Solid State Drive vs SATA Hard Drive : Which one should you choose?

With the ever-so changing equipment in computer technology, hard drives have been a part of the latest debate. Let's first talk about the match-up.

Solid State Drives

Solid State Memory has speeds that are similar to RAM but have the ability to store data like SATA. SSDs are distinguished from traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), which are devices containing spinning disks and movable read/write heads. SSDs, in contrast, use microchips, and contain no moving parts.


Pros: Compared to traditional HDDs, SSDs are typically less susceptible to physical shock, quieter, and have lower access time and latency. SSDs use the same interface as hard disk drives, thus easily replacing them in most applications.


Cons: Solid State Drives have been known to wear out like there's no tomorrow, and they don't last very long. The price for these drive are currently very expensive.

SATA Drives

SATA is the method of connection between the motherboard and the drive. This is standard hard drive that is currently found in most systems.

Pros: They are very reliable, and the cost for these drives are very affordable--if you can take advantage of using RAID; however, RAID works best if you are using the same hard drives, especially the same brand, same speed, and same connectors. You can use two different kinds of hard drives, but it would make the system unstable.


Cons: 
1. Very noisy spin-up is required
2. High read latency times,
3. Low mechanical reliability, moving parts does not eliminate the risk of mechanical failure 
4. Smaller range of operating temperatures



The Verdict:


Since the price of SSD drive is so expensive, it really sways the stick to the SATA drive. We all have been used to the noise by now, so I doubt that will be worth the extra $$ you would have to spend. Though the SSD is very fast in accessing data, the read/write the reliability of those drives have been an issue. Once the market settles and the technology gets better, I believe that SSDs will be more prevalent in laptops and desktop computers.