HDD vs SSD vs SSHD : Which storage device should you choose for your Laptop and PC ?

SSD vs HDD vs SSHD : Which storage device should you choose for your Laptop and PC ?
 
Introduction:
Day by day with the increase of data on this freaking planet we need storage but only storage doesn’t solve our issue. In addition to storage we need performance also. So what we do to increase the performance of our PC/Laptop. Which storage device should we choose among SSD, HDD or SSHD. This article is all about that, it will give you a brief idea about SSD, HDD and SSHD and after reading this I am sure you will able to decide that what storage device should we choose for our PC/Laptop ?
 
HDD:
Hard Disk Drives is abbreviated as HDD and is the component of the computer that can store data while the machine is powered down. The HDD is the main, and mostly is the major storage hardware in any type of computer. HDD stores the OS, all programs, and data files and it operates by running needles across a spinning disk. Today HDDs are the most common means of high capacity computer storage, with almost all types of PCs and Laptops.
 
SSD:
SSD is the abbreviation of Solid State Drive. SSD stores computer data on non-volatile "flash" memory chips rather than by changing the surface properties of a magnetic or optical spinning disk. SSD has no moving parts, which gives it advantages over HDD in accessing stored information faster on our PC/Laptop.
 
SSHD:
SSHD is basically the combination of SSD & HDD. It stands for Solid State Hybrid Drive. It has some features from HDDs and some from SSDs. Solid State Hybrid Drive combine a small, fast and affordable amount of NAND flash memory with a traditional hard drive.
 
 At this stage we are able to have a little bit idea about the SSDs, HDDs and SSHD. Now the question is which storage device should we choose among them? To answer this question we will take a look what are the advantages of using these storage devices after that will solely depends on your mindset and your requirement that what you want performance, storage capacity or both. I am keeping below points to understand the difference between SSDs and HDDs. We will discuss SSHD later in this article.
 
1. Faster Performance:
PC/Laptop with SSDs are much faster than the PC/Laptop with HDDs. SSDs equipped PC/Laptop boots quickly, faster file transfer, fast data access. HDD has higher latency, longer read/write times, and supports fewer IOPs (input output operations per second) compared to SSD. Hence here we can conclude that SSD wins over HDDs in terms of overall faster performance.  Intel claims their SSD is 8 times faster than an HDD, thereby offering faster boot up times.
 
2. Durability:
An SSD has no moving parts, featured with non-mechanical design of NAND flash mounted on circuit boards, and are shock resistant up to 1500g/0.5ms. so it is more likely to keep your data safe as it has non-volatile. Hard Drives consist of various moving parts making them susceptible to shock and damage.
 
3. Defragmentation:
The HDDs need to be periodically defragmented to improve performance whereas SSDs don't need to worry about defragmentation, since there's no physical read head. Thus, SSDs are inherently faster than HDDs.
 
4. Noise:
HDDs use more electricity to rotate the platters, generating heat and noise but as SSDs has no moving parts, SSDs run silently with no noise at all.
 
 
5. Weight:
 HDDs are heavier than SSD drives. Since SSDs do not have the rotating disks, spindle and motor hence they are lighter than the HDDs. According to ocz.com a storage device manufacturing company, Flash-based SSDs weigh considerably less than hard drives – only 77g vs. 752.5g for HDDs.
 
6. Power efficiency:
SSDs are more power efficient as compared to HDDs resulting in longer battery life of Laptop/Notebooks.
 
7. Reliability:
Since HDD has moving parts hence there is increase in the risk of mechanical failure. Unlike HDD drives, SSD disks do not have moving parts. So SSD reliability is higher.
 
8. Price:
It is the only where HDDs wins over SSDs. SSDs are much costlier than the HDDs. 1 TB external hard drive (HDD) cost for $55 on Amazon (see external hard drive best sellers) while a 1 TB SSD costs about $475. (see best sellers list for internal SSDs and external SSDs). Now from this data you can have idea how much SSDs are costlier than the HDDs.
 
You can see top HDDs and SSDs with price in 2015 by expertreviews.co.uk website.
 
9. Availabilty:
SSDs are less available in the market, this is another area where HDDs wins little bit but Now a days with the increase of e-commerce websites it can be easily available to your doorstep.
 
10. Capacity:
If we talk about capacity obviously HDDs offers more capacity than the SSDs while SSDs are only affordable at lower capacities. High-capacity SSDs are extremely expensive.
 
From above TEN parameters now you are able to take decision what should you choose between SSDs and HDDs but wait one more storage drive is left which is SSHD and falls in between of SSDs and HDDs. Let’s discuss more about SSHDs so that you get a clearer picture.
 
 Somebody said that “necessity is the mother of invention”, in case of SSHD it’s also true. Because SSDs were more costly than the HDDs hence manufacturing companies developed a new range of storage device which has features of HDDs that means higher capacity & features of SSDs i.e. improved performance.
 
Seagate a storage device manufacturing company saying below things about their SSHDs:

• For a richer gaming experience, Seagate SSHDs deliver faster map load speed for non-stop performance and play
• Get the kick of an integrated solid state drive (SSD) with the massive 4TB capacity of a hard drive – all at a surprisingly low price!
• Boots Windows® 8 in less than 10 seconds
• Performs up to 5× faster than 7200 RPM desktop hard drives. (As measured by PCMark Vantage storage benchmarking software)
• Improves overall system responsiveness by 30% or more.

 
Seagate has developed an interesting video about performances of SSDs vs HDDs vs SSHDs.
Click here to watch the video and decide now what is suitable for you if you are thinking to upgrade your storage device.
  
References:
Wikipedia: Hard disk drive
Wikipedia: Solid-state drive
www.ocz.com
www.seagate.com
http://in.pcmag.com
 
Conclusion:
After knowing all the pros and cons about SSDs, HDDs and SSHDs; its depend on your requirements, budget and mindset that which type of storage for your PC and Laptop you want. Mac Airbook & Google Chromebook are made up of SSDs giving a great performance experience to users. Here below is the selection criteria of all three storage devices which may help you to take decision.
Figure1: Storage selection criteria for HDDs, SSDs and SSHDs. [] image credit: www.seagate.com ]

Happy reading and keep sharing your knowledge :)