Upgrade HDD to SSD: 6 Reasons You’ll Want to Replace Your Old Hard Drive
In 2020 the global solid-state drive (SSD) market reached a value of $28.1 billion.
Hard disk drives (HDDs) spent many years as the main storage hardware for computers and laptops, but SSDs are rapidly becoming more popular.
There are a number of advantages to SSDs, and it may be time for you to upgrade from HDD to SSD. Keep reading to find out why!
Speed
When it comes to SSD vs HDD speed, there is no competition. SSDs can access data at a speed of roughly 35 to 100 microseconds. A typical HDD takes about 5,000 to 10,000 microseconds. This makes SSDs about 100 times faster!
This difference is most noticeable when running programs that access large amounts of data, such as operating systems. Booting up a system from an SSD is significantly faster than the same system using an HDD.
This is especially advantageous for gamers as SSDs make for faster load time and a more seamless experience.
Multitasking also becomes smoother. Running multiple processes at once can push an HDD to its limits and your device could have trouble running. SSDs can handle this much better so you don't have to worry about closing down each program after you use it.
SSDs also have a much faster write speed of around 550 MB/s. HDDs can only hit about 10- to 20% of this speed, usually somewhere between 50 and 120 MB/s.
Efficiency
HDDs contain a magnetic spinning disk. This is recognizable from the noise it makes when it is connected to a device. SSDs however have no moving parts. This small change means that SSDs use less power than HDDs.
This means the amount of energy used is reduced, helping you save on energy bills. If you are using a laptop, this also means a longer battery life.
Noise and Heat
As stated above, the magnetic disk in an HDD spins whenever it is in use. This generates a small amount of noise, similar to a fan. The movement can also generate some heat.
The heat is not usually a significant amount, but after a lot of use, the amount of heat can increase noticeably and can reduce the lifespan of the HDD and potentially damage other parts within your device.
Due to an SSD having no moving parts, neither of these are a factor.
Size and Weight
Another benefit of having no moving parts is that SSDs can be made smaller. HDDs are quite limited in terms of how small they can get, and with the increased use of mobile devices, they are somewhat impractical.
HDDs are available in 3.5" and 2.5" versions. 2.5" HDDs are generally used in laptops and are the smallest size available. In comparison, 2.5" is the largest size available for an SSD.
Upgrade HDD to SSD
6 Reasons You’ll Want to Replace Your Old Hard Drive
The most common form factor for SSDs is 2.5" as these offer the best value for money in terms of storage size and have an enclosed design.
If a 2.5" SSD is too large for the application, mSATA drives are also available. These have a bare circuit board design and are ideal if size is a concern.
M.2 SSDs are another option and come in various lengths, but are all smaller than a 2.5-inch drive. The size of an M.2 drive is similar to that of a stick of gum.
Laptops and tablets are often quite size contained, so saving space in any way possible is beneficial.
This applies to external hard drives too. The main point of them is to be portable; so, the smaller the better.
Reliability
Losing important files or data is never good. Keeping data backed up is always a good idea, but even so, you still never want your hard drive to fail.
SSDs have been shown to be a lot more reliable than HDDs. The average failure rate of HDDs is about 5%, but for SSDs it is a tenth of that at 0.5%.
This becomes an even more important factor for devices where the memory cannot be removed or replaced. A hard drive failure here can render the whole device completely useless.
Drops, shocks, shakes, and general wear and tear are almost unavoidable. HDDs are a lot more likely to lose data when experiencing these. But even if the hard drive will remain stationary, the heat that an HDD generates will slowly cause it to break down over time.
Magnetism and Voltage Fluctuations
HDDs use magnetism to write data to the disk. Because of this, it is possible that information on the disk could be erased, or the disk destroyed if it comes into contact with a strong magnet.
SSDs are not affected by magnetism, so there is no risk of this. This is certainly not a common issue, but it's still something that could occur. Similarly to this, SSDs are resistant to voltage fluctuations. SSDs are made with power failure circuitry which will back up any data if there is a voltage drop. They automatically monitor voltage fluctuations and adjust if necessary.
HDDs don't include this feature, so a voltage drop can result in lost data. Some SSDs also have built-in batteries that will back up data if a power outage occurs.
Should You Upgrade From HDD to SSD?
It is clear that there are a huge number of advantages to SSDs. They outperform HDDs in every way.
The only advantage that HDDs still hold is the cost in relation to storage. Under almost all circumstances, if you are looking at SSD vs HDD storage, the HDD will be cheaper for drives with the same amount of memory.
It is up to you whether or not that is worth it, but to us, it seems that with something important as a hard drive, a bit of extra money is well worth it to make the upgrade from HDD to SSD.
If you're asking yourself "Should I upgrade to an SSD?" but still have some questions, contact us. The team at iFixOmaha are experts in computer repair and upgrades. Click here to get in touch, we are always happy to help!
