Everything You Need to Know about SSDs & Why You Need One to Backup Your Data

If I lost you with the title, stick with me! You’re about to learn everything need to know about solid state drives, or SSDs.

When you think about computer storage, you probably think of hard disk drives (HDDs) that have traditionally been the type of storage put in laptops. These days manufacturers are giving consumers choices between traditional hard drives that tend to feature lots of storage space for a small amount of money or SSDs that are smaller, faster, and have no moving parts but are more expensive. SSDs are available as internal drives inside your laptop or as external drives for portable storage.

Last year I replaced the hard drive in my MacBook Pro with a SSD and noticed a difference in the speed immediately. My once-slow-to-wake-up machine suddenly sprang to life when I turned it on and the whirring noise that I once heard had disappeared.

Replacing your hard drive with an SSD is like getting a brand new machine. Your computer constantly goes to the hard drive to get data.  If you are running Windows 10 or Mac OSX Yosemite or Sierra, it feels like the operating system goes to the disk constantly.

SSDs don’t just go inside your laptop. External SSDs are also available as portable storage. I’ve been using a 250 GB Samsung T1 SSD for portable storage for the past year, and recently have upgraded to a 2TB Samsung Portable SSD T3. If you’re wary of cracking open your laptop and doing a DIY swap of your HDD with a SSD, here are 3 reasons you should think about getting a portable SSD for all of your data storage needs.

3 Reasons Why SSDs are Better than HDDs

1. Lots of storage in a small package

As someone who used to constantly be out of drive space on my laptop and scrambled to delete photos and apps upon running out of storage on my phone, my 2 terabyte Samsung Portable SSD T3 is a lifesaver. Available in 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB sizes, the Samsung T3s have a footprint that is about the size of a business card and is about half the height of a deck of cards.

It fits comfortably in the palm of my hand, is easy to slip in my pocket, or laptop bag and provides far more storage than a handful of USB flash drives. It’s not only is more compact but weighing in at a mere 51 grams, it’s also a lot lighter!

With a 1 TB SSD in my MacBook and a 2 TB Samsung T3 with me at all times, I can be sure that I always have everything I need whether I’m working from home, remotely, or on the go at 30,000 feet in the air! There’s plenty of space for files, photos, and multimedia on my T3 plus any new photos, videos, or files created along the way.

2. Reliable storage and no moving parts

One of the beautiful things about SSDs is that they don’t have any moving parts. Information is stored on interconnected flash memory chips whereas HDDs store your data on small round metal plates. When your computer or hard drive boots up, these plates spin and information is read by a read/write head on the end of an arm that extends over them.  With the spinning metal plates and the moving read-write head, the best way to think of a hard drive is that it is a really small and fast record player.

Whenever you have moving parts, there’s a greater possibility that something could break. After all, life happens and your external hard drive could slip from your hand, be knocked off the desk by the cat, or tumble out of your bag. Sudden motion can affect the ability of the HDD to read and write data if the arm isn’t properly aligned but so can everyday use. Metal plates that comprise a HDD feature a magnetic coating that stores your data so repeated exposure to magnetic forces can result in drive failure. And sometimes the moving parts just wear out, causing your HDD to die taking all of your data with it.

A SSD is a far more stable data storage solution because it has no moving parts. The Samsung Portable SSD T3 also features a strong exterior metal body and interior support frame that helps it resist shocks and protect your data.

3. Speedy and silent

Remember how I mentioned that an arm has to read data off your HDD when your computer or drive starts up? SSDs store data on interconnected flash memory chips that always contain your data, even when not powered on, and can boot up in seconds. I feel like it used to take eons for my MacBook Pro to boot up from the HDD and noticed an immediate difference upon swapping it for a SSD. Now my computer boots up lightning fast and accesses files from my Samsung T3 in an instant so I can start working faster.

SSDs are also silent compared to HDDs because they have no moving parts. Listen closely because the spinning disks make an audible whirring noise that can get even louder if they’re malfunctioning.

About the Samsung Portable SSD T3

The Samsung Portable SSD T3 is my current favorite portable SSD that is a must-have in my tech arsenal. Note: I previously had a 250 GB Samsung T1 SSD that is still in rotation but I appreciate having the more storage in the same size package.

The large 2 TB storage capacity provides me with the ability to have everything I need right at my fingertips but doesn’t add to the bulk of items that I already have thanks to its tiny footprint. Since I’m always on the go and working between multiple devices, I appreciate how easy it is to connect and quickly read files, regardless if I’m working from my phone, tablet, or MacBook. I find that it’s seamless to work between iOS, Android, and PCs and also like the built in security features to ensure that my files are safe from prying eyes in the event that my T3 is lost or stolen thanks to standard 256bit hardware encryption.

Samsung Portable SSD T3 range in price from $104.88 for the 250 GB version to $689.99 for the 2 TB one like I have and are currently available through Amazon.

As a Samsung Influencer, I received the Samsung Portable SSD T3 for review purposes. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received for this post or my involvement. Amazon Affiliate links included in this post.