SSD Power: 5 Benefits of Converting to a Solid State Drive

Since the personal computer was invented, it’s been more-or-less relying on the hard disk drive (HDD) to operate. Your hard drive is what lets your system start up, store information and open applications. In recent years, the HDD has seen some competition from the solid state drive (SSD). There are many advantages to SSD computing, and as other technology around it advances, SSD is poised to become the clear preference in how computers are built. Here’s why.

1. Speed

In every conceivable way, SSD is faster than HDD. A computer with an SSD boots in mere seconds and continues to operate with incredible speed and smoothness throughout use. In a world dominated by high-speed Internet and instant communication, slow computer processing stands out more and more. Plain and simple, HDD computing takes time that modern businesses, students and at-home users are willing or able to spend waiting.

2. Lifespan

The biggest overall problem with HDD units is that they have a lot of moving parts. It’s a standard rule of engineering that the more moving parts an object has, the more potential points of failure it has. By contrast, SSD units have no moving parts. This means there’s inherently very little to wear down over time — whether it is due to manufacturing errors or parts knocking loose in accidents. This all amounts to SSDs lasting a lot longer than HDDs.

3. Ongoing Performance

Because of the way HDDs store and process information, they often run out of physical space on the disk to store large programs in a contiguous block. This forces the HDD to store that data in separate places, which leads to pieces getting stuck, also known as “fragmentation.” To keep an HDD in peak performance, users have to go through regular defragmentation processes. SSDs aren’t limited to this physical writing format, so they never have a problem with fragments and their inherent performance issues.

4. Cloud-Friendly

Today’s SSDs tend to have less on-board memory than their far more common HDD counterparts, but in the age of cloud computing there’s not as much value in on-board memory. For users to store and access information through cloud systems, the speed and flexibility of the SSD is preferable to the robust but chunky nature of the HDD.
Note that this does require users to be a bit more vigilant with their data security. But by implementing a proper antivirus, encrypting all Wi-Fi connection and securing USB disks, cloud computing with a SSD beats out the backup-dependent situation of HDD computing.

5. Size

Because of the way they operate, HDDs can only be so small. SSDs are not limited to physical disk space so they can get very light and small. This is especially useful for laptops and other portable devices so users can get the most out of a tiny package.

Despite currently being more expensive (if only because they’re more rare), solid state drives are clearly superior to hard disk drives in every element of function. They’re faster, smaller and more reliable, especially for users who prefer the cloud to on-board storage.