Hard Drives

[luisc99 (OP)]

So my main documents hard drive recently unmounted itself from my system in a way that made it look like it failed, which until I realised I had to manually mount it again, had me worried about the data on it, as I realised that although I do have backups, they're all on partitions on the same drive, which won't be much good if they fail. So I've decided to get a backup drive, and wanted your opinions.

Currently I have a 1TB HDD build into my Mac, which I don't really want to mess with. All that's really on there is the operating system, applications, photo backups, and any cloud things like iCloud, Adobe Cloud, Dropbox etc. I could theoretically replace the boot drive with an external SSD and use the internal one for documents, but it's quite fast already, and I really don't want to go through the hassle and possible damage of changing this. It works fine as it it, so let's not change it.

My main data drive is 1TB HDD made by Intenso, connected via USB 3.0. This is what I wasn't sure about. I don't know if I get an SSD and put the data on there, and use the one I already have as a backup drive, or if I should just get an SSD for a backup, or if HDDs are better for backups.

I know Ako has an SSD, and I think a few others might too. Are they significantly faster, even when used in combination with a system running on a HDD? Are they worth the extra money?

Originally I was just going to get another Intenso hard drive and use it for backups, but I didn't know if it would be worth switching drives. It'd give me an excuse to reformat mine to a mac file system rather than the windows one it was originally on, and defrag it from the months/years of data that's been stored. But I'd only do that if I'm switching data from one drive to another.

Opinions?

[Akomine]

For anyone reading:
HDD = Hard Drive Disk, an actual spinning disk device that holds all the information on your PC. Old, well-established technology.
SSD = Solid State Drive, solid blocks of memory without a spinning disk, newer technology, exists in phones and some laptops, insanely fast reading and writing information.


It comes down to how much money you can spend and how much storage you want.

SSDs are more or less objectively better than HDDs.
-Harder to corrupt by dropping or knocking them (most external HDDs can be corrupted quite easily with a modest collision with a hard surface, like falling off a desk).
-Quiet, since there is no spinning disk.
-Way faster.

The speed isn't even close. SSDs are so much faster it's quite obvious they are the better technology. I have both an SSD and HDD in my laptop. The operating system and major files/programs are on the SSD and it boots in 10-20 seconds from power off to full use of the computer without any lag or waiting. It performs a restart in like 8-12 seconds (Windows 10). With an HDD this process usually take at LEAST a minute if not more to be fully operational without lag or loading waits.


tl;dr - SSDs rock, they are WAY faster (you WILL notice a HUGE difference in speed), they're just expensive as all hell. If you want another Terabyte or two, the answer is probably to go for an HDD, unless money isn't a huge deal for you.

[Airbongo]

I have an SSD on my rig, it has Windows on it and a few games. It boots Windows in seconds and it loads my games really fast too, I have 2 HDD's too and they are way slower when copying files or loading games. My Macbook Air also has an ssd and it boots up so fast and opens programs in seconds. SSD's are definitely worth it if you want to run your OS with them or if you do a lot of copy and pasting large files or just want to start programs fast af.

[EnderEssence]

For anyone reading:
HDD = Hard Drive Disk, an actual spinning disk device that holds all the information on your PC. Old, well-established technology.
SSD = Solid State Drive, solid blocks of memory without a spinning disk, newer technology, exists in phones and some laptops, insanely fast reading and writing information.


It comes down to how much money you can spend and how much storage you want.

SSDs are more or less objectively better than HDDs.
-Harder to corrupt by dropping or knocking them (most external HDDs can be corrupted quite easily with a modest collision with a hard surface, like falling off a desk).
-Quiet, since there is no spinning disk.
-Way faster.

The speed isn't even close. SSDs are so much faster it's quite obvious they are the better technology. I have both an SSD and HDD in my laptop. The operating system and major files/programs are on the SSD and it boots in 10-20 seconds from power off to full use of the computer without any lag or waiting. It performs a restart in like 8-12 seconds (Windows 10). With an HDD this process usually take at LEAST a minute if not more to be fully operational without lag or loading waits.


tl;dr - SSDs rock, they are WAY faster (you WILL notice a HUGE difference in speed), they're just expensive as all hell. If you want another Terabyte or two, the answer is probably to go for an HDD, unless money isn't a huge deal for you.

Took a look at some and they look quite good. I could go for one of those.

Who knew Ako was such a reputable source for better computer technology?

[Airbongo]

For anyone reading:
HDD = Hard Drive Disk, an actual spinning disk device that holds all the information on your PC. Old, well-established technology.
SSD = Solid State Drive, solid blocks of memory without a spinning disk, newer technology, exists in phones and some laptops, insanely fast reading and writing information.


It comes down to how much money you can spend and how much storage you want.

SSDs are more or less objectively better than HDDs.
-Harder to corrupt by dropping or knocking them (most external HDDs can be corrupted quite easily with a modest collision with a hard surface, like falling off a desk).
-Quiet, since there is no spinning disk.
-Way faster.

The speed isn't even close. SSDs are so much faster it's quite obvious they are the better technology. I have both an SSD and HDD in my laptop. The operating system and major files/programs are on the SSD and it boots in 10-20 seconds from power off to full use of the computer without any lag or waiting. It performs a restart in like 8-12 seconds (Windows 10). With an HDD this process usually take at LEAST a minute if not more to be fully operational without lag or loading waits.


tl;dr - SSDs rock, they are WAY faster (you WILL notice a HUGE difference in speed), they're just expensive as all hell. If you want another Terabyte or two, the answer is probably to go for an HDD, unless money isn't a huge deal for you.

Took a look at some and they look quite good. I could go for one of those.

Who knew Ako was such a reputable source for better computer technology?

I taught him tbh 

[bob131573]

Solid state drives are much newer, faster, and more reliable, while a hard drive disk is usually slower, and less reliable.
1. Solid states have NO moving parts, so if the pc is struck with an object or moved and dropped, it will have a larger chance of surviving, because a hard drive disk is a MOVING disk, so the disk may move off of its platform and not be able to spin anymore.
2. With no moving parts, the solid states can be lighter and smaller. This isn't much of a factor with a desktop, but, you know...
3. If you are looking for a storage space drive over speed, you may want to use a HDD. It can have more storage for cheaper because the technology has been around for longer. I just got a new pc. When i went to the store, there were 2 versions for the same price. One had 128GB on an SSD, while one had 500GB on an HDD. So, if you want a large storage space for cheaper, you might want to lead toward an HDD.
4. Price. As said in number 3, HDD will be cheaper and SSD will be more expensive.
5. If you want speed and storage, you could get a external drive that has lots of storage, and with the SSD, you can have speed too.
In conclusion, if you are leaning towards speed, reliability, and resilience, you may want to get a SSD. If you want more storage, and you don't care about the speed as much, you would be better off with an HDD. If you want one in the median for the same price, you can get a low storage SDD and an external hard drive.
Here's my recommendations on HDDs, SSDs, and external hard drives.

Low storage SDD: https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Transcend-solid-state-drive-32-GB-SATA-3Gb-s/3104139.aspx?cm_cat=GoogleBase&cm_ite=3104139&cm_pla=NA-NA-TR2_ES&cm_ven=acquirgy&ef_id=VvCEPwAABEnYgfze:20160321233111:s&gclid=Cj0KEQjwt763BRDZx_Xg3-Pv2cABEiQAoDfeGNVP7_WiJ0RTuyBdVj2gRO0-xfzWvKlnuUkbISsxKe8aAib18P8HAQ&s_kwcid=AL!4223!3!61836302779!!!g!56952603407!

High storage external hard drive: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MSQ7S10TB32/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=googlebase&gclid=Cj0KEQjwt763BRDZx_Xg3-Pv2cABEiQAoDfeGNfswziXtwGsQ5SqMj2Kx2PW9gvkENlzlr0NWdNCO3QaAofr8P8HAQ

HDD: http://www.databug.com/WD5000AUDX-p/WD5000AUDX.htm?gclid=Cj0KEQjwt763BRDZx_Xg3-Pv2cABEiQAoDfeGO1OQMtMytHpqSjlAsXPJSyjEJf8TL9SDeaJ5qWUE_8aAtwS8P8HAQ

Danke! <3