HDD, SSD, and SSHD / Hybrid – What Are They and Which One is For You?

WHAT THEY DO and WHICH ONE IS FOR YOU? 

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Maybe you’ve been doing the whole PC Gaming thing for a bit or maybe you’ve just gotten into PC Gaming. At some point, you might’ve heard about HDDs, SSDs, and SSHDs / Hybrid Drives. Personally, I’m not the most hardcore techie guy out there and some tech speak still sounds alien to me. All I DID know was that I wanted a better gaming experience that, as much as possible, didn’t break the bank too much. Hence, we decided to come up with this guide demystify all these terms surrounding these 3 types of drives and get down to the point of WHAT THEY DO and WHICH ONE IS FOR YOU? 

 

Okay, FIRST OF ALL. Let’s check. Do you even NEED to read this? Does this article even matter to you? If you’re looking to get MORE disk space / storage and/or you want your PC to perform even SMOOTHER and FASTER then ABSOLUTELY. You need to know this.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to what they are. Actually, this video from SeaGate will give you a good idea as to what they are. It’s quick so check it out. Don’t worry, I’ll wait 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLiz77EowzY

 

Okay, so yes. Given that information, let me sum it up for you:

  • HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
    • The Data Storage King
    • Usually bigger than an SSD
    • Slow AF
    • Affordable
  • SSD (Solid State Drive)
    • Thin and Light
    • Wicked fast; can multitask with each
    • No moving parts meaning these things are hella durable
    • EXPENSIVE AF especially the high capacity ones
  • SSHD (Solid State Hybrid Drive)
    • Combines the benefits of both
    • Fast but not as fast as SSD
    • Big Storage but not as big as HDD
    • Durable. A little less than SSD but still durable.
    • Cost efficient

 

Okay. Now, you know what they are. This time, let’s find out quick whether it’s for you or not. The biggest factor here usually is BUDGET so let’s work with that. If you’re just going to be aiming for just 1 drive then we suggest you go with the SSHD. It gives you the benefits of speed and storage while remaining to be cost efficient.

But what if you have MORE BUDGET but you still want to be smart about it? We suggest doing the 2-hit combo: Small SSD + Bigger SSHD Combo. How does this work? Simple! You use your SSD for your OS and apps while you use your SSHD for your games, data, etc. What this will do is speed up your boot speed and multitasking because of the SSD. The SSHD will be able to take care of your storage WHILE still allowing you to run your games faster.

 

We hope that brought some bit of clarity to the topic for you guys. I know not everyone understands these things so hopefully, this helped demystify them. At the end of the day, what we ALL have in common is that we just want an awesome gaming experience! 😉

If you’re looking to buy drives, look no further than SeaGate as they definitely have reliable quality hardware as well as pretty nicely priced SSHDs. Go check out the Firecuda specifically as you look through your options. 🙂 Til next time everyone! Keep on gaming!