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    What's the difference between...

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by SuperDayv, Jan 26, 2009.

  1. SuperDayv

    SuperDayv Notebook Consultant

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    What's the difference between hard disk drives and solid state drives?
     
    SuperDayv, Jan 26, 2009
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  2. Euquility

    Euquility Notebook Deity

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    SSDs dont use spinning platters and have no moving parts, so they are quieter

    they weigh less, and you dont loose everything when they drop =)

    oh and they have super fast read speeds but their write speed is still a bit slow (depending on which ones you get) and if you get a cheaper SSD and nail it with rapid writes of small files they stutter and are really annoying
     
    Euquility, Jan 26, 2009
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  3. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    Solid state drives (SSDs) and hard drives are completely different technologies. SSDs use flash memory, while hard drives use magnetized platters spun by a motor.

    SSDs
    Pros:
    - extremely fast read speeds (computer will boot faster, open programs faster, etc)
    - quiet (pretty much silent)
    - saves power, allowing you to run on battery longer (important for laptops)
    Cons:
    - relatively slow write speeds: bulk copying files to the SSD will be slow, and as Euquility said, they may stutter
    - EXPENSIVE: primary concern to most people right now
    - small disk storage size: the largest size I regularly see as an option on laptops is 128GB, and that will cost you an arm and a leg
    - invunerable to drops (well, not completely...)

    Hard Drives
    Pros:
    - cheap, cheap, cheap storage
    - 7,200RPM drives are very speedy already
    Cons:
    - SLOW reads compared to SSDs (primary reason to move to SSDs)
    - some can be fairly loud, and vibrate a lot, especially the higher-speed ones
    - more prone to failures and data loss
    - more susceptable to damage due to a drop while operating (however, with many computers drive protection will prevent this by parking the disk head if motion is detected)

    That said, in most cases, a 7,200RPM hard drive will be a much better buy than an SSD.
     
    MidnightSun, Jan 26, 2009
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  4. Euquility

    Euquility Notebook Deity

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    err Midnight I think you got it mixed up on something Hard Drives have slow READ speeds compared to SSDs, not write


    =)
     
    Euquility, Jan 26, 2009
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  5. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    Oh, my bad, I meant read.... corrected now. :rolleyes:
     
    MidnightSun, Jan 26, 2009
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  6. Alex

    Alex Super Moderator

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    One more item ,not mentioned about SSD's
    They don't accept power disruptions as well as hard drives do
    Not an issue with a laptop with a battery, or a desktop or server with a ups though


    Alex
     
    Alex, Jan 26, 2009
    #6