Current types of hard disks

Sometimes, we overlook certain components that are actually of vital importance when assembling a PC. Among these are the hard disks, storage units that we will discuss today to give you more information so that you can choose the most suitable ones for your computer

Most of you will already know the basic differences between external and internal hard drives, and between HDD and SSD types. Today we will delve into the features of SSD hard drives, perhaps less well known, but which can make it easier for you to choose the hard drive your PC needs.

Difference between HDD and SSD

HDD (Hard Drive Disc) hard disks are magnetic, and require several components, such as the head, and a number of other moving parts, to write or read data. This means that they are more prone to failure, since the more parts, the more elements that can fail

SSDs (Solid State Drives) are not magnetic, nor do they require a motor to operate. Instead, they use non-volatile memory chips, which allow bits to be stored in flash memory cells. All these features together make SSDs a more resilient option with less chance of error, and they are also significantly faster than HDDs

With this in mind, we will now explain the main differences between the SSD models available today

Variants within the SSD modality

SSD hard disks can be categorized according to their connection interface, which was originally SATA, but PCIe is currently more commonly used, as it is faster. On the other hand, there is the type of memory, whose cells are usually NAND flash, but there are other types, which we quickly list in a basic way:

• SLC (Single Level Cell): it is the fastest, but since each memory cell stores only one bit, it needs much more space in case you need to store larger files
• MLC (Multi Level Cell): It is not a memory that gives very good results because, although it is cheaper, it does not have much durability
• TLC (Triple Level Cell): similar to MLC but with lower performance, although interesting for the capacity it offers
• QLC (Quad Level Cell): newer than the previous ones, but very similar to TLC, although more resistant.

Another feature to take into account is the form factor, which directly affects the placement of the SSD in the tower, and is more a matter of connections and location than functionality:

• 2.5": very common, especially until a few years ago, when they were actually manufactured this way to place the drives in the same bays as HDDs. A sort of standard format
• HHHL: looks like an expansion card, and is not particularly liked
• mSATA: smaller than the 2.5" disk.
• M.2: in the style of a small module, which is placed in a slot on the motherboard, then evolved into the version for NVMe. The difference between them is simply the connector
• U.2: same as M.2 but only NVMe compatible, and larger in size

Discover our Alcyon series of SSD hard drives, available on our website, with a multitude of features, so you can choose the one that best suits your PC, and always count on fast and smooth data transfer.