The external hard drive is Memory device, which the user can carry with him and connect it to any device, whether it be a computer or laptop via a USB cable.
It differs from a flash drive in that it has a larger storage capacity. If earlier the limit for memory capacity was set at two terabytes, now a one petabyte hard drive is being announced. Only for ordinary users such capacity is not yet available.
The hard drive is designed to store user information. Video files, audio files and other data will be stored in it much longer than on a flash drive. Winchester has a large number of rewrite cycles.
Now let's look at the existing types.
Types of hard drives
There are several types of hard drives in the world:
Mobile
This is exactly the same external drive. They buy it for memory expansion home computer. It is recommended to store the information that you do not often use or want to postpone for later. It is a kind of library for the modern user. Only such a library will fit in his pocket.
Mobile external drives can have a memory up to 5 terabytes. If the capacity is more than five TB, then this media becomes stationary.
Stationary
This is the same external drive for a computer, only with more than five terabytes of memory. This portable media cannot be placed in a pocket. However, you can put all the necessary and not only digitized data into it. From mobile differs only capacity and dimensions.
It should also be selected according to the manufacturer, the amount of memory. Many of these hard drives have an HDMI output for connecting to a TV, as well as interfaceWi— fi. That is, you do not need any wires, connect the power to an external drive, set up access to your network through the web interface and enjoy movies and music recorded on it.
HDD
This is an internal hard drive that is installed in a system unit or laptop. As external ones, they are installed in a special pocket with cooling and connectors for connecting a power supply unit and USB. For laptops, these media are available in 2.5-inch sizes, and for desktop computers - 3.5-inch. These hard drives have a capacity of 500 gigabytes or more.
Previously, these drives were connected to the motherboard using a 40 and 80 pin cord and had an IDE interface. Transfer rate the first drives are many times smaller than the current one. A new hard drive interface standard, SATA, has now been developed. Spindle speed 7200 rpm. This improved the speed of writing and reading. As well as its performance.
The operating system is installed on the HDD, and data is also stored.
SSD
Solid State Drives. Such hard drives operate at high speed. The data transfer rate through the SATA III cable is 500 Mb/s. Previously, such disks were sold with a capacity of no more than 240 gigabytes. Now the amount of memory has increased to 1 terabyte.
Advantages This hard drive is that the data on it opens faster, programs work at high speed and Windows loads. Such a disk is more resistant to mechanical damage. It is powered by a small amount of energy and is silent. Of the shortcomings It should be noted that the cost is high, the wear time is short. Starts to crumble quickly.
SSHD
This is a hybrid hard drive.
Such drives are different from the first high performance. They are much more efficient and fast because they have a single drive bay, unlike the ones described above. Memory amount currently reaches 4 Terabytes. File access time is 0.3 milliseconds, while a simple ssd drive is 24 ms. The difference is great. Added to this is the low cost compared to SSD.
Principle of operation
The HDD hard disk consists of an electronic board, a motor, a spindle, magnetic heads, and a magnetic disk. When turned on the engine starts to rotate, using magnetic disks. Due to rotation, a dense stream of air is formed. It prevents the head from falling onto the disk.
Reading in progress information. If the sectors where the information is stored are damaged, then it will not work. If everything is normal, the head starts processing data. They are distributed along the tracks and are in different sectors. changing a magnetic field the head writes, and catching the magnetic flux - reading.
Formatting- application of service information to the disk, data on the location of sectors and tracks. After purchase, when installing the system, the hard drive is always formatted.
How to choose a hard drive
When buying, it is recommended that you first of all pay attention to device memory. Disks from 500 gigabytes and above are now offered. In general, it is recommended for the system and the preservation of working files with which you will deal throughout the use of a computer or laptop, buy hard drive with memory no more than 1 TB, in extreme cases 2 TB. To archive and store work projects, family videos, it is better to purchase a separate external drive. Its volume depends on what you are going to store on it and how much by volume.
Then we should pay attention to form factor. It can be 3.5 - standard size and 2.5 miniature, as for laptops. If you are going to carry it with you all the time, then it is better to purchase a smaller size - 1.8. The latter size has the most compact external dimensions to date.
At the moment, new modifications are included in the interface for connecting a hard drive to a computer. At connectorusb 3.0 the speed of interaction with the computer will be greater than usb 2.0. The new interface models are usb type c. However, this type can only be found in new laptops and system units. Its bandwidth is up to 10 gigabits per second.
The next thing to pay attention to is the speed of work. Reading speed SSD drives are noticeably higher than regular HDDs. And it is equal to 400 mb/s. And Windows on such a disk starts in 8 seconds, unlike 40 on the HDD. The speed of execution can be checked with special programs.
Another point is the choice of HDD or SSD. First slower and durable, the second quicker, but is designed for a short number of rewrites. The power supply is also the main part of a removable hard drive. Most modern models do not require a separate power supply and are equipped with two USB cords. One for data transfer, the other for power from the computer.
When buying, you also need to pay attention to multitasking or the presence of NCQ (hardware command queuing), which can significantly increase access speed by simultaneously working with multiple requests. SSDs have more impact protection and damage when falling from a height, since they do not have mechanical parts. If you are buying a hard drive with a large amount of memory, a separate power supply, do not forget about cooling system- it must match the required data. At the moment, hard drives from Western Digital, Seagate Barracuda, A-Data, Kingston are in use. In general, you should pay attention to reviews on the Internet, because now there are many young companies that produce excellent and high-quality models at an affordable price.
How much do the devices cost
The price category of carriers is different. Of course, SSD models are more expensive than HDDs with more storage. SSDs are on average priced from 2500 rubles for a 120 gigabyte drive, and 1 terabyte can be purchased for 29 000 rubles. Since SDDs are famous for their speed of data processing, shock resistance, they are therefore more expensive in price.
While a 500 GB HDD costs 5 000 rubles, and in 10 terabytes - 28 000 rubles. HDDs are gradually becoming obsolete, unable to compete with new high-speed devices. Therefore, it is recommended to work with the system, buy a small amount of SSD, and for archive or data storage HDD.
What to choose
Before you buy a carrier, you need to understand why you are taking it. If you need it to store family archives, photos, music, movies, then buy stationaryHDD with large memory capacity and modern interface. If you are going to work on it and be constantly on the move, then a mobile SSD will do.
The external hard drive must have rubberized housing. This will protect him a little from the harm received when falling from a height. To watch videos, listen to music through a TV, it is advisable to buy drives with connectorHDMI to connect to a TV.
Since today the quality of video and music is improving every day, it is recommended to purchase drives with capacity 1 terabyte or more. This will protect you from prematurely running out of memory and buying an additional drive.
Silence during operation and small dimensions are the parameters of an ideal hard drive. All of the above parameters are written in the characteristics of the product. Now you know what you need to pay attention to first of all, looking through this or that product.
Below are the best models of external drives today.
Adata Dash Drive durable hd650 1TB
The case is made of plastic and silicone, which protects the data during the fall. There is a blue LED on the case. activity indicator. Available in black and red. Sold in a cardboard box with usb cable.
- Volume - 1 terabyte;
- USB 3.0 interface;
- Form factor - 2.5;
- Device dimensions - 121 x 21 x 81 mm;
Costs 4369 rubles. Pretty decent for this hard drive.
Western digital WD BUZG0010BBK-EESN
Supplied with preinstalled program WD Smart Ware Pro backup and USB cable. Thanks to the proprietary utility, the user can save data both to an external drive and directly to the cloud.
- Volume - 1 terabyte;
- USB 3.0 interface;
- Size - 2.5 inches;
- Data transfer rate 500 megabits per second;
- Weight - 130 grams;
- The body is made of plastic. Dimensions - 82x15x111 mm.
The smallest among all drives. Because of this, it is fragile. Costs 4200 rubles.
Toshiba canvio ready 1TB
Third place in the ranking. Interface compatibility USB 2.0 guarantees the user stable operation with the previous generation computer. The hard drive is compatible with Windows and Mac OS operating systems. The body is made of plastic.
- Volume - 1 terabyte;
- USB 3.0 connector;
- Form factor - 2.5 inches;
- Speed 500 Mb per second;
- Dimensions - 80x15x119 mm.
Has the lowest cost. Protected from impact and fall damage.
disadvantages- a short cord and an inconvenient connector on the side of the hard drive. Price - 3 800 rubles.
Seagate STEA500400
From shortcomings slippery and smooth surface. From virtues- long cable.
- Volume - 500 gigabytes;
- USB 3.0 interface;
- Form factor - 2.5;
- Speed - 20 megabits per second;
- Weight 170 grams, dimensions - 117 x 80 x 14.8 mm.
Supplied with usb cable. Compatible with Windows only. Price 2990 rubles.
ADATA HD 720 1TB
The device complies with the American standard MIL STD 810 G. Pros: Sturdy and stylish design.
- Volume - 1 terabyte;
- USB 3.0 interface;
- Form factor - 2.5;
- Speed 500 megabits per second;
- Dimensions - 97.9 × 20.2 × 129.4 mm.
Price 4200 rubles.
ADATA NH 13 1TB
Interoperates with the USB 2.0 standard. Reliable, protected from moisture, durable.
- Volume - 1 terabyte;
- USB 3.0 connection connector;
- Size - 3.5 inches;
- Operating speed 500 megabits per second;
- Dimensions - 77.8x16x118.8 mm.
Metal finish. Price - 4200 rubles.
WD My Passport Ultra
Size - 1 TB. Compatible with Windows, Mac OS. Has a program for Reserve copy WD Smart Ware Pro. A password is set to protect information from other people. Compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.0 interfaces. Runs quietly without vibration. Dimensions - 81.6 × 15.84 × 110 mm. Weight - 160 grams. Speed - 500 megabits per second.
Of the shortcomings, it should be noted soft case which attracts dust. Price 5000 rubles.
Silicon Power Stream S03
The drive for the most part resembles a notepad. There are special rubber inserts that protect it from impact. On the plus side, attractive design.
- Form factor - 2.5 inches;
- Data transfer rate - 500 Mb / s;
- USB interface compatible with 2.0 and 3.0;
- 1 terabyte capacity;
- Weight - 145 grams;
- The dimensions of the device are 77.5×13.3×122.5 mm.
No deficiencies found. Price - 3890 r.
Sony HD E1
The body is made from metal. Has rubber feet. Weight - 250 grams, which greatly distinguishes it from other drives. Dimensions - 80x126x16 mm. Does not heat up, compatible with all operating systems, as well as third generation SONY PS game consoles. Hardware encryption. No noise was noticed during operation. Capacity 1 terabyte. Form factor - 2.5 inches.
Disadvantages - high price, hard USB cable included. Price - 5090 r. 
The range of hard drives is so huge that it can be very difficult to figure out which hard drive to choose for a particular task. Therefore, I tried to write a kind of short guide to the world of hard drives, in which I will talk about the directions of development of the “screw” industry and give examples of the use of certain models.
I will not go into history particularly deeply and tell about everything that has been invented and implemented over more than half a century of history, but I will talk mainly about what a modern user may encounter when he comes to the store or looks into the system unit.
Much has changed since the creation of the first HDD (Hard Disk Drive). Let me remind you that for such a long time only the principle of operation has remained unchanged - rotating magnetized plates and heads reading information from them - this is what unites all models.
The number of hard drive manufacturers is constantly declining - constant acquisitions and mergers have led to the fact that only three manufacturers remain - Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba, and the first two account for more than 90% of the market share. On the other hand, the number of models that differ in size and technical characteristics is constantly growing.
Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba - all who managed to survive in the tough competition
And all because the scope is becoming wider, and the requirements are becoming more stringent. Special-purpose modifications appear for operation in different devices besides a computer.
Form factor 3.5 and 2.5 inches.
The whole variety of hard drives can be divided into two large categories, determined by the size (width) of the device in inches. In other words, there are so-called "large" hard drives - 3.5 inches, and small - 2.5 inches. The larger the drive, the larger the size of each plate in it, and the more information fits on the device.
The maximum volume of "large" hard drives reached 10 TB, while most of the "small" hard drives were limited to one terabyte (you can find models for 2 TB on sale - they are too expensive).
Comparison of two - and three-inch HDD.
The difference in size and weight is visible to the naked eye.
Heat dissipation, noise level and power consumption are also different.
The first group (3.5 inches) is used in conventional desktop computers. In any desktop, there is just such a device on which both the operating system and user files are stored - images, videos, music and documents.
"Kids" are installed mainly in laptops. Due to their size, they do not take up much space, do not add much weight to a portable PC, and, in addition, consume little power, extending battery life.
However, “small hard drives” also have an additional use - they are often used in home media players, allowing you to record a huge amount of video and audio materials, in external hard drives connected directly to a computer (DAS), as well as in network file storages (NAS).
NAS is a typical example of using a hard drive.
This file storage is connected over the network and carries 4 hard drives
Here we come to the second important difference between these groups - energy efficiency. If tiny two-inch devices under load consume in the range of 2-2.5 watts (and at idle generally less than a watt), then the older ones are more voracious and can eat about 7-10 watts.
This quality allows small brothers to do without an external power source, they are powered directly from the USB port of a computer or even a smartphone (as well as a tablet). Let me remind you that a USB 2.0 port at a voltage of 5 Volts produces a current of 0.5 Amperes, that is, the power output by the port is 2.5 watts (or 4.5 watts for USB 3.0).
An example of an external hard drive.
The USB port is used for connection.
Inside is a 2.5" hard drive.
It is for this reason that “babies” are very often used in external hard drives - the power of the USB port is enough to feed the device. That is, such a drive is a self-sufficient device - it only needs a short cord to connect to a computer.
But when using three-inch drives, external power is required. Therefore, they are not suitable for convenient transportation - not only can you not put it in your pocket, you will also need to carry an external power supply with you, and in fact it sometimes takes up more space than the device itself. This explains the popularity of using laptop hard drives as portable drives.
External HDD 3.5 inches.
The power supply is comparable in size to the device itself.
There can be no talk of any compactness
Media players use both classes. But at the same time, compact models contain 2.5-inch hard drives - this not only significantly reduces the size, but also reduces power consumption, noise and vibration, which is important when watching movies or listening to music. If you need a silent media player or storage, then such hard drives are the most suitable choice.
Media player - allows you to watch videos and listen to music.
Connects to a TV and has a remote control.
But inside the same hard drive 3.5 inches
The third important quality is weight. “Adult” models weigh quite a lot, so their use is excluded in portable devices, hard drives, cameras, laptops, etc., while “kids” do not pull the pocket and do not make equipment too heavy.
Midgets 1.8 inches.
There are also tiny models of the 1.8-inch form factor. Their capacity is even smaller, but the price is quite high. Therefore, they were used only where exceptional compactness is required. For example, in portable mp4 players. True, in connection with the rapid development of flash-memory, they are less and less in demand. And at the moment they are almost superseded by flash.
Tiny 1.8" hard drive (second from top).
Couldn't stand the competition and was forced out by flash.
Bottom HDD 3.5 inch, HDD 2.5 inch on it
SATA and IDE interfaces
In simple terms, the interface is the connectors with which you connect to the computer motherboard or to another device.
IDE Interface
Quite an ancient means of connecting hard drives. You can no longer find such HDDs on sale - they have long been discontinued, however, on some not the newest computer models, you can still find such hard drives.
They differ in that two devices are connected through one cable (loop). Moreover, on the HDDs themselves, jumpers (jumpers) were required to set which device would be the primary and which auxiliary. Old-timers remember very well how much nerves were spent on the correct installation of jumpers.
Cable for connecting two IDE hard drives to the motherboard
The maximum throughput is 133 MB / s - modern models have long exceeded this mark. How to connect such a device to modern boards that do not have the appropriate connector can be found in the article How to connect an old IDE hard drive to a new computer
SATA interface
Modern connection interface. Each hard drive is connected by a separate cable, which eliminates the hassle of setting up (as in an IDE). In addition, the bandwidth of the interface is much higher. There are several versions of SATA, differing only in speed.
Detailed information on what the connectors look like is in the article " How to connect a hard drive to a computer".
Moreover, if 2-inch and 3-inch IDE hard drives had different connectors that were not compatible with each other, then both classes of devices in SATA use identical plugs.
Hard disk thickness
While the thickness of 3.5-inch hard drives does not play an important role, it is important for younger brothers. Nominally, its value for laptop hard drives is 9.5 mm.
The thickness of the HDD is determined by the number of magnetic platters. The more plates, the greater the capacity of the hard drive, but the thicker the end device will turn out.
Portable drives typically carry one to three platters (“Large Drives” are three to five platters). Therefore, their thickness can vary from 7 mm (with one plate) to 12.5 mm (with three plates).
The standard and most common option is 9.5 mm with two plates. They are used in most laptops. When buying a thicker (and more capacious) model, you may encounter the impossibility of installing it in a laptop - the hard drive simply does not fit in the corresponding compartment.
Comparison of models with a thickness of 12.5 and 9.5 mm.
The first has one plate more.
The rest of the models are the same.
Therefore, when buying a replacement device in a laptop, you must definitely look at the thickness. What's more, Ultrabooks, which are compact, use discs that are only 7mm thick.
But the industry does not stand still, and manufacturers have already introduced hard drives with a thickness of only 5 mm (with one plate). But they are just appearing on the market and are quite expensive.
On the other hand, in portable external hard drives there is no point in chasing thickness, so 12.5 mm hard drives are sometimes installed in them. In this case, the capacity can reach up to one and a half and even up to two terabytes.
The speed of rotation of the hard drives.
Another important point that you need to pay attention to when buying a hard drive is the speed of rotation of the spindle (and plates). For "slow" models, it is in the range of 5200-5900 rpm (standard - 5400 rpm).
Such models do not get very hot, do not make noise, almost do not have vibration, however, their performance is relatively low. The main purpose is computers and devices with weak or no cooling, as well as systems, the main requirement for which is silence, such as media centers and players.
A higher speed group with a frequency of 7200 rpm has a higher performance, but it heats up and makes much more noise. But the main problem with the home use of such models is vibration, which is discussed below. Previously, an operating system was installed on such hard drives - a high rotation speed ensured a low access time to information, which had a positive effect on the system's responsiveness.
The next group of hard drives - 10,000 rpm and more - is an extreme line of hard drives with extremely high performance. The heat dissipation is so high that such drives require a separate heatsink.
But with the advent of SSDs, the need for high-speed hard drives in the home sector has practically disappeared. The system is placed on a solid state drive, and the data is stored on a traditional disk. The use of fast drives is justified only in the corporate segment, where the requirements for noise and vibration are low, where they are still in great demand.
It should be noted that the models of the last group are being superseded especially quickly by SSDs. The speed of hard drives is incommensurably higher, even compared to the fastest hard drive samples - you can read about this in the article Comparison of SSD and HDD speeds. At the same time, they are completely silent, consume less electricity and almost do not heat up, and the price for them is often even lower than “fast HDDs”.
Test results for SSD Vertex 3 and HDD Seagate 3 TB.
SSD performance is significantly higher
Thanks to the development of technologies and the increase in the recording density on the plates, the reading speed of "low-speed models" has exceeded 150-160 MB / s, which is higher than that of the most frisky specimens of 1 or 2 years ago. So they can be called slow only conditionally.
HDD capacity
The peculiarity of the current situation in the market lies in the fact that due to technological difficulties, the growth rate of storage capacity is constantly slowing down, so you should not expect a huge increase in the near future, as it was before.
At the moment, 3.5-inch hard drives have a maximum of 10 TB, but five-terabyte models are the most optimal in terms of price per gigabyte.
With laptop hard drives, everything is much simpler. If we discard exotic models, then the optimal volume is 1 TB, and it is also the maximum in a standard 9.5 mm case. For most purposes, such a disk is more than enough.
Noise level and vibration
Often one of the main requirements for the operation of the house is comfort. No matter how strange it may sound, the low noise level emitted by drives comes first in importance.
Models with low spindle speeds are usually much quieter than their fast counterparts, which emit a constant low-frequency whistle. In addition, the vibration is transmitted to the case of a computer (or other device), so when two or more devices operate at a high frequency in the same case, the vibration is greatly amplified.
You must have heard the annoying low-frequency hum emitted by the case. The culprit is precisely the fast HDDs working in pairs (and more). The best solution is to use economical low-speed models.
Temperature and stable power
Modern drives are very complex electronic devices, their durability is highly dependent on operating conditions. First, disks (especially 3.5-inch ones) need to be properly cooled. A dusty heatsink in a laptop or improper airflow in a desktop can cause it to run at elevated temperatures, which will significantly shorten the life of the HDD.
Additional cooling from Zalman.
Allows you to reduce the temperature by 5-7 degrees.
Very effective product in cases with poor ventilation
Comfortable temperature for the drive is below 40 degrees. The range of 40-45 is still tolerable, although undesirable. It is highly recommended not to use the disc at higher temperatures.
You can view the temperature with regular utilities or third-party programs, such as HD Tune or CrystalDiskInfo (both free).
The second important point - stable power supply - is more relevant for desktop computers. An old power supply with dried up elements that does not smooth out power surges can be the cause of the failure of the hard drive.
Many times I have heard many unflattering reviews from buyers about HDD manufacturers, for example, when two drives purchased in a row “die”, but the reason ultimately turned out to be a poor-quality or old power supply, after replacing which everything returned to normal.
hybrids
The story would be incomplete without mention of hybrids. This is a type of HDD in which a traditional disk is supplemented by a small-capacity flash-memory drive (due to which the price is higher, but not by much). The flash drive contains the most frequently used files (or blocks) of the hard drive, improving performance. The capacity of the hybrid is the same as that of conventional HDDs, and much larger than that of SSDs.
But, in my opinion, hybrids have not really taken root. If you need to save money, it’s better to do without an SSD altogether, and if you need performance, it’s better to buy a full-fledged solid state.
The only place where the use of hybrids is justified is in laptops, they have only one drive bay and it will not work to install two devices at once.
When using 3.5-inch hard drives, I recommend using Western Digital's Green series drives, which operate almost silently, and for NAS (and media players), as well as when using two or more drives together, I recommend choosing Red series from the same manufacturer.
Western Digital Red series.
A wonderful representative of silent hard drives.
Vibration in the Red line is minimized, so that even with four copies running at the same time, vibration and annoying low-frequency hum will be imperceptible.
Among notebook hard drives Hitachi of the Travelstar series and WD of the Scorpio Blue series are quite good. It is only important not to forget about the thickness of the devices in case of replacing the HDD with a similar one with a larger capacity.
Seagate devices are also good, but they are usually a little more expensive (for 3.5-inch models), and they have a slightly higher noise level.
And do not forget about the correct operation of any HDD, do not let the hard drive overheat, otherwise its life will be too fleeting.
There are two main types of hard drives on the computer component market today - SDD and HDD. Which one is better? Let's look at this issue in detail.
HDD - classic hard disk
HDD- This is a classic hard drive, which is a box where round magnetic plates and reading heads are placed. Data is stored on magnetic platters, and read heads, respectively, read this data. The principle of operation of the HDD is similar to the gramophone, except that the spindle speed is much faster. The HDD spindle spins the magnetized platters at 5400 and 7200 rpm. These are the most common spindle speeds for HDDs designed for user computers. The spindle speed can be much higher - for example, 10,000 or more revolutions per minute, but these are server hardware standards.
HDD inside / forumrostov.ru
What gives HDD spindle speed? This indicator is often measured by the speed of reading and writing data by a hard drive - the higher the spindle speed, the greater the speed of reading and writing data. But this is not entirely true, since the performance of the HDD is also affected by its other indicators - this is the recording density and random access time.
The higher the recording density, the faster the HDD will be. The recording density of modern HDDs is 100-150 Gb / sq. inch. With the random access indicator, the opposite is true, because this is the time during which the hard disk will carry out the operation of reading or writing data on any of the sections of the magnetic plate. Therefore, the shorter this time, the better. The range of this parameter is typically 2.5 to 16 ms.
Thus, in computer operation, the difference between two HDDs with a spindle speed of 5400 and 7200 may not be noticeable.
HDDs also differ in physical dimensions and in the technical specifications of the models are indicated according to their width. This is a 3.5-inch size - the standard HDD size for PC builds - and 2.5-inch - the HDD size for laptops.
SSD - a new format hard drive
SSD- in the technical characteristics of computer devices, you can also find its other name "solid-state drive" - in fact, it is a voluminous flash drive with a huge read and write speed compared to HDD. SSD is 3-4 times faster than HDD. It will take no more than 10 seconds to fully boot Windows installed on the SSD, while this operating system on the HDD will boot for about two minutes.
What is the secret to SSD performance? The HDD, for example, when Windows starts up, spends time searching for sectors on the magnetic platter and moving the read heads. When you run exactly the same version of Windows with exactly the same functionality at autoload, the SSD simply reads data from the specific matrix block where this data is located. On an SSD drive, the operating system, programs, and individual files start faster.
SSD inside / fotkidepo.ru
SSDs do not add much weight to laptops, because they weigh no more than 100 g. While a 2.5-inch HDD with a weight of 700-800 g clearly will not facilitate the daily transfer of the device.
Unlike HDDs, SSDs are not afraid of bumps and falls. But, if you accidentally drop your laptop, you can add trouble to yourself - both to replace the HDD and to restore data.
SSDs are quiet, while a good high-speed HDD can even interfere with sleep if the computer is left on at night.
By the way, about data recovery, in this matter, SSD loses to HDD. Recovering data from an SSD is problematic. If, for example, there is a power surge in the mains, the SSD will burn out completely, and all data will be destroyed. But in the HDD, in exactly the same case, only a small board will burn, while all the data will remain on the magnetic platters. If desired, IT-specialists can restore this data. The same applies to the recovery of data previously deleted by the user using special software. On most SSDs, you won't be able to recover deleted files after emptying the Recycle Bin. But SSD manufacturers are already working on this issue, moreover, some models of solid state drives may not physically clear the matrix blocks from the written data at the time the user's command arrives, but do it later when it becomes necessary.
But this is far from the most vulnerable spot of solid-state drives. Their disadvantages are as significant as their advantages over HDD.
First, it's the price. SSD is very expensive. For the price of a 60 GB SSD, you can buy a good HDD with 1 TB of disk space.
Secondly, this is a small volume - an SSD with a volume of 512 MB can be found quite rarely on the computer component market, much more common standards are 128 GB or 60 GB. As you can see, such layouts do not make the SSD a full-fledged device for the needs of the user, and if we are not talking about an ultra-thin ultrabook, a laptop or PC will still have to be equipped with an HDD for file storage. Using only an SSD for data storage, again, can result in a decent amount of money.
Thirdly, SSDs have a clearly defined usage resource. You can overwrite data on the SSD up to 10,000 times. HDDs do not have such restrictions, and rarely do users change a hard drive for this very reason. As a rule, this is either mechanical damage, or overheating, or modernization. Given the high cost of SSDs, a computer device must be equipped with at least 8 GB of RAM in order to be able to disable the Windows page file. After all, constant overwriting of data in this file will help the SSD resource to be exhausted faster.
SSD or HDD: which is better to choose?
What is better HDD or SSD? If you have free funds, of course, an SSD as part of a PC assembly or in a laptop will not hurt. Despite all the technical shortcomings of a solid state drive, it is beneficial to use it as a system partition for Windows. If incomes are not yet particularly conducive to serious spending of money, a good high-speed HDD is a much more practical option.
Photo on the main page: Hard drive HDD next to SSD drive / 123rf.com
Until recently, when buying a new computer and choosing the drive to install, the user had the only choice - the HDD hard drive. And then we were only interested in two parameters: spindle speed (5400 or 7200 RPM), disk capacity and cache size.
Let's look at the pros and cons of both types of drives and make a visual comparison of HDD and SSD.
Principle of operation
A traditional drive, or as it is commonly called ROM (Read Only Memory), is necessary to store data even after a complete power outage. Unlike RAM (Random Access Memory) or RAM, data stored in memory is not erased when the computer is turned off.
A classic hard drive consists of several metal "pancakes" with a magnetic coating, and data is read and written using a special head that moves above the surface of the disk rotating at high speed.
Solid-state drives have a completely different principle of operation. An SSD has no moving parts at all, and its “innards” look like a set of flash memory chips placed on a single board.
Such chips can be installed both on the system motherboard (for especially compact models of laptops and ultrabooks), on a PCI Express card for desktop computers, or on a special laptop slot. The chips used in SSDs are different from what we see in a flash drive. They are much more reliable, faster and more durable.
Disk history
Hard magnetic disks have a very long (of course, by the standards of the development of computer technology) history. In 1956, IBM released a little-known computer IBM 350 RAMAC, which was equipped with a 3.75 MB storage device that was huge by those standards.
These cabinets could store as much as 7.5 MB of data
To build such a hard drive, 50 round metal plates had to be installed. The diameter of each was 61 centimeters. And all this gigantic construction could store… just one MP3-composition with a low bitrate of 128 Kb/s.
Up until 1969, this computer was used by the government and research institutes. Some 50 years ago, a hard drive of this size was quite suitable for mankind. But the standards changed dramatically in the early 80s.
5.25-inch (13.3 cm) floppy disks appeared on the market, and a little later, 3.5- and 2.5-inch (notebook) versions. Such floppy disks could store up to 1.44 MB of data, and a number of computers of that time were supplied without a built-in hard drive. Those. to start the operating system or program shell, you had to insert a floppy disk, then enter a few commands, and only then get to work.
In the entire history of the development of hard drives, several protocols have been changed: IDE (ATA, PATA), SCSI, which later transformed into the now well-known SATA, but they all performed the only function of a “connecting bridge” between the motherboard and the hard drive.
From 2.5 and 3.5-inch floppy disks with a capacity of one and a half thousand kilobytes, the computer industry has moved to hard disks of the same size, but with a thousand times more memory. Today, top 3.5-inch HDDs are up to 10 TB (10,240 GB); 2.5-inch - up to 4 TB.
The history of SSDs is much shorter. About the release of a device for storing memory, which would be devoid of moving parts, engineers thought back in the early 80s. The appearance in this era of the so-called bubble memory was met with very hostility and the idea proposed by the French physicist Pierre Weiss back in 1907 did not take root in the computer industry.
The essence of bubble memory was to divide the magnetized permalloy into macroscopic regions that would have spontaneous magnetization. The unit of measure for such an accumulator was bubbles. But the most important thing is that there were no hardware moving elements in such a drive.
Bubble memory was forgotten very quickly, and was remembered only during the development of a new class of drives - SSD.
SSDs only appeared in laptops in the late 2000s. In 2007, the budget laptop OLPC XO-1 entered the market, equipped with 256 MB of RAM, an AMD Geode LX-700 processor with a frequency of 433 MHz and the main highlight - 1 GB NAND flash memory.
The OLPC XO-1 was the first laptop to use a solid state drive. And soon the legendary line of netbooks from Asus EEE PC with the 700 model joined it, where the manufacturer installed a 2-gigabyte SSD drive.
In both laptops, the memory was installed directly on the motherboard. But soon, manufacturers revised the principle of organizing drives and approved a 2.5-inch format connected via the SATA protocol.
The capacity of modern SSD drives can reach 16 TB. Most recently, Samsung introduced just such an SSD, however, in a server version and with a space price for the average layman.
Pros and cons of SSD and HDD
The tasks of drives of each class come down to one thing: to provide the user with a working operating system and allow him to store personal data. But both SSD and HDD have their own characteristics.
Price
SSDs are much more expensive than traditional HDDs. To determine the difference, a simple formula is used: the price of the drive is divided by its capacity. As a result, the cost of 1 GB of capacity in currency is obtained.
So, a standard 1 TB HDD costs an average of $50 (3300 rubles). The cost of one gigabyte is $50 / 1024 GB = $0.05, i.e. 5 cents (3.2 rubles). In the SSD world, everything is much more expensive. An SSD with a capacity of 1 TB will cost an average of $ 220, and the price for 1 GB according to our simple formula will be 22 cents (14.5 rubles), which is 4.4 times more expensive than an HDD.
The good news is that the cost of SSDs is rapidly declining: manufacturers are finding cheaper solutions for the production of drives and the price gap between HDDs and SSDs is narrowing.
Average and maximum capacity of SSD and HDD
Just a few years ago, between the maximum capacity of HDD and SSD, there was not only a numerical, but also a technological gap. It was impossible to find an SSD that could compete with HDD in terms of the amount of stored information, but today the market is ready to provide the user with such a solution. True, for impressive money.
The maximum capacity of SSDs offered for the consumer market is 4TB. Similar option at the beginning of July 2016. And for 4 TB of space you will have to pay $1499.
The base HDD capacity for laptops and computers released in the second half of 2016 ranges from 500 GB to 1 TB. Models similar in power and characteristics, but with an installed SSD drive, are content with only 128 GB.
SSD and HDD speed
Yes, it is for this indicator that the user overpays when he prefers SSD storage. Its speed is many times higher than that of HDD. The system is able to boot in just a few seconds, it takes much less time to launch heavy applications and games, and copying large amounts of data from a multi-hour process turns into a 5-10 minute process.
The only “but” is that data from an SSD drive is deleted as quickly as it is copied. Therefore, when working with an SSD, you may simply not have time to press the cancel button if one day you suddenly delete important files.
Fragmentation
The favorite "delicacy" of any HDD hard drive is large files: MKV movies, large archives and BlueRay disk images. But as soon as you load the hard drive with a hundred or two small files, photos or MP3 compositions, the read head and metal pancakes become confused, as a result of which the recording speed drops significantly.
After filling up the HDD, repeatedly deleting/copying files, the hard disk starts to work more slowly. This is due to the fact that parts of the file are scattered over the entire surface of the magnetic disk, and when you double-click on a file, the read head is forced to search for these fragments from different sectors. This is how time is wasted. This phenomenon is called fragmentation, and as a preventive measure to speed up the HDD, a software and hardware process is provided defragmentation or ordering such blocks/parts of files into a single chain.
The principle of operation of the SSD is fundamentally different from the HDD, and any data can be written to any sector of memory with further instant reading. That is why defragmentation is not needed for SSD drives.
Reliability and service life
Remember the main advantage of SSD drives? That's right, no moving parts. That is why you can use a laptop with an SSD in transport, off-road or in conditions inevitably associated with external vibrations. This will not affect the stability of the system and the drive itself. The data stored on the SSD will not be affected even if the laptop falls.
HDDs are exactly the opposite. The read head is located only a few micrometers from the magnetized discs, and therefore any vibration can lead to the appearance of "bad sectors" - areas that become unusable. Regular pushes and careless handling of a computer that runs on an HDD will lead to the fact that sooner or later such a hard drive will simply, speaking in computer jargon, “crumble” or stop working.
Despite all the advantages of SSDs, they also have a very significant drawback - a limited use cycle. It directly depends on the number of memory blocks rewriting cycles. In other words, if you copy/delete/recopy gigabytes of information every day, you will very soon cause the clinical death of your SSD.
Modern SSD drives are equipped with a special controller that takes care of evenly distributing data across all SSD blocks. So it was possible to significantly increase the maximum operating time up to 3000 - 5000 cycles.
How durable is an SSD? Just take a look at this picture:
And then compare with the warranty period of operation, which is promised by the manufacturer of your particular SSD. 8 - 13 years for storage, believe me, not so bad. And do not forget about the progress that leads to a constant increase in the capacity of SSDs at an ever-decreasing cost. I think in a few years your 128 GB SSD will be a museum piece.
Form Factor
The battle of drive sizes has always been caused by the type of devices in which they are installed. So, for a desktop computer, the installation of both a 3.5-inch and a 2.5-inch drive is absolutely uncritical, but for portable devices, such as laptops, players and tablets, a more compact version is needed.
The 1.8-inch format was considered the smallest serial version of the HDD. This is the disc used in the discontinued iPod Classic.
And no matter how hard the engineers tried, they failed to build a miniature HDD-hard drive with a capacity of more than 320 GB. It is impossible to break the laws of physics.
In the world of SSD, everything is much more promising. The generally accepted 2.5-inch format has become such not because of any physical limitations that technologies face, but only because of compatibility. In the new generation of ultrabooks, the 2.5 '' format is gradually being abandoned, making the drives more and more compact, and the cases of the devices themselves thinner.
Noise
The rotation of disks even in the most advanced HDD hard drive is inseparably linked with the occurrence of noise. Reading and writing data sets the disk head in motion, which rushes around the entire surface of the device at insane speed, which also causes a characteristic crackle.
SSD drives are absolutely silent, and all processes occurring inside the chips take place without any accompanying sound.
Outcome
Summing up the comparison of HDD and SSD, I want to clearly define the main advantages of each type of drive.
Advantages of HDD: capacious, inexpensive, accessible.
HDD Disadvantages: slow, afraid of mechanical influences, noisy.
Advantages of SSD: absolutely silent, wear-resistant, very fast, have no fragmentation.
Disadvantages of SSD: expensive, theoretically have a limited service life.
Without exaggeration, we can say that one of the most effective methods for upgrading an old laptop or computer is installing an SSD drive instead of an HDD. Even with the latest version of SATA, you can achieve a threefold increase in performance.
Hard drives are divided into classes according to several criteria. Firstly, by interface type - SCSI, ATA and Serial AT. SCSI interface designed to organize complex multi-component disk subsystems; it allows you to connect up to 32 devices per channel, it is technically more complicated, more expensive to implement and "smarter" than ATA. Interface ATA designed to organize simple disk subsystems (up to two devices per channel), much easier and cheaper to implement and less "intelligent". Today, SCSI drives are used in servers and powerful workstations, ATA drives are used in ordinary desktop PCs, laptop computers, and more recently in digital consumer electronics (for example, in digital video recorders or CD / MP3_players). Interface Serial AT is a further development of the ATA interface and is intended for the same sector of application. The main difference from the ATA interface is the transition to serial data transfer (ATA interface is parallel) and support for hot plugging/disconnecting devices, i.e. without de-energizing the system. Also, the data transfer rate has been increased, up to 150 MB / s and higher for Serial AT, against 133 MB / s for ATA.
Secondly, according to the size of drives - 3.5_ or 2.5_inch. 3.5_inch SCSI drives and ATA drives are used in desktop PCs and other stationary devices, 2.5_inch drives are used in laptops and other portable systems.
Thirdly, by spindle speed. SCSI drives spin the fastest at 15k, 10k, and 7200rpm, followed by 3.5-inch ATA drives at 10k, 7200, and 5400rpm, and finally 2 .5-inch ATA drives - 7200, 5400 and 4200 rpm
Main characteristics of hard disks.
Hard disk capacity. (GB)
Interface.
Plate rotation speed. (rpm)
Buffer size. (MB)
Recording density. (GB/Plate)
Average/Maximum search time. (ms)
Track change time, read/write. (ms)
Internal baud rate. (MB/s)
Power consumption. (W)
Typical noise level.
Shock resistant in working and non-working condition.
Leading manufacturers and their product lines
More recently, desktop hard drives have been produced by quite a few companies: Fujitsu, IBM, Maxtor, Quantum, Samsung, Seagate, and Western Digital. But after two protracted industry crises and intensified competition, the number of desktop drive manufacturers dropped to five: Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung, Seagate, and Western Digital. Here are some examples of hard drives from leading manufacturers (Table 1):
Table 1.
Modern models of hard drives from major manufacturers.
|
Manufacturer |
Capacity, GB. |
Interface |
Rotation speed, rpm |
Buffer size, MB |
Recording density, GB/plate |
|
|
Diamond Max Plus 9 | ||||||
|
Barracuda 7200.7 | ||||||
|
Barracuda 7200.7 SATA |
CD drives.
In a CD, data is written on a very narrow (100 times thinner than a human hair) spiral track that runs from the outer diameter of the disc to the inner diameter (the full length, if unfolded, is 5 km). Any disc has a transparent polycarbonate substrate, which makes it rigid (in addition, due to its presence, scratches on the disc surface are outside the focal plane of the reading laser), a reflective metal layer and a protective layer of acrylic plastic. When a CD-ROM drive reads from a disc, it actually reads a series of microscopic indentations on a metal plate inside the CD's plastic cover. The recesses and flat areas act in a similar way to the magnetic charges on a floppy disk. Instead of a read-write head, a laser beam is directed to the surface. When the beam hits a flat area, it is reflected, which is registered as zero. If the beam hits a recess, it scatters, which is registered as one.
The main standard that defines the logical and file format for recording CDs is the international specification ISO 9660. The data access time for various models ranges from 150 to 400 ms. The capacity of CDs is about 650 MB.
The data transfer rate for a drive is determined by the speed at which the disk is rotated and the density of the data recorded on it. It is usually specified in comparison with the Audio CD (CD-DA) standard, for which the data reading speed is in the order of 150 KB/s, which is taken as 1x speed. At the same time, the designation of the number of speeds began to mean the maximum reading speed on the outer tracks of the disk. Recording information on a CD starts from the inner tracks, so the maximum speed is not achieved on discs that are not completely full. So, for a 34-speed drive, the read speed can vary from 2.8 MB / s on internal to 5.3 MB / s on external tracks. Chasing too fast a CD-ROM drive often results in poor readability of low quality discs due to balance issues.
