[SOLVED] Difference between SSD and HDD

[Giannis Savvopoulos]

Can someone tell me which are the differences between SSD and HDD because after 3 articles I can't understand a thing. And why do people choose 500 GB SSD when they can get a 1TB HDD for less money?!?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Can someone tell me which are the differences between SSD and HDD because after 3 articles I can't understand a thing. And why do people choose 500 GB SSD when they can get a 1TB HDD for less money?!?

SSD is multiple of orders of magnitude faster than HDD. A SSD has random access times in the microsecond range where as a HDD is in the millisecond range.

 

[DMAN999]

SSDs use non moving parts (ICs, like memory chips) to store data.
So they are A LOT faster than conventional HDDs.
I have several SSDs and several HDDs in my current PC.
I use the SSDs to run my OS and games.
I use the HDDs to store data that does not need to be accessed at high speed and for backups.

 

[USAFRet]

Much, much faster.
Data access for an HDD is in 'some milliseconds'. The same data access from an SSD is near zero milliseconds.

In real world terms:
Opening a moderately complex Word doc or Excel file
HDD = 15 seconds
SSD = 1 or 2 seconds

Your thought of 500GB SSD vs 1TB HDD...if you're only using 300GB, guess which drive is better.
Many peopl ehave both an SSD for teh OS and applications, and an HDD for things that don't really need that speed.
A movie does not play any faster if it lives on an SSD.

If you've ever used a system with an SSD, you wouldn't want to go back. The whole feel of the system is better.

 

[NOT_PROVIDED_16]

Buy the SSD trust me! The difference in speed is like the difference between night and day!