Sata III SSD or HDD

[denniscallanan]

Hi guys,
I was looking at hard drives for a computer build and I noticed 3.5" Sata III Hard Drives are a lot cheaper than 2.5" Sata III Solid Stated Drives. Is this because the SSDs can fit in laptops or is there a difference in performance. I notices both transfer files at 6gb/s. I'm just curious, throw out as much info as possible.
Thanks in advance !!

Dennis

 

[mbreslin1954]

Read some articles at Tom's on SSDs. SSDs are about four times as fast as HDDs. Different technology involved. They don't both transfer data at 6 Gbps (giga BITS per second). That's the maximum speed of the interface, doesn't mean any drive actually delivers that speed. The SATA III interface speed of 6 Gbps is faster than any HDD can actually read or write, but SSDs are getting close to the bandwidth limit of the SATA III interface spec.

A typical 1 TB HDD can deliver around 100 to 115 MB/s in my experience, while my SSD drives deliver 400 MB/s (that's mega bytes per sec, not bits) read speeds.

 

[J_E_D_70]

If you can afford an SSD it is night and day difference from booting, to opening apps, to loading levels in games. I'll never go back...

 

[RetiredChief]

1) SSDs are closer to 40+ X faster than a HDD, When looking at a OS + program drive. HDD typical access time is around 12->12.6 millisec while a SSD is about a tenth of a millisec. This results in a BIG diff on the important 4K random perfoformance

2) Sata III HDDs is a marketing tool - Who wants to market a sata II. They are just saying it works on sata III. The ONLY benifit of a sata III HDD on SATA III port is in the SHORT lived burst speed. HDDs can not saturate a sata II inface for sustained throughput.

That said: SSD will considerably speed up boot time and program loads and reading/writing files on the SSD. They DO NOT increase how fast a program runs, does not speed up internent broosing, nor email not downloads nor FPS in game play.

The vast majority that use an SSD for a OS + program drive would NEVER go back to a mechanical HDD.

But have to way cost as an SSD is just not cost effective to store a ton of Photos (jpeg/bitmap files) nor Movies. So you normally buy an SSD just for your OS + programs and a FEW games, then store all of your generated files on a HDD.

Added: Then there are the Hybred drives which combines a Small SSD with a Mechanical HDD - For some this is a good option, just wish they would go with a larger SSD

Also not just about speed, I find them more reliable, they normally draw less power. Smaller packaging is because they DO NOT need the volume of a 3.5" packaging and they only need +5 V where as 3.5" HDDs also require +12V
See: http://www.storagereview.com/ssd_vs_hdd
PS older review as prices for SSD have come down (just under a buck per Gig)

A little more on hybred drives:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012223/hybrid-hard-drives-how-they-work-and-why-they-matter.html