Solid State Drives: Worth the Extra Expense

Data storage is a major part of running a business, but when it comes to doing so, you have several options. The usual suspect, the hard drive, is what’s most commonly found in both consumer and business environments for a number of reasons. The solid state drive in particular presents unique opportunities for your business that you shouldn’t dismiss.

The Anatomy of a Hard Drive
Chances are that any recent addition to your organization's infrastructure comes equipped with a solid state drive, but you may have some older technology that don’t necessarily have this option available to them. Regardless, it’s worth investing in solid state technology specifically because of the shortcomings of hard disk drives.

Consider what makes up a hard drive. Data is stored on magnetic disks that spin at incredible speeds within the device. While most hard drives have failsafe options that keep failure to a minimum, is this really a risk that you want to take? With so many moving parts, it’s inevitable that a crash will occur, putting the future of your data at risk if you don’t have it backed up. Why, then, is the HDD used much more often than the more reliable SSD?

The answer is simple; you get more storage for the price from HDD than you do from SSD, as the cost per byte is much cheaper than it is for solid state. While the margin has been shrinking in recent years, it’s still quite noticeable. Still, you can get several terabytes worth of storage for much cheaper in the form of HDD than you could with a typical solid state drive. According to Computer Hope, this is even more so the case for data storage that has been purchased in bulk--drives that can store over 500GB.

The Benefits of SSD
While HDD takes the cake in price and storage capacity, it’s pretty much knocked out of the water in every other regard. SSDs don’t store data on rotating discs, making them more reliable and less prone to the general wear and tear of a HDD. Instead, it uses flash memory to store data, which also leads to quicker access times--approximately 100 times faster than that of HDD. Furthermore, SSDs use less power and make for a less noisy experience. Without as many moving parts, SSD creates less heat, which means that it will be more likely to stick around for longer periods of time before it eventually breaks down.

It might not seem like that big of a difference, but it’s the little things that matter the most--especially when it comes to saving money on your technology assets. If your business wants to get the most out of its budget, we can help by providing exceptional technology management and consultation. If you’re ready to take technology seriously, reach out to us at (217) 428-6449.