Welcome back for part four in our series on the key hardware components in a computer. If you missed Part 1 on CPUs, Part 2 on RAM, or Part 3 on Graphics Cards, go back and check those out. This week we are taking a look at storage.
COMPUTER STORAGE
In the not-too distant past, almost all computers used Hard Drives for their every-day storage. Solid State drives existed since the 90s, but they were expensive. People were also too concerned about reliability for them to be more than thumb-drives for moving files. That started to change about ten years ago, as the drives became cheaper and more reliable. Now, along with Hard Drives and Solid State Drives, there are also NVMe Drives, which are a type of Solid State Drive that allow for faster operation. Which one of these do you need, and how much space do you need? Let’s start by looking at what makes each type different.
HARD DISK DRIVE (HDD)
Hard Drives are how storage was done, especially in the consumer space, for decades. The harddrive is basically a stack of several magnetic records. Records meaning Vinyl. You have a stack of metal records and then one arm with a head for each disk on it. The heads can read anywhere on the drive by picking: 1) which head should read 2) moving the arm in and out, and 3) spinning the disk so the spot with the information you need is where the head can read it. HHDs are the cheapest option, they are reliable, and you can get large amounts of storage. Right now a 2 Terabyte (2,000 Gigabytes) Seagate Barracuda drive is $55 on Newegg. So why not just get one of these and call it a day?
Compared to the newer options they are REALLY slow and loud. Also if they get hit while operating, they can be fragile. They actually need to constantly move a spindle holding the disks back and forth to get to different information. That takes time, and it means motors need to physically move the arm and the spindle, which isn’t silent either.
Due to the fact that Hard Drives are physical disks that store information by magnetizing or demagnetizing areas, they can only get so small. Plus, if a drive gets bumped while it is operating it can damage either the drives or the arm. So between their size, weight, and the fragility they have during operation they aren’t an ideal solution for laptops.
SOLID STATE DRIVE (SSD)
Solid State Drives started becoming cheaper and more reliable around 2010 as they became more popular in high-end laptops. They are ideal for laptops as, because there are no moving parts, they are lightweight, silent, and cool. Solid State Drives use semiconductors arranged on a grid to store data as transistors are turned on or off. There are no physical components to move, just electrical signals. This means speeds are significantly faster, while prices aren’t quite as cheap as HDDs. A 2 TB Seagate Barracuda SSD is $226 on Newegg. So while the drives are faster, lighter, and silent, they haven’t dropped in price enough to be a perfect solution.
SSDs also do have one issue in terms of long term use. As they are used, the resistance increases in the chips, making writing to them more difficult. Eventually they can become locked to being read-only. This now happens after hundreds of thousands of writes, but it is still a factor. One strategy some use is to use a SSD to install Windows and software, and a HDD as a data drive. This way the SSD is primarily reading and not writing. The increased speed of the SSD is seen in loading software and Windows, where it is very noticeable. This strategy does mean that if you have large files to open, and they are on an HDD, you won’t see the benefits when opening those files. This may or may not be an issue, depending on the size of files you use.
M.2 DRIVES
“M.2” Drives are drives that are directly connected to the computer’s motherboard. This is unlike SSDs and HDDs, which are attached using SATA cables. The M.2 Drive can communicate with your other components either via the same SATA system that SSDs and HDDs use, or through a system called NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory express). If the M.2 drive is a SATA drive, it works exactly like traditional SSDs, except there are no cables.
If it is an M.2 NVMe drive it can communicate five to ten times as fast as a SATA drive, depending on if it is a PCIE-3 or a newer PCIE-4 drive. This extra speed costs you nothing in terms of reliability, number of writes, and if anything it is even lighter weight. What it does cost you, however, is money. A PCIE-3 2TB NVMe drive like the Western Digital Black SN750 is $310. A PCEI-4 2TB NVMe drive like the Firecuda 520 is $400 at Newegg.
The increase in speed between SSD and NVMe is terrific if you need it, but it obviously is an expensive increase. And in the case of the difference between PCIE-3 and PCIE-4, it is an increase you may not even be able to perceive unless you are using specific workloads like Video Editing. This is another instance where you can install Windows on one of these drives, and have another drive for mass-storage.
HOW MUCH STORAGE DO YOU NEED?
Windows 10 needs less space now than older versions of Windows, now stating a required space of 20 GB. You will likely want more space for additional software, temp files, photos, music, movies, games, etc. I generally think that most people who want to have their computer for a decent amount of time and don’t want to open it up just after they buy or build it, should aim for 2 TB of storage. Some people need more storage, or less if they are less careless than I am about what photos they save and keep.
This is something to keep an eye on if you are looking at buying a laptop or desktop that’s pre-built. A lot of systems these days seem to come with a 500 GB SSD as standard. This may well be enough for some people. But the latest Call Of Duty game, for instance, had an update last month that made Tech news because the update alone was 50 GB, and it took the total installed size of the game to more than 175 GB. Most games aren’t that massive, but many require gigs of additional open storage to install. To me a 500 GB Hard Drive for someone who wants to play games is woefully undersized.
CONCLUSION
So, all that being said: what do you need? Are you just looking to do Word, Excel, and Outlook, and some occasionally pictures, but not many? You could easily use a 500GB SSD and be really happy with how quick and snappy it is. You might be fine with a 500 GB or 1 TB HDD, things won’t run as fast, but will be capable of doing what you need.
However, if you are doing things like Photoshop for amateur photography, AutoCAD, small 3D models, or Games, you may want to do a mixed setup: you could have a 250 or 500 GB NVMe or SSD for Windows and software, and then a 2 TB HDD for bulk storage and games that aren’t as demanding.
If you are doing really intense work like Editing 4K video or professional high-resolution Photoshop you may want to have multiple NVMe drives: one for your Operating System and Software, one for your Cache and Scratch drive, and another to store your current project Files, and then a large mass storage (You may want well north of 2 TB depending on the size of files you out-put) area for “completed” work in the form of SSD(s) or HDD(s).
Your storage cost will vary based on how much you need, and how fast you need it to be. In general storage should cost between 10-20% of a PC build.
With the CPU, RAM, Graphics Cards, and Storage taken care of, next time we will look at the first of the other components that make a computer work: Cases.
Do you have a question about any of the information I’ve given, or about something I haven’t addressed? Let me know in the comments below or contact me on my About page! I’ll try to answer your question, and I may even turn it into more content- There are things I won’t realize I need to talk about until you tell me. Thanks!