost-effective than two large SSDs.
But What About Durability?
Remember that SSDs have no moving parts? For that reason alone, they are more durable than HDDs, whose moving header is subject to wear and tear. SSDs too wear out over time because their memory banks can only support a finite number of writes. But in most cases, it’s not likely that a good-quality SSD will die out before an HDD.
Also, SSDs are more resistant to shocks. So an SSD will normally perform better than an HDD while also lasting longer. That’s why they’re recommended for laptops and portable gaming stations which don’t stay in one place. And, also, why many high-quality laptops today, including Apple’s, use SSDs.
The Verdict
SSDs perform better than HDDs on all tasks. Even factoring in differences between models and manufacturers, the average SDD will prove faster than a good-quality HDD, and will also outlast it. Whether you are a lay user or a demanding gamer, your computer will be happier with an SSD, even if that means you have to cut down on the storage space.
But why is there even a comparison between SSDs and HDDs? For the simple reason that HDDs have better costs per GB and, for users who need plenty of TBs, they remain the best choice. If all you want from your hard drive is for it to offer as much storage space as possible, and don’t care that much for file writing speeds, you can safely choose an HDD.
But if it’s a question of speed, and for many users today it is – after all, why wait double the time for your operating system to boot, for your files to get copied, or for a game world to load – then an SDD is, hands down, the better performer.
