Disk space on web hosting plans is categorized with the abbreviations such as HDD and SSD. Developed in 1956 by IBM, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is a storage device where the disk spins in order to save data. It was improved by the invention of SSD (Solid State Drive) in 1976 where data storage is processed within microchips without any moving parts.

There is a delay in storage in HDD, unlike SSD. Yet, that’s not the only reason why solid state drive is popular among website owners around the world. It is faster, secure, reliable, sustainable, affordable, and better for your business too. Read on to find out what makes SSD the perfect option for web hosting instant setup.

What's The Difference?

A solid state drive uses integrated circuits unlike the mechanical arms you will see inside an HDD.

Moreover, SSD is the successor of HDD; hence, it’s obvious how the former is an improvised version of the latter’s more primitive storage functions. The only major advantage of HDD over a solid state drive is cost. If you’re a beginner, the lower cost of a hard disk drive might seem appealing at first. However, SSD offers more value for money than the risks that accompany hard drives.

The Advantages Of SSD Hosting

There are high chances that web hosting using solid state drive will be the new normal sooner than later. This is because the solid state drive is overtaking HDD in a wide range of metrics. Take a look at the following perks of SSD over HDD according to the experts.

Faster

By switching from HDD to SSD, businesses can increase loading speed by up to 200%. Solid state drives can offer up to 500 MB/sec on consumer-grade plans, contrasting sharply with the 50 to 120 MB/s of HDD plans. This means your site will load quickly for visitors and prevent them from bouncing quickly in disappointment.

Besides boosting your web hosting performance, faster loading speeds are essential for higher SEO rankings. Moreover, it improves the UX for customers so that they interact with your content seamlessly. Admins will also find it easy to execute functions quickly with SSD as it can write and store data simultaneously unlike HDD.

More Secure

Due to the electromechanical working process of HDD, it is not as resistant to shocks as solid state drives. The same is why data loss and corruption are more probable for HDD than SSD. Moreover, solid state drives can withstand high temperatures, accidental drops, and magnetic field interferences more efficiently than hard disk drives.

Besides the lesser chance of mechanical failure, solid state drives are proven to have a longer lifespan than their more primal counterparts. In fact, hard disk drives have an annualized failure rate of 3.5% with a lifespan of 1.5 million hours while the comparable failure rate of a solid state drive is 0.5% with a lifespan of 2 million hours.

Better For Database Intensive Sites

Solid state drive responds 20x faster than HDD to website requests. Simply put, if your website processes sizable requests, a solid state drive will smoothly read and write them unlike HDD, which will most-likely be overloaded. This is crucial for database-intensive platforms such as forums and ecommerce websites.

Did you know that a load time of 4 seconds can lead to 25% lower sales for ecommerce websites? Moreover, tweaking the hard drive in any way will considerably improve the website performance, especially if you’re managing an online store or WP site.

Greener

One of the crucial parameters that make SSD better than HDD is sustainability. It draws up to 20% less power than hard disk drives. When you extrapolate this to big data, the exponential power saving from countless servers working via solid state drives makes a big difference. Hence, solid state drives are optimal for long-term use as it saves power and the planet. Moreover, you can advertise green hosting on your website to impress your target audience with this disk storage option.

More Reliable

For business owners seeking consistent performance with web hosting, SSD is the ideal choice. The main reason why SSD can ensure reliability is because it doesn’t go through data fragmentations witnessed on HDD. Simply put, you don’t need to defragment SSD like ordinary hard drives. Moreover, fragmentation is the chief cause of poor results as it can bring down up to 25% performance for I/O intensive apps.

SSDs Are Becoming More Affordable

With prices estimated to fall below $0.1 per GB for 512 GB and 1TB SSDs, solid state drives are getting cheaper than hard drives with every passing day. The SSD adoption rate is more than 50% because the pricing of NAND devices and high-capacity models are decreasing. Although SSD is more expensive than HDD, today you can get cost-effective hosting plans such as shared hosting with SSD storage on popular web hosts like InMotion hosting.

Conclusion

SSD uses electronic data storage technology as opposed to the unreliable electromechanical storage of HDD technology. The former is ideal if you want a fast-loading website that is secure and has a lower environmental impact. While it is slightly more expensive than hard drives, SSD is increasingly becoming affordable too. Unless you are hosting as a hobby, SSD is always the way to go.