Years back, choosing the best storage option came down to the highest-capacity hard drive you could afford. But with the recent rise of solid-state drives, things got a bit more complicated. The storage landscape has changed so it’s only normal you’d feel confused and in need of some guidance to ensure you choose the right storage option. So, which type of storage should you get: HDD or SSD servers?
First things first…
What is a HDD, what is a SSD?
HDDs or hard disk drives have been the traditional mainstay in storage technology. Actually, ‘hard drive’ has become the common descriptor for all storage hardware.
They’re basically quickly rotating metal platters that are paired with read/write heads that spin move over the platters’ surfaces to retrieve or record your saved data.
SSDs or solid-state disk drives are getting a lot of attention these days, especially from techies. These drives use non-volatile NAND flash memory, which means there are no moving parts. They’re faster in reading and writing data because there is no actuator arm and read/write head that needs to seek out data on a platter like on a HDD.
SSDs offer exceptionally higher performance compared to HDDs but they do provide less capacity per drive and are much more expensive than HDDs.
Advantages and Disadvantages of HDD and SSD servers storage medium
If you think about it, both HDDs and SSDs do the same thing: they boot the system, store your applications and your site files. However, each of these storage options has its own unique set of features.
So, what are the differences between the two?
1. Price
HDDs are dirt cheap compared to SSDs which are more expensive. For instance, for 50GB, you’ll probably be paying around £11-15 per month for a HDD server and around £40 for a SDD server. So, if you’re on a budget, the traditional storage might be the best solution for you.
2. Speed
This is where SSDs win as files are accessed faster, which means your website is faster. There’s also no seek time meaning that applications like database servers, file servers and high-traffic websites work better. However, HDDs need a bit more to access files and launch applications.
4. Durability
This is yet another plus for SSDs. Unlike HDDs, SSDs have no moving parts which make them less susceptible to damage from vibrations or movement. In other words, with SSDs there’s less risk of losing your data.
5. Fragmentation
HDDs usually work better with larger files that are located in blocks close to one another. This allows the drive head to go through one continuous motion. When hard drives start to fill up, large files becomes scattered around the disk platter which is known as fragmentation. With SSDs, having data scattered on its chips doesn’t matter as there’s no physical read head, which makes them so much faster.
6. Noise
SSDs, unlike HDDs, make no noise at all. Plus, they require less power, which makes them a more efficient solution.
Overall, SSDs are ideal if you need speed, durability and silence. However, HDDs win on capacity, price and availability.
Looking ahead, we’re also wondering if SSDs will replace the traditional HDDs, particularly now that cloud storage is all the rage. While the price of SSDs might drop, we can’t help but wonder if they’ll drop enough to become the no #1 storage option and replace HDDs completely.
What do you think? Will SSDs replace HDDs, making them obsolete? Share your views with us
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I think for any small business, moving towards SSD storage platform does not pose too much of a hassle, particularly in terms of expenses because usually, small businesses does not have too much data that they need to store or worry about keeping. In fact, thanks to the advent of disc burners like Blu-ray or DVD, they can easily backup the data they need to backup. However, if a business is renting a virtual server, it would be more ideal to simply rent one with traditional storage.
Thanks Emily,
Small business owners may migrate to the SSD easily When their business grows, they may consider HDD for cost purposes.
i’m one of the people looking forward the drop in price of SSDs..been wanting to migrate to these cool storage drives but the budget will not permit it yet
Prices will drop as soon as possible, once new companies invest in the industry 🙂
SSD even better but more following after that are more interested in using the hdd and SSD prices are still relatively high
your article is very nice and useful thanks for your article
You’re welcome Manto 🙂
This is where SSDs win as files are accessed faster, which means your website is faster. There’s also no seek time meaning that applications like database servers, file servers and high-traffic websites work better. However, HDDs need a bit more to access files and launch applications
HDDs are all I will ever use as the price is just the way I like it and I have never had a single problem…
\”That was really a great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have shared here. And I agree with all your points but some sentences are so valuable for me. Thanks to sharing keep it up.
SSD is super fast if we compare with HDD. i am using SSD one and have great experience with it.
I prefer SSD as well but HDD has pricing advantages 🙂
I perfer SSD, although they are kinda noisy but they are more secure. Its not fun losing so much data due to power shortage… HDD cost less but in the long run if you did not back up your data you will lose everything…
Well isn’t SSD supposed to be better and faster ? I mean everyone around me is switching to SSDs. I know it’s expensive but i guess more and more servers will do the same thing , that is switch to SSDs.
I believe it is best to choose whether to go with a HDD or SSD by analyzing what you are primarily using the system for. If you just need huge storage capacity – HDD provide up to 4 TB on a single drive. If you need speed for gaming or image manipulation software – SSD is the best option.
Thank you Sandra for adding your voice to the conversation. I’m glad you like the post 🙂
Have a wonderful day