Hard drives deliver reliable, massive, cost-effective storage. Find out how they compare to SSDs — and where they still come out on top.
Best for long-term storage
Uses mechanical parts like spinning disks
Great for cost-effective, massive capacities
Best for low-latency applications
Uses flash NAND memory cells without moving parts
Great for rapid boot times and fast file access
What is the lifespan of an HDD?
HDDs are known for their long lifespans. That’s because hard drives use tried-and-tested mechanical parts to read and write data to spinning disks. HDD components will continue to access and store information as long as the mechanical parts are working and the drive is used within recommended workload limits.
What is the lifespan of an SSD?
Solid state drives use flash memory cells to read and write data via magnetic charges. These memory cells have limited read/write cycles. After a certain number of uses, SSD memory cells will become “worn out” and affect the overall lifespan of the drive.