You have probably heard of a hard disk drive as this has been one of the most common and popular devices to store information on computers and laptops. However, you may have recently started to hear more about an SSD hard drive, or a solid state drive as these are becoming more popular. SSDs are now being found in not only computers and laptops but also tablets, portable drives, and cell phones.
A hard drive stores information on magnetic media while a solid state drive does not. An SSD is similar to a USB memory stick. Like a thumb drive, an SSD will store its information on microchips, and it does not contain moving parts like a disc found on a hard drive. An SSD’s chips will retain the data even when the power source is turned off. Hard drives have been around since the mid-1950s, and as a result, they are much more cost effective than an SSD, which uses newer, and more expensive, technologies. While SSDs can be more expensive, the advantage is that they are faster to start up, faster to transfer data and overall performs better than a hard drive as they are thinner, smaller, lighter and will last longer on a single battery charge than a traditional hard drive.
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile memory hardware device that permanently stores data from a computer or server. Hard disk drives keep the stored data even when they are turned off.
The most common technology uses fast rotating magnetic platters. These are traditional HDD (hard disk drives). They are increasingly being replaced by SSDs, which are solid state semiconductor memory devices.
Several criteria are important to consider when choosing a hard disk drive:
Do you need an internal or external hard drive?
Do you need a large storage capacity? If so, you will want to choose an internal hard drive.
Do you need a portable hard disk drive? If so, an external hard drive will be the best option.