HDD vs SSD vs SSHD: Which Hard Drive is the Best to Buy for your Laptop or Desktop?

If you are looking to upgrade your hard disks or buy a new PC or laptop, it pays to choose wisely when it comes to storage, because when it comes to performance, nothing beats a laptop storage drive upgrade. Picking the best storage option to upgrade your laptop PC's performance isn't as simple as it appears.

Do you need a hard disc drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SSD), or a solid state hybrid drive (SSHD)? There are a number of important factors to consider, and none of the available solutions always provides the best performance in each category. Just like the most important decisions, you have to choose the option that can best meet your unique needs.

I will break down the key criteria to help you decide which option is right for you, but before that I will quickly explain the difference between the 3 types of hard drive.  

HDD Drives

A hard disk drive (sometimes abbreviated as Hard drive, HD, or HDD) is a non-volatile memory hardware device that permanently stores and retrieves information. There are many variations, but HDD are available in 7mm and 9.5mm formats for laptop and desktop respectively. A hard drive consists of one or more platters to which data is written using a magnetic head, all inside of an air-sealed casing. Internal hard disks reside in a drive bay, connect to the motherboard using an ATA, SCSI, or SATA cable, and are powered by a connection to the PSU (power supply unit).

Without argument, HDD drives can store more data and outperform SSD or SSHD drives. Typically, HDD are bigger than a SDD drive. However, HDDs do provide good performance marks for most PCs on the market, though they do have moving parts, and this makes the HDD option less durable than a SSD choice. 

SSD Drives

SSD stands for solid-state drive. It is basically the same as a USB flash drive, but on a bigger, much faster scale. Unlike a traditional mechanical hard disk, an SSD has no moving parts. Storage is provided by memory chips instead of spinning magnetic platters. 

SSDs are considered the most durable drive type. Because these drives are solid state, they do not have any moving parts. The absence of moving parts means that you can drop, shake, and put SSDs to temperature tests without damaging the drive (within reasonable limits).

SSD designs are also the thinnest and lightest, making these drives great for lighter PCs. When it comes to multitasking, SSDs are also the best performing drives available, though they are not cheap. High capacity SSD options are often out of reach monetarily, which is why lower capacity drives are often chosen. 

SSHD Drives 

SSHD stand for solid-state hybrid drive. It is a traditional hard disk with a small amount of solid-state storage built in, typically 8GB. The drive appears as a single device to Windows (or any other operating system), and a controller chip decides which data is stored on the SSD and what's left on the HDD.

If you combined a SSD with a HDD drive, the outcome would be a SSHD drive. Literally, 'SSHD' stands for 'Solid State Hybrid Drive,' and that's just what it happens to be. This hybrid drive combines both moveable and immovable parts, so it's sturdier than a HDD drive and slightly less sturdy than a SSD drive - but much more affordable.

SSHD drives will ramp up your system's performance (depending on which one you choose), and you will notice a difference where things like restart, sleep, and overall speed go. Next to SSD drives, SSHD drives are the most power-efficient option, so this is also something to keep in mind.

Important factors to consider when choosing Hard drives

1) Form factor

Without any moving parts, SSD products are the thinnest of the available storage options. They are especially good for thin and light PCs and complex, industrial designs. For standard notebooks, SSDs are available in 5mm and 7mm heights. By comparison, HDDs are available in standard 7mm and 9.5mm designs. SSHDs debuted at 9mm and available at 7mm and 5mm designs.

2) Capacity

HDDs are the workhorses when it comes to sheer capacity and how much data can be stored. SSHD technology also offers maximum capacity points at affordable price points while SSDs are only affordable at lower capacities. High-capacity SSDs are extremely expensive.

3) Speed

SSDs provide peak performance for booting and high read/write performance to supporting computing that requires enhanced multitasking capabilities. On the other hand, a SSHD can provide near SSD performance for booting, launching, and loading data. HDDs usually provide ample performance for the majority of PC platforms available today.

4) Price

At a system level, low-capacity SSDs can be affordable in the 32GB to 64GB range. But high-capacity SSDs are very expensive, especially when measured by cost per gigabyte. HDDs provide the lowest cost per gigabyte. SSHDs provide a cost per gigabyte that's just slightly higher than HDDs.

5) Battery Life

In general, storage will not impact battery life in a laptop computer by more than about 10%. Processor power and LCD really run down the battery. However, SSD is the most power-efficient, and SSHD is a close second because it can spin down more frequently than an HDD.

6) Reliability

Failure rates on SSD, HDD and SSHD technologies have very similar ratings. SSHD has benefits because it uses both the SSD and HDD portions more efficiently than if they were separate.

7) Durability

SSDs are viewed as more durable simply because of their solid state design. Without moving parts, they can withstand higher extremes of shock, drop and temperature.

In conclusion, 

Thinking through all these criteria may make upgrading laptop storage seem like a tough decision. But perhaps it all comes down to cost-effectiveness: How can you get maximum capacity that's nearly as fast as solid state but fits your wallet better? Take a closer look at solid state hybrid drives. They probably provide the best combination of performance characteristics to meet your needs.

Seagate and Toshiba both offer SSHD options that are affordable and perform well. When choosing between the two, Seagate's SSHD choices are more affordable, though they offer performance levels that are nearly the same as what Toshiba has come up with. There are other options on the market, though these two companies provide the best SSHD choices at this time. 

Questions? Comments? Just ask me.