Network Solutions Unlimited Blog

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.

As though computing systems apparently weren’t under enough threats, security researchers have discovered yet another potential vulnerability from a truly unexpected source. The sounds your hard drive makes can give a properly-equipped hacker everything they need to gather data from your machine, including any encryption keys you may have in place.

When it comes to drives for your computer or workstation, you have a couple of options available to you, one of which is the solid state drive, or SSD. What’s the difference between your typical hard drive and an SSD, you ask? Well, today we’ll find out. We’ll break down some of the details about SSDs, including how they are different from your traditional hard disk drive, and why you might consider implementing one.

Your business stores a ton of data that you access on a daily basis, and therefore, you require adequate data storage space. Should you go with solid state drives (SSD) or hard disk drives (HDD) for your primary data storage needs? We’ll discuss the various strengths and weaknesses of both types of drives.

• HDD: Hard drives are hardly new to the business world. IBM first introduced them in 1956. Hard drives use a mechanical arm to read and write data to spinning magnetic disks. The spin typically dictates the speed and performance of the device. In fact, today’s drives can achieve up to 7200 revolutions per minute.
• SSD: In comparison to the hard disk drive, the solid state drive stores information on microchips that are controlled by an onboard, embedded processor. The processor is called the controller, which controls the speed that the drive operates at. As a bonus, SSD drives contain no moving parts, making it ideal for mobile devices that get jostled around, like laptops and notebooks.

Granted, companies generally don’t care how a drive operates, as long as it runs well and can store plenty of data. Looking to features like the following can help your business further narrow down what the best possible storage solution is for your needs.

• Capacity: Most business owners just want to know how much data they can store on their memory devices. HDD can generally store more data, ranging anywhere from 500GB to 6TB. In comparison, cost-effective SSD technology usually caps out around the 1TB range, but let’s face it; a TB of data is still plenty of data.
• Speed: The average HDD will have a copy/write speed of around 50 to 120MB/second, while SSDs can easily reach at least 200MB/second, going as high as 550MB/second. The speed of data access and storage is one of the main reasons that consumers enjoy SSD technology--in fact, HDD speeds lag by about 30 percent. That’s like losing 30 percent of your work day while going about your daily tasks.
• Cost: HDDs have been around for so long that the cost per byte is practically nonexistent. At $0.06/GB of storage, it’s very affordable, even for your average consumer. In comparison, SSDs are more expensive. Even though the price has dropped significantly in recent years, the cost per GB of storage is $0.24, making it a much more expensive option.
• Battery Life: HDDs have significantly more power draw and less battery life, averaging about 6 or 7 watts compared to SSD, giving SSD batteries significantly better battery life.

Depending on your business’s current financial obligations and priorities, your chosen data storage solution will differ. If capacity and price are of the utmost importance for your business, hard disk drives will be your data storage apparatus of choice. If you’re more focused on speed and durability, a solid state drive will be well worth the extra investment. Regardless, it’s important to take your IT budget and your organization’s specific needs into account before committing to a data storage device.

If you require assistance selecting a data storage solution, our professional IT technicians can help. Contact us today to learn how you can take better advantage of your current technical assets.