When talking about storage, we are always confused about which one is better, HDD? mSATA SSD? M.2 SSD? MicroSD?

HDD is a hard disk drive, also known as hard disk, hard drive or fixed disk. HDD is introduced by IBM in 1956, compare to other storage devices, it has a longer history, but even today, people can see it very often. With the same storage capacity, the price of an HDD is cheaper. But because of its size, more often, people will use it for storage in the server or desktop application for storage some data don’t need to be access by a faster command.

The higher data-transfer rates, higher areal storage density, much lower latency, smaller size, faster access speed, lower noise, all these elements possibly are the main reasons people more likely to use SSD instead of HDD.

Though the price maybe slightly more expansive, but there are far more advantages of an SSD.

SSD is also known as solid-state drive or solid-stage disk. In the market, the main connected interfaces of SSD we can find, there are SATA, mSATA, M.2, PCIE and USB. mSATA and M.2 SSD are more widely used in desktop, laptop, tablet, Mini PC, Mini computers, Thin PC, POS device etc. USB interface is very convenient, for the expansive price, it is unlikely to be used by most applications.

Let ‘s dig deep into mSATA and M.2 SSD.

M.2 SSD is the upgrade storage device from mSATA SSD, it supports SATA or PCIe interface, but most mSATA SSDs only support SATA interface.

From the application point of view, M.2 SSD is using wider. In the market, more applications are using M.2 SSD instead of mSATA SSD.

From the storage, the the largest storage capacity of an HDD had reached 16TB in 2019, and M.2 SSD could up to 2TB. Catching up the technology, now some brands of TF cards can also reach 256GB.

From the size, MicroSD is the smallest, it can be as small size as 15 mm × 11 mm × 1 mm. I like the description of as small as a fingernail.

HDD is the biggest, the common size we use are 3.5inch and 2.5inch, for its big size, it usually be used in a desktop or bigger computing device. HDDs use PATA, SATA, USB or SAS cables to connect with the system, these interface ports can be easily found in most computers and other devices.

For the smaller size PC, such as tablet or Mini PC, slim PC, thin PC, ITX PC, we can also find the connect ports such as USB or SATA cables, only for the smaller size device cannot install such big size, if we have to connect an HDD, we use the external HDD.

From the price, MicroSD is the cheapest, only a few dollars could buy a 64GB TF card, even for the storage up to 256GB, the price is less than 20 dollars. If compare to HDD mSATA and M.2 SSD, the HDD price is the cheapest, then follow up with mSATA and M.2 SSD.

MicroSD is a portable flash memory card, it is more likely to be seen from Mini PC, Tiny PC, phones or other mobile devices. Though the size of MicroSD is small, it still can be divided by different sizes, with different slots. Such as Standard SD, Mini SD, Memory Stick Duo card, and USB.

The usual capacities are from 2GB to 256GB. The smallest one is with size of 15mmx11mm, which we call it TF card, and the capacity is often smaller. The largest MicroSD is called Micro SDXC, with the size of 24mmx32mm, the storage could be up to 1TB.

-----------------END-----------------

Mini PC Supplier pls contact:

Cherub Chen (Ms.)

Email: cherub@newsmaytech.com

www.linkedin.com/in/cherubchen

Barry Chan (Mr.)

Email: info@newsmaytech.com