The type of storage your computer uses matters for performance, including power usage and reliability. Solid state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs) are the two main storage options to consider

What is an HDD?

An HDD is a data storage device that is inside the computer. It has spinning disks inside where data is stored magnetically. The HDD has an arm with several "heads" (transducers) that read and write data on the disk. Similar to how a turntable record player works, with an LP record (hard disk) and a needle on an arm (transducers). The arm moves the heads across the surface of the disk to access different data.

What is an SSD?

SSDs because they have no moving parts. In an SSD, all data is stored in integrated circuits. Without the need for a spinning disk, SSDs can go down to the size of a piece of chewing gum (known as the M.2 form factor). SSDs dramatically reduce access time since users don’t have to wait for platter rotation to start up.

SSDs are more expensive than HDDs per amount of storage (in gigabytes, or GB, and terabytes, or TB), but the gap is closing quickly.

For most users an SSD disk is the preferred option as it gives a faster performance for loading apps, Windows as well as for gaming.