Question Which one is better for storing data, HDD or SSD?

[allibilgin]

Hello,

I want to store my personal data. Would HDD or SSD be better? I don't want to get an external one. Would M.2 be better?

 

[USAFRet]

Hello,

I want to store my personal data. Would HDD or SSD be better? I don't want to get an external one. Would M.2 be better?

"Store", for how long?
Write once and leave it on the shelf?

What is your actual backup situation?

What drives are in this system?

 

[35below0]

Can you define better?

HDD is slower and sometimes noisier, but there are excellent and reliable 5400rpm units. Sometimes they are much cheaper than solid state, sometimes not.

NVMe are blindingly fast and the better and more expensive ones are reliable.

Cheap HDDs and SSDs are both equally worthless for important data.

If you need huge storage HDDs might be cheaper, though 2,5" SATA SSDs are close in price.

So, again. What do you mean by better?

 

[allibilgin]

Write once and leave it on the shelf?

It will be continuous.

What is your actual backup situation?

I am planning to build a computer soon and would like to gather information about it. I intend to get a motherboard with M.2 support for data storage. Alternatively, I'm considering getting an SSD along with an HDD to store things like games.

What drives are in this system?

My current system is poor, with only 2GB of DDR3 RAM and an Athlon X2 260 processor. I'm planning for a complete overhaul, and I'm confused about whether to opt for an SSD or HDD for storage.

 

[allibilgin]

Can you define better?

HDD is slower and sometimes noisier, but there are excellent and reliable 5400rpm units. Sometimes they are much cheaper than solid state, sometimes not.

NVMe are blindingly fast and the better and more expensive ones are reliable.

Cheap HDDs and SSDs are both equally worthless for important data.

If you need huge storage HDDs might be cheaper, though 2,5" SATA SSDs are close in price.

So, again. What do you mean by better?

I'm planning to assemble a new computer, but I'm undecided. I'm not sure whether to go all-in with an M.2 SSD. Would it make sense to add an HDD alongside the M.2? I thought it might be practical for higher storage capacity.

 

[USAFRet]

So, a whole new system.

Personally, I've been solid state only, for several years.
(Except the ~100TB in or attached to my NAS.)


For the main systems...all solid state of various types.
The system I'm using right now...6x SSD, all 1TB each, or various types.

Storage space and types depends on your needs and budget.

 

[hotaru.hino]

For most programs, putting them on an SSD is more ideal. Though if the program is old enough, then there's probably not going to be much of a difference.

For data such as documents, pictures, etc. you won't see any performance bump using an SSD, except for maybe Windows going through the files faster when you look at them in File Explorer. If you're on a budget, an HDD is more economical mostly in terms of storage space here.

For the longest time I've kept my data on an HDD. It was only a couple of years ago that I finally moved to a pure SSD system.