Is HDD or SSD Better?

If you’ve ever used a computer, you’ve heard of a hard drive, but you might wonder ‘what does a hard drive do?’ Depending on who you talk to, you may get varying answers. It is pretty rare for an average person to understand the depths of hard drives, so today we’re going to go over what hard drives actually do.

What the Hard Drive Does

The hard drive is one of the primary devices of a computer. Without a hard drive, the computer would not be able to have any storage on the device, at least permanent storage. The hard drive holds the hardware drivers, programs, data, and media that your computer uses. With a large hard drive, you’ll be able to house more storage. Hard drives also usually come in two different types: the traditional hard drive disk (HDD) and the solid-state drive (SSD).

How Hard Drives Work

The way the hard drive works obviously is based on what kind of hard drive you are using:

HDD: When you’re using a hard disk drive, several of the internal components store the data and this includes the platter, the disk controller, the read/write arm, and the actuator. Communicating with the rest of the device, the disk controller controls how data is dispersed as it goes in and out. The actuator is guided by the controller to maneuver and position the read/write arm over the spinning platter. The platter stores the data and does so in binary code which is based on the platter’s magnetic polarities. These polarities read and are rewritten according to the read/write arm.

SSD: This type of system is different because it runs on flash memory, not on running and moving parts. This means damages are less likely, it is quieter overall and can function without as much power. This is usually favored when it comes to mobile devices and laptops. Though they obviously come at a higher price tag but this has gotten better over the years.

What’s the Difference?

One difference between HDD and SSDs is the way they began. Through the ingenuity of IBM, the HDD was introduced in 1956, while the SSD was introduced by SanDisk in 1991. Then, flash-based SSD was introduced in 1995, thanks to developers from M-Systems.