SSD vs. HDD in Windows VPS Hosting

For a successful hosting plan, a person gets to choose between two different types of storage devices. These are the basic unit which you most definitely need in almost all kinds of IT tasks. These two devices are SSD and HDD. Now, most people don’t know about their differences. Most of you don’t even know what exactly these devices are. Thus, before anything, let me explain what the SSD and HDD basically mean.

Starting off with HDD (Hard Disk Drive), which is more common of the two. It is the basic traditional method of storage where data is simply stored on platters through magnetism. It is plain raw storage and can store huge amounts of data in a lower comparable price. First introduced by IBM in 1956, it has been around since the dawn of modern technology and computers. How does it work? Simply put; the platters inside the HDD move very fast, while the data is read from its axis.

On the other hand, the SSD (Solid State Drive) is a more modern version of storage. Rather than using platters, data is stored inside microchips. It is not mechanical and hence has absolutely no delay time when transferring information. Unlike the HDD, which is mechanical and hence has a chance of delay.

Now that you know what they are, it’s time to choose what they mean for your VPS. Let’s first discuss how each of these matter to your website, which means the advantages that they show. Again, starting off with the traditional HDD; it offers an amazing price in accordance to the storage it provides. Basically, HDD is equal to more storage and less price. In fact, where you can get an average HDD for a price of $50, you won’t even get the cheapest SSD below $100 on average. This can even move up to thousands of dollars for an SSD. That means for your website, a HDD will definitely be cost effective.

An SSD however, does provide the ‘bang for buck’, so to speak. Being the more modern choice, it is most definitely faster and more efficient than an HDD. It works with absolutely no delay time by using semiconductor chips while also working at the rate of about 30-100 μs for the transfer of data. This, compared to an HDD, is nearly 100 times faster! The HDD works at the rate of 5,000-10,000 μs. A Windows SSD also has an average boot time of 10 seconds compared to 40 seconds of HDD boot time.

But both of them have their disadvantages too. It is clear that an SSD is definitely expensive, while the HDD is very slow comparatively. Other than that, the HDD’s file copy speed is also slower. Moreover, it requires defragmentation as maintenance to ensure it works perfectly. The SSD, however, does not. All in all, an SSD is much more efficient, but it can also cost thousands of dollars and provide very low disk space nevertheless. For websites with low traffic and more content, an HDD is much more cost-efficient and practically perfect for the job. An SSD is more of something used by websites with high traffic.

In the end the choice is yours. Choose the one which suits your business best. The inexpensive yet slower plan, or the high end faster, yet very expensive plan; one would suit you, one would not. Think carefully and decide, because this is something which really affects your VPS hosting.