Read and write speeds for SSDs are much better than hard drives.įor you, that means less time waiting for stuff to happen. Without any moving parts, SSDs operate more quietly, more efficiently, and with fewer breakable things than hard drives that have spinning platters.

Replacing your hard drive with an SSD is one of the best things you can do to dramatically improve the performance of your older computer. Depending on the task at hand, SSDs can be up to 10 times faster than their HDD counterparts. The reason most people replace their HDD drive with an SSD is performance. SSD: What Does the Future for Storage Hold?” Why Upgrade to an SSD? Solid State Drive: What’s the Diff?” or our two-part series, “ HDD vs.

Compared to HDDs, SSDs are more shock resistant and are less likely to be affected by magnetic fields.įor more about the differences between HDDs and SSDs, check out “ Hard Disk Drive vs. That’s different from the regular RAM in your computer, which is reset when you turn off or restart the computer. In other words, the information stays put on memory chips once it’s been written.

SSDs contain a form of non-volatile computer memory. That said, there are some practical challenges you’ll need to consider before you do, so let’s look further into SSD drives. If your computer is more than a couple of years old, replacing the hard drive with an SSD is one of the most cost-effective changes you can make. If you own a computer with an HDD installed, maybe you’re finding it runs a bit slow and perhaps you’d like to boost performance by installing an SSD. Most new laptop and desktop computers come with a solid-state drive (SSD) installed instead of the traditional hard disk drive (HDD) we’ve all gotten used to over the past 30-plus years. Editor’s note: This post has been updated since it was last published in January 2019 with the latest information to help you take advantage of SSDs.

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