SSD vs HDD capacity: Which offers more storage? Keep this in mind if you’re planning a PC with multiple storage drives, as the added cost of buying two, three or four SSDs will quickly add up. And even if you’d prefer a more compact M.2 SSD, you can still find compatible drives that use the cheaper SATA interface instead of NVMe.Įven so, the absolute cheapest SSDs simply won’t be as affordable as most mechanical HDDs. This means you can get relatively affordable SSDs, especially if you’re willing to settle for the more middling speeds of a 2.5 inch, SATA-based drive. Naturally, pricing will vary by individual model, and not just the type of storage drive. Hop on Amazon and you can find multiple 1TB HDDs for less than $50 for a relatively basic, SATA-based SSD with the same capacity, you’re looking at between $90 and $130. Yes, SSDs are quicker, but they’re also more expensive.

But there’s one very good reason to give mechanical drives another chance: price. So far, the SSD vs HDD question might not seem like a tough one to answer: SSDs are dramatically faster and available in a wider range of form factors. When it comes to speed alone, the SSD vs HDD debate is pretty simple - an SSD is better. SSDs can also reduce loadings times in games, on both PC and consoles, and speed up the time it takes to transfer files. The most recent (and expensive) interface to consider is PCIe 4.0, which unlocks the kinds of speeds you’d see from the Samsung 980 Pro.ĭrastically faster read/write times won’t be noticeable if you’re just typing a Word document or watching a YouTube video, but an SSD will almost always be faster at booting your system and loading the software so you can perform these tasks in the first place. The PCIe 3.0 requires pricier NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory) SSDs, but can go a lot faster, up to around 3,500 MBps. The SATA interface, used by HDDs and cheaper SSDs, is the slowest.

It’s important to note that speeds are heavily reliant on the interface that the drive uses to connect to your system. The Samsung 980 Pro, for instance, is rated at 7,000 MBps for reads and 5,000 MBps for writes. And it’s not even close: The absolute fastest HDDs can supposedly hit 480 MBps read speeds, but these are expensive enterprise drives, and most consumer-grade models are likely to top out at around 160 MBps.īy contrast, there are plenty of entry-level SSDs that will break 500 MBps in both read and write speed, and even these are embarrassed by the fastest models.

Difference between ssd and sshd