The Advantages and Disadvantages of Solid State Drives (SSDs)
A Solid State Drive (SSD) is a type of computer storage drive which makes use of flash memory chips such as is found in smartphones, memory cards and USB drives. In contrast, a mechanical Hard Disk Drive (HDD) possesses a platter on which data is stored, a motor which spins the platter (to speeds up to 7200 revolutions per minute), and an actuator arm which physically moves "read" and "write" heads which seek for and add data to the spinning platter. All these moving parts are the reasons why solid state drives perform better than hard disk drives. However, SSDs in spite of their advantages over HDDs still have notable disadvantages. The pros and cons of solid states drives are discussed below: Pros 1. More Durable: Subjecting a mechanical hard disk drive to shock such as by dropping it can cause considerable damage. For example, the actuator arm may break off or scratch the platter (leading to the loss of data located in the ...