When it comes to choosing the best hard drive for your PC, there are a few key factors to consider: performance, capacity, reliability, form factor, and budget. In this comprehensive guide, we will compare the pros and cons of HDDs (hard disk drives) vs. SSDs (solid state drives) to help you decide which type of drive is the best fit for your needs.
HDD vs SSD: Key Differences
HDDs and SSDs store data differently, which results in major differences in performance and other characteristics:
- HDDs use spinning magnetic disks to store data. SSDs use flash memory chips and have no moving parts.
- SSDs are much faster than HDDs for booting, loading programs, and opening files. HDDs are slower due to physical limitations.
- SSDs are more durable and shock-resistant than HDDs because they don’t have delicate moving parts.
- HDDs can offer much higher capacities for less money compared to SSDs.
- SSDs consume less power, generate less heat, and produce no noise compared to HDDs.
HDD Performance
When it comes to speed, HDDs are the performance bottleneck for PCs. Even 7200 RPM HDDs have average sequential read/write speeds of only 100-200 MB/s. Random access speeds are even slower, in the 10-20 milliseconds range. That’s orders of magnitude slower than SSDs.
However, HDD speeds have slowly improved over the years with increasing areal density (more data stored per platter). Current SATA HDDs have max sequential speeds of around 140-210MB/s. Some enterprise and NAS HDDs with higher RPM speeds can reach over 200MB/s sequential reads.
For everyday office work and light gaming, a SATA HDD provides adequate performance. Boot and load times will be noticeably slower than an SSD, but once a game or application is loaded and running, the actual in-game or in-app performance is similar. HDDs only seriously lag behind in loading large files.
SSD Performance
SSDs blow HDDs out of the water in all areas of performance. Even budget SATA SSDs are capable of 500MB/s or higher sequential read/write speeds, with high-end NVMe SSDs exceeding 3,000MB/s. Random access speeds are similarly blazing fast on SSDs.
This performance advantage makes a huge impact on real-world use. Booting Windows from an SSD takes 10-25 seconds, versus 30-60+ seconds on an HDD. Game and software load times see similarly massive improvements. NVMe SSDs are so fast they can load some games in mere seconds. Any application that involves opening large files will benefit from an SSD.
For gaming and professional workstation PCs that require the best performance, an SSD is mandatory. The speed advantages in game/app loading and workflow productivity are too large to pass up.
HDD Capacities
HDDs are available in huge capacities thanks to their inexpensive magnetic storage. Current 3.5″ desktop HDDs go up to 12TB-18TB per drive. 2.5″ laptop HDDs top out around 2TB.
For mass storage and backups, HDDs can’t be beat for their massive capacity combined with low cost-per-gigabyte. $/GB is generally around $0.02-0.03 on HDDs.
SSD Capacities
Although SSD capacities have grown tremendously over the years, they still can’t match the largest HDDs. Common SATA SSD capacities range from 120GB to 4TB. M.2 NVMe SSDs typically range from 250GB to 2TB.
SSD $/GB is around $0.10 on budget drives and $0.20+ on high-performance models. However, smaller SSD capacities have decreased in price and offer sufficient space for most users’ OS and programs.
HDD Reliability
Due to their mechanical nature, HDDs are inherently less reliable than SSDs. The magnetic platters and moving read/write heads lead to a couple key points of failure:
- Mechanical failure – Due to wear and tear over time, the physical HDD components can break down and stop working.
- Crashes – If the read/write heads make contact with the platters, both components can be damaged and cause the HDD to crash/fail.
Thankfully, modern HDDs have failure rates of less than 2% per year during regular operation. Proper handling to avoid physical shocks will help minimize risk of failure.
SSD Reliability
With no moving parts, SSDs are much more reliable and resistant to physical failure. Dropping or jostling an SSD has no effect on its operation.
However, SSDs are still susceptible to logical errors and failures of the memory modules. SSDs have typical failure rates under 1.5% per year. High-end enterprise SSDs can have even lower sub-1% failure rates.
Another concern for SSD reliability is write endurance. The memory cells in SSDs can only withstand a finite number of erase/write cycles before wearing out. However, modern SSDs feature technologies like wear-leveling to distribute writes across all cells evenly. Overall endurance has increased to where most consumer SSDs should easily last 5 years or more of typical usage.
HDD Form Factors
HDDs come in two physical sizes:
- 3.5-inch – The classic HDD format, 3.5″ drives fit in desktop PCs or external enclosures. Offer the highest capacities.
- 2.5-inch – Smaller drives designed for laptops. Lower power consumption and capacities compared to 3.5″ models.
Enterprise data centers may use larger specialized HDDs, but 3.5″ and 2.5″ are the core form factors for consumers and businesses.
SSD Form Factors
SSDs come in several physical formats:
- 2.5-inch – The same size as laptop HDDs. Used for SATA SSDs in laptops and desktops.
- M.2 – Compact stick-like shape. Designed for NVMe SSDs in modern laptops and desktop motherboards.
- Add-in card – Older format for first-gen SSDs. Resembles PC expansion cards.
M.2 has largely replaced add-in cards due to its tiny footprint that fits easily in small PCs. 2.5″ SATA SSDs remain popular for desktop upgrades and external SSDs.
HDD Cost
With capacities up to 18TB, HDDs are extremely cheap per gigabyte compared to SSDs. Current retail costs are approximately:
- 2TB 3.5″ 7200RPM HDD – $50
- 6TB 3.5″ 7200RPM HDD – $120
- 10TB 3.5″ 7200RPM HDD – $230
For mass storage of photos, videos, backups, and archives, HDDs are the most cost-effective solution thanks to low $/GB.
SSD Cost
While declining in price yearly, SSDs still carry a significant cost premium over HDDs. However, smaller capacities have reached near price-parity with HDDs. Current retail costs are approximately:
- 120GB SATA SSD – $25
- 500GB SATA SSD – $50
- 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD – $80
- 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD – $170
For system drives and primary storage, SSDs are the obvious choice for their huge performance benefits despite the higher sticker price. As capacity needs grow, adding a secondary HDD is recommended foraffordably expanding storage.
Conclusion
For most PC users, the ideal storage configuration is:
- 500GB-1TB SATA or NVMe SSD as the primary boot drive for OS, programs, and some games.
- 2TB-6TB 3.5″ 7200RPM HDD for secondary mass storage of photos, media, documents, backups, etc.
An SSD boots Windows in seconds, loads games/apps blazingly fast, resists physical shock, runs silently, and uses minimal power. An HDD provides huge amounts of storage at the lowest $/GB to hold your growing libraries of content.
Prioritize an SSD first and foremost. Start with a 250GB-500GB model for your OS and main programs. Then add an HDD later when you need more capacity for files and backups.
While SSD-only or HDD-only builds are possible, the balanced SSD + HDD combo gets you the perfect mix of speed, capacity, and value for a high-performance PC.
| Hard Disk Drive (HDD) | Solid State Drive (SSD) | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | Slow, both sequential and random access | Fast, blazing quick random access |
| Capacity | Up to 18TB for 3.5″ drives | Typically <= 2TB for consumer drives |
| Reliability | Mechanical parts more prone to failure | No moving parts, resistant to shock |
| Form Factors | Primarily 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives | 2.5″, M.2, Add-in card (rare today) |
| Cost | Cheap, approx. $0.02-$0.03 per GB | More expensive, approx $0.10-$0.20 per GB |
In summary:
- SSDs are better for performance
- HDDs are better for huge capacity and backups
- Most PCs benefit from having both an SSD and HDD
Choose the right storage for your needs and your PC will run smoother and handle more data. With SSDs continuously decreasing in cost, now is a great time to upgrade!