Files and applications can be accessed more quickly, and because they’re not mechanical they’re perfectly silent.
Solid-state drives (or SSDs) have no moving parts. This makes hard drives ideal for storing very large amounts of data you don’t regularly need to access, such as backups and media libraries.
They’re also slower, as the hard drive has to physically “find” the correct section of the disc before it can access data. As such, they can fail over time or become damaged. They have moving parts, and read and write your data to metallic, spinning platters.
Hard drives are cheaper and have larger capacities than SSDs. External hard drive FAQs Hard drive or SSD – which is better?
