5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Hard disk drive | Weaknesses & Benefits of Hard disk drive

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is a non-volatile storage device which uses a set of platter disks and read/write head for storing data. Unlfike a SSD where it relies completely upon flash memory chips, a HDD is composed of mechanical parts. 

Even though modern SSDs are out breaking the market with their sales, still many manufacturers and consumers consider HDD to be their primary storage medium. This is because there are many features those which a lacked by a modern SSD. While on the other hand, a HDD has its own unique advantages and disadvantages. By knowing the pros and cons of a HDD, you can come to a better conclusion on which one to use. 

In this article I will be listing and describing the 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Hard disk drive | Weaknesses & Benefits of Hard disk drive. Finally from this post, you will know the pros and cons of using HDD.

Let's get started,

Advantages of HDD

1. Cost 

A traditional hard drive tends to be less in price than a Solid state drive of the same capacity. On overall a system that contains the hard disk drive as the storage device will not be costly. The reason behind this is because the production cost for a HDD is significantly lower. Moreover this is also the cheapest option if you are looking for an external hard drive.


2. Storage capacity 

In terms of storage capacity there are various larger options available for a user in HDD. And also the base capacity of a HDD is usually higher than a SSD. Despite of various storage capacity options, the standard capacity that most users prefer has found to be 500GB. Furthermore nowadays external hard drives with 6TB of storage space is relatively easy to find in the market. 


3. Availability 

Both the internal and external hard drives are relatively abundant in the market. For the users who are looking to upgrade their PC or build a new system can easily find a hard disk drive. Meanwhile purchasing a Solid state drive can be a harder task because of their market demands. However due to the technology used behind the SSD is more efficient, the production of SDD has got risen. Which means that in the near future SSDs too can be found abundant in the market.


4. Lifespan 

Another advantage of using a HDD is its lifespan. A SSD has finite number of read/write cycles which can be handled by the flash memories. Unlike a SSD there is no flash memories involved in HDDs. The data present on a hard disk drive is directly written on the platter disks which normally does not wear out. Hence, generally a lifespan of a HDD will be greater. 


5. Non-Volatile 

All the volatile memory devices present on your computer tends to loose its data once it is running out of power. Therefore, these types of memories can't be used to load operating systems and launch applications. Perhaps the solution for the non-volatile memory is the hard disk drive. A hard drive uses magnetic platters disks for storing informations. These disks have the capability to retrieve the data even when there is no power. 

Disadvantages of HDD

1. Speed 

The speed of a hard drive depend upon its Revolutions Per Minute (RPM). This can be also varied according to different hard drive variants. However a traditional hard drive will perform slower compared to a flash memory basically due to its mechanical nature. And also the data present in them is fragmented. These means that computers that have installed hard drives will experience slower boot times and file transfers.


2. Form Factor 

Another major disadvantage present in a hard disk drive is its large form factor. Because of the presence of mechanical parts, a hard drive cannot be manufactured smaller than a certain limit. This makes them not ideal for portable computing devices such as the laptop, tablets and the smartphones. Moreover these types of devices always prefer SSD as their storage medium.


3. Power Consumption 

For writing data, HDDs constantly relies upon the rotation of platter disks and the movement of read/write head. These mechanical parts need a power input for them to function. This is one of the primary reasons why manufacturers consider SSDs if they build a computer with limited battery life.


4. Noise 

As we all know that hard drives consists of mechanical parts. Due to the constant rotation of the platter disks and the movement of read/write head there is a distracting noise produced by the hard drive. This also contributes to vibrations. Furthermore this noise is more noticeable when the hard drive is in heavy operations like storing large files. Meanwhile a SSD essentially produces no noise at all.


5. Mechanical Failure 

A hard disk drive is more vulnerable to mechanical failures since they contain moving parts. The platter disks and the read/write head present in a HDD is located in close proximity to each other. Therefore, whenever there is a drops and shudders they can scrape each other causing damages. This can result in overall device corruption. Hence, when using a hard drive it should be handled more carefully.