You must have for once tried building a computer by yourself or at least thought about it. One of the most important decisions that you might have to make would be with the storage disk. With the newer SSD(Solid State Drives) and the older HDD(Hard Disk Drive) technologies coexisting it gets tough to choose. So let us have a look at them.
What is an HDD OR Hard Disk?
An HDD short for Hard Disk Drive is a storage device that uses magnetic disks for reading and writing information. A Hard Disk is very common and mostly used in lower-end desktop and laptop models.
The data is written in a random and non-sequential manner. During any data task, the magnetic disks spin to perform the desired tasks. This is a relatively old technology and hence the reading and writing speeds are pretty average. HDDs usually have a lifespan after which they might show signs of slowing down. Also since it is mechanical, there might be other wearability problems.
What is an SSD?
And SSD short for Solid State Drive is another type of storage device. You can find an SSD in newer models of MacBooks and some other higher variant laptops.
An SSD consists of electronic chips instead of magnetic disks. Contrary to popular beliefs SSDs have also been around for quite some time since the 1990’s when IBM first used an SSD in one of their laptops. SSD’s are relatively faster than HDD, up to 10 times on average. Since there are no moving parts involved, an SSD is more robust.
Pricing
Now that all the facts have been laid out, you might be thinking that SSDs are the way to go but hold your horses right there. A hard disk is extremely cheaper than an SSD. The price you pay for a 100 GB SSD could get you a 1TB hard disk. There is an added benefit that SSDs last longer but the initial buying cost does hurt a little.
The Best Choice
I have already mentioned all the variable. Even though an SSD is in all terms better than a Hard Disk, it costs a lot more. The best option in my alternative would be to use an SSD only to install operating systems. A 120-200 GB SSD should suffice for a dual boot system. You could then add another high capacity hard disk for your media. This would increase your system performance and honestly it would be a well-balanced system overall. The SSD will help improve your boot time significantly.
