Traditional hard disk drives have been the popular choice for website storage for years, but they have become relatively limited in the age of modern demands. If your website loads slowly, experience frequent crashes, or your files need more time to transfer, it might be time to upgrade to SSD.
Solid-state drives are more expensive than HDDs, but they provide many benefits that make them a worthy investment for any website owner. SSD storage can take your website to the next level thanks to its incredible speed, increased power efficiency, and improved durability.
In this article, we’ll go in-depth into the advantages of SSDs and explain the crucial differences between SSDs and HDDs!
What is SSD Storage?
SSD storage is a newer and more modern type of storage device. SSDs come in various sizes, and they are usually used in laptops, as well as secondary storage in PCs. They use flash-based memory to store data, which is written, erased, and transferred electronically. It makes the SSD storage fast and impacts your overall website ranking, performance, and user experience.
Differences between HDDs and SSDs
The debate about the differences between hard disk drives and solid-state drives is quite a popular topic. Both storage devices come with their own advantages and disadvantages, and that’s why you need to understand the key differences between HDDs and SSDs so you can decide which one will suit you better.
Physical Differences
Desktop computers traditionally use hard disk drives. These mechanical devices contain a spinning disk, which is the base for how they read data. The faster the disk spins, the quicker the PC can access and read your data. HDDs store large amounts of data, but they pretty much have issues due to their complex mechanical segments.
On the other hand, SSDs come without moving parts that reduce the loud whirring noises and have a lower risk of overheating. Laptops are the most common machines that use SSDs, and the storage is saved on a NAND flash memory. In order to provide more storage capacity, some SSDs have more memory chips, making them better than HDDs.
Technical Differences
The second difference between these two storage devices is the technical aspect. The main technical difference between HDDs and SSDs is their disk reading speed. Fast HDDs read data at the rate of 125mbps, while a standard SSD can do that at speeds over 500mbps.
What’s more, some machines use NVMe SSDs that provide even faster data reading speeds. An example of such a device is MacBook Pro. The NVMe SSDs read data four times faster than the regular SSDs, and when searching for data, NVMe SSDs do that ten times more quickly. According to this, the difference in speed between HDDs and SSDs is quite evident.
Source: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/HDDs
Benefits of Utilizing SSD Storage
SSD storage has many advantages for your website, but it might not be ideal for everyone. SSDs are a more costly option than traditional HDDs, making them unsuitable for those on a tight budget.
However, it’s vital to utilize SSD storage if your website has sluggish performance, slow loading times, and frequent downtimes. It leads to unsatisfied customers, decreased page traffic, and lower revenues. Therefore, you must adapt to your website’s storage needs by upgrading to SSDs to enhance your website’s performance.
Let’s look at the benefits you’ll enjoy if you choose a web host that offers SSD storage.
Improved Website Speed
HDD storage solutions can access your website’s data quite slowly. As a result, it leads to frustratingly slow loading times for your visitors and can make them hop to your competition with faster loading speeds. Compared to HDDs, the SSDs read data more than four times faster or even more quickly if the web host comes with NVMe SSDs.
SSDs can read data faster because they use flash memory to store the data. Additionally, SSDs can read and write data at the same time. This faster access to data makes a significant difference for you, as it keeps your visitors more engaged and prevents them from switching to another web page. By utilizing SSD storage, you will improve your website’s overall speed and performance, which will cause a seamless user experience and increased page traffic.
At AltusHost, we offer SSD storage, whether you choose dedicated hosting, biz web hosting, cloud hosting, VPS hosting, or reseller hosting.
Source: https://www.altushost.com/web-hosting/
Prolonged Durability
HDDs usually fail after 3-5 years of use, as they have moving parts that impact their durability. As a result, it may cause severe issues for your business, such as website downtimes and lost data. That’s why purchasing a web hosting plan that provides SSD storage is essential.
The SSDs are four times more durable than the HDDs because they don’t have moving parts that can fail, making them less prone to damage. More precisely, they are more resistant to physical shocks, making them an excellent choice for laptops and remote work. More so, SSDs don’t experience data loss and decrease the risk of hardware failures. Due to this, your customers will have a reliable and stable customer experience, with minimal interruptions or downtimes.
Here at AltusHost, you will find high-quality hardware like the Top Grade Hardware accompanied by durable SSD storage that will help you gain a professional look in your customers’ eyes.
Source: https://www.altushost.com/
Power Efficiency
One common issue when you have a web host with traditional HDD storage is how much power they need to operate so your website can offer a decent experience. The moving parts and spinning disks in the HDDs require vast energy, leading to higher electricity bills for your online business. Compared to SSDs, hard disk drives need 15 times more power to operate while inactive and 7 times more while they perform different tasks.
On the other hand, SSDs consume less power as they don’t have moving parts, making them more fuel efficient. By utilizing a web host that provides SSD storage, you will cut costs on electricity bills as you will reduce energy usage. By saving on energy costs, you can use that money to improve your website to make it more attractive for your customers.
At AltusHost, you will benefit from the above-explained things while enjoying the high performance and data safety.
Source: https://www.altushost.com/web-hosting/
Achieving Eco-Friendliness
Hard disk drives are widely used in computing systems, but they come with quite concerning environmental effects. The HDDs use a lot of energy, generate heat, and contain harmful materials that pollute the environment. If your website uses a web host with HDDs, people might consider you as not eco-friendly, and, as a result, you may even lose customers.
On the other hand, SSDs are a pretty eco-friendly solution. Due to using less power, they produce lower amounts of heat and reduce the carbon footprints on the environment. Furthermore, the no-moving parts and the fact that they are more durable will cause less electronic waste. By upgrading to SSD storage, your customers will consider you as an eco-friendly business, and you will contribute to a greener future.
At AltusHost, we offer entirely eco-friendly web hosting due to our membership at the Green Web Foundation and the steps we undertake, such as reusing electronics and recycling, running our backup generators on EcoPar, and choosing eco-friendly transportation alternatives.
Source: https://www.altushost.com/environmental-care/
How to Choose the Right SSD?
Not all web hosts have SSD storage, so the main question is what you can do in such a situation. Naturally, finding another host that will take care of this aspect is more effortless. However, using an SSD is also possible, even if it’s not included in your web hosting plan. In this case, you will need to purchase and install SSD yourself.
If you decide to do so, you should keep in mind a few crucial things that will help you choose the right SSD.
Budget
HDDs are the most affordable storage option, but if you tend to improve your website and you are on a tight budget, then you can go for SATA SDDs. They are the most cost-efficient SSD option while still providing the fantastic performance you and your website need.
If you are more flexible in terms of budget, you can go for NVMe SSDs, as they come with a slightly better performance.
Storage Capacity
Due to the rapid expansion of SSD usage, they have become increasingly available and offer larger storage capacities. The larger the storage capacity, the more affordable the SSD is. But how to determine the right SSD storage for your website?
You can do a simple calculation to discover this. Start by calculating the average amount of data you use monthly. Then, add a minimum of 20% to your average sum. For example, if you run a website that doesn’t use more than 500 GB of data monthly, an SSD of 512 GB will be enough. But if you run a more complex website that uses more data, such as 700 GB per month, you need an SSD of 1TB.
Device Type
SSD technology constantly advances, which is why they change in size to adapt to different devices and motherboards while maintaining high performance. In addition, the different SSD types come with different connectors that make them compatible with more devices.
SATA SSDs are larger and are used in bigger devices. In contrast, the NVMe SSDs are compatible with almost all devices due to their M.2 connector, which establishes a more efficient and streamlined way of communicating with the SSD.
Source: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/ssd-storage
Conclusion
In today’s rapidly evolving technological world, having a fast and reliable website is a must! While HDDs have been the traditional storage option, they might not be enough for today’s modern website requirements. The solution is to use a web host with SSD storage or install it yourself.
SSDs have faster data reading speeds and are more durable, power-efficient, and eco-friendly for the environment. These benefits not only make your website work flawlessly, but you’ll also gain more page traffic as you’ll get a decent reputation. So, don’t settle for slow loading times and unreliable website performance – upgrade to SSD storage as soon as possible!
