Mainly there are two different types of storage mostly used in hosting services. Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD) both are technically different in access time, reliability, energy-saving, power-consuming, and cable management. They are also different structurally and obviously SSDs are more costly than HDDs.In SSD no mechanical or magnetic parts are involved in construction and operation where HDD store and process data through magnetic material called platter.

What is HDD?

HDD is known as magnet-based data processing and storing drive. Each data on HDD goes on metal disk first. The disk is mounted with a wheel that allows the disk to spin. HDD has also a ‘drive head’, a special kind of sensor which moves to find data. This sensor reads data and sends it to the processing unit as per demand.

This HDD is a modern form of floppy-disk technology. Both use the same type of magnetic disk technology to store and to serve data where floppy-disks are less efficient in quantity. The highest physical size of a floppy disk is 8 inches and it can store more or less 1.2 megabytes data in its’ one side. However, this is not fixed. These were very popular in the 1980s. Later HDD has set a benchmark in storing data.

What is SSD?

Solid State Drive (SSD) technology came to light in around 2009 and a dramatic change has started in the storage technology field. SSD uses memory chips instead of using magnetic parts to store data. Moreover, It does not use movable sensors to process and send data, rather it uses new technology. These chips are similar to the chips of Random Access Memory (RAM) or USB Storage. It saves time in locating data that gives the high-speed performance in both the computer and hosting server.

SSD is a costly technology but now manufacturers are trying to reduce its production cost as per consumers’ demand. Hosting service providers are moving to SSD storage technology to give a satisfying service to the consumers.

HDD vs SSD

• SSD and HDD are different in access time. Generally SSD takes 0.1 ms to access data where HDD takes 5.5 to 8.0 ms to access. Moreover, SSD exhibits no access time virtually.
• SSD is more or less 15 times faster than HDD. SSD delivers al least 6000 io/s where HDD reaches up to 400 io/s.
• SSD is more reliable than HDD. SSD’s failure rate is less than 0.5%. On the other hand, the HDD’s failure rate fluctuates from 2% to 5%.

• SSD is more energy-saving than HDD. It consumes 2 and 5 watts where HDD consumes 6 and 15 watts.
• A more important feature of SSD is its capacity of using less CPU processes. It uses only 1% to process a singular data where HDD uses 7% of the process. Users will have an extra 6% of CPU power for other operations.