Using a ssd vs hard drive for secondary/short term storage drive? pros and cons

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Gupta_

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Feb 18, 2017
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i am doing a new build with a 525gb crucial mx300 m.2 sata ssd as my os/programs drive. i like keeping a 2nd separate drive for my data/documents and am trying to decide between a 1tb hard drive for $50 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339) or another 525gb sata ssd for $125 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820156154 - but ignore the price there).

525gb is more than enough size, i just like keeping 2 separate drives so its easy to transfer the data drive to another pc or keep them separate incase i need to reinstall OS (i don't like partitions). if i ever need to backup terabytes of data i prefer to use external hard drives.

other than the price is there any reason to choose one or the other? will be for short term storage of video/music, documents, etc. will the ssd wear out faster or anything like that? how about durability/reliability, how much heat they give off, etc?
 
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DigitalHamster
From the top of my head, here are the benefits of hard drives against SSDs:

Reasons to consider HDD:
- Much better value per GB of storage
- Larger capacities
- Usually cheaper, especially for smaller capacities
- Can rewrite data indefinitely in the same place
- Services exist to recover data should it break
- Hard drives are recognised by all operating systems


Reasons to consider SSD:
- Massively faster, especially for small files
- No need to defrag or run maintenance
- Much less heat, no moving parts
- More robust, no moving parts to break
- Silent at all times


My personal suggestion:
If you are using a laptop on the move or regularly moving your computer, especially with it powered on, an SSD will be great because...
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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It all depends on your personal size needs and budget.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a system of all SSD.

1. The SSD will NOT wear out faster.
2. Heat/noise/vibration is less than a HDD.
3. SSD durability is at least as good, probably better.

My 3 main systems here in the house are SSD only.
My system = 5 x SSD
HTPC = 2 x SSD
Wife's PC = 1 x SSD.

The NAS box has a bunch of spinning drives in it.
 
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DigitalHamster

DigitalHamster

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Nov 10, 2016
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From the top of my head, here are the benefits of hard drives against SSDs:

Reasons to consider HDD:
- Much better value per GB of storage
- Larger capacities
- Usually cheaper, especially for smaller capacities
- Can rewrite data indefinitely in the same place
- Services exist to recover data should it break
- Hard drives are recognised by all operating systems


Reasons to consider SSD:
- Massively faster, especially for small files
- No need to defrag or run maintenance
- Much less heat, no moving parts
- More robust, no moving parts to break
- Silent at all times


My personal suggestion:
If you are using a laptop on the move or regularly moving your computer, especially with it powered on, an SSD will be great because the movement will not cause any damage.
If you are just loading documents, an SSD offers very little benefit, because documents are small anyway and will take only a small amount of time to load. The performance will barely be noticeable most of the time.
If you are regularly rewriting large amounts of the drive very often, a hard drive can be better because it does not wear out any faster. Newer SSDs have come a long way though and you likely will not have to worry about the wear placed on the SSD.
 
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