SSD vs HDD

SSD VS HDD

SSD vs HDD in speed is not even a contest. The SSDs have the advantage of no moving parts to slow the read write operation. A traditional HDD is at a severe disadvantage in having platters to spin and acuator arms to actually write to the platters.

Solid State Drives are the best choice for laptops these days for two very good reasons. The size and speed of a Solid State Drive is a huge factor since a laptop is such a small form factor and power consumption is also a big plus. The only drawback right now to the SSD is cost. They cost 2-3 times what a tradition Hard Disk Drive would and also require a bit more pricy type of controller.

SSD vs HDD on performance isn’t even factor due the nature of the technology. An HDD has moving parts (spinning platter and acuater arm) that limit the speed whereas an SSD has no moving parts and is also more energy efficient. But there are many factors involved in the speed of writing and reading any storage device that may come in to play.

That being said, I would say that for the most part you would get a huge increase in speed. In read and write times, the average 7200 rpm HHD can attain up to 80 - 100 MBs throughput right out of the box. But the size of the file, type of file, and how much available space is on the HHD can all slow down this kind of throughput. And in direct comparison a SSD can easily get 275 MBs and even faster depending on the controller and file specs.

On server applications (providing access for many users) there are issues about reliability and size that could be more important than raw speed. The size of the data block, file, and amount of access all come in to play on a server type application. The buffer size (where often used data can be stored for quicker access) on large HDDs can have a huge impact on overall speed. And SAS HDDs, spinning at 15,000 rpm can handle a lot more activity than many SSDs.

So for the laptop and the desktop which are much less demanding than a multi-use server, the SSD vs HDD is like taking a knife to a gun fight. But move up in class and on a server there might be other considerations that render the speed less important. SSD are comparatively new technology and don’t have a long term history to establish the reliability that a SAS 15,000 RPM HDD has, not mention the speeds often are similar.

One very important side of both HDD and SDD storage devices is the controller. A SAS controller properly configured with a 15,000 rpm hard disk drive is very fast and dependable. The improvements brought about by an SSD device may not outweigh the need for long term reliability. And the size of an SSD drive could come into play since most are still at 120 gigs and below in capacity.

Mac laptops starting offering SSD configurations several years ago due to the minimal weight and high performance compared to their normal SATA 5400 rpm HDD. I’ve used both and I can tell you that the SSD model absolutely smoked the traditional HHD model. I didn’t have a chance to benchmark the two units for direct comparison speeds but boot times were less than 30% on the SSD vs HDD boot times.

And not all SSDs are created equal since the controller has such a huge impact in read and write speeds. Some of the lower end SSDs have controllers that don’t allow the speed of the SSD reach its full potential. If you would like to see the fastest SSD, check out our article on the Fastest SSD. A fast and reliable SSD is the OCZ's Vertex 3 with 240 GB and 6 Gb/s performance. This is a great laptop HHD replacement that will make your laptop faster.

On desktops it’s still a huge improvement but many desktops come with high end SATA drives that are at least 7200 rpm. And it also depends on what you do with your desktop. If you do some type of video, or photo editing and moving large files around you will see a huge increase in performance. But if you just use email and surf the Internet you’ll see faster boot times and shut downs but it doesn’t help much on surfing or email send and receive.

And the one thing about SSD vs HDD is the cost factor for most computers. When you get a good middle of the road laptop for about $750, add at least $600 on for a small SSD (128 gig). Is the speed worth the price? That depends on you, your budget, and the type of work you will be doing on your laptop. I beat the heck out of my computers so any speed advantage is a big deal to me. Paying almost double the price of the laptop for a faster SSD is purely a personal choice.

So the SSD vs HDD choice is really based your needs and budget. You will get about a 3 to 1 improvement on storage writing and reading. On laptops and desktops it is a very good performance enhancement but maybe not reliable enough yet for a server class computer.

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