GBCloud : HDD vs NVMe Drives- What are the advantages and disadvantages of the drives?

As we all know, GBCloud offers 3 types of storage settings the clients can choose from that suits their needs the most. They are Cloud HDD, Cloud SSD and Cloud NVMe. But, do you know what are the advantages and disadvantages of these storage drives? Worry not! Today, we are going to discuss about all of that together.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of HDD

Despite the fact that SSDs have surpassed HDDs as the most important component of computers, many manufacturers continue to use HDDs as their primary storage solution. Despite its age, an HDD has a number of advantages that no other storage device can match. These are some of them:

• Advantages
  • Cost: In general, HDDs are less expensive than SSDs of comparable capacity. As a result, buying a computer with a hard disc is likely to be less expensive. The main reason for HDDs’ low prices is that all of its components are mechanical, and their manufacturing costs are far lower.
  • Capacity: Users can pick from a variety of storage capacities. While 500GB external HDDs are the most popular, you can now get up to 6TB external HDDs on the market.
  • Availability: Because of the lesser demand, HDDs are quite easy to come by. While finding an SSD may take some time and effort, HDDs are readily available in practically all online and physical computer marketplaces.
  • Longevity: HDDs do not use flash memory, which has a limited number of read/write cycles, like SSDs. Because the data on your HDD is directly incorporated into the mechanical platters, it has a far longer lifespan than SSDs.

However, HDDs have a number of disadvantages, including:

• Disadvantages
  • Speed: Compared to NVMe SSDs, hard disk drives are painfully slow. While an NVMe SSD can reach read and write speeds of 3.5 GB/second, the average HDD speed crawls around 150 Mb/second.
  • Form Factor: Legacy form factors are used by HDDs. Smaller HDDs are highly difficult to manufacture due to mechanical components.
  • Noise: Although not a big drawback, the revolving mechanical discs produce a lot of noise in addition to vibrations. When you start working with larger files, these issues become more visible (and annoying). In the meanwhile, an NVMe SSD makes no noise.

The advantages and Disadvantages of NVMe Drives

The NVMe protocol is future-proof, adaptable to modern technologies, and works in a variety of computer scenarios. It’s one of the quickest storage options available. However, it, like any other technology, has advantages and disadvantages.

The following are some of the significant benefits:

• Advantages
  • Performance: When compared to earlier storage technologies such as SATA and SAS, NVMe offers numerous performance advantages. It uses hundreds of parallel command queues to provide lightning-fast read, write, and I/O speeds, resulting in improved performance and lower power consumption.
  • Form Factor: The NVMe protocol makes use of smaller form factors like PCIe bus, M.2, and U.2, which reduces the overall size of the SSDs.
  • Protocol: NVMe makes use of solid-state storage, multi-core CPUs, and gigabytes of RAM to streamline command sets and rapidly digest data. It is 100 times faster than standard hard disc drives.
  • Technology: It’s built with Flash technology and can handle up to 64k commands per queue, reducing CPU cycles and allowing for a latency of 2.8 microseconds. Because the technology interfaces directly with the CPU, it can handle 1 million I/O operations. NVMe is already in use in a variety of areas, including eCommerce, banking, AI, machine learning, big data, and DevOps.
  • Longevity: NVMe SSDs have a decreased chance of data loss since they store data in flash memory rather than mechanical elements. When doing many jobs at the same time, these drives emit no noise and produce less heat, resulting in increased reliability and longer life.

While the advantages exceed the downsides, there are a few key disadvantages to consider before making a decision:

• Disadvantages
  • Cost:

• Disadvantages
  • Cost: NVME SSDs are more expensive than SATA III SSDs of equal capacity. This is mostly due to the fact that NVMe provides quicker rates and is designed to handle developing data transit and storage technologies.
  • Compatibility: Because older systems aren’t compatible with the NVMe standard, upgrading your storage system is tough.