I am planning to buy a new iMAC. A friend advised me to get an SSD rather than Fusion or hard drive. Is there a way to understand which is better? Can anyone tell me? Thanks.
iMac with Retina 5K display, Mac OS X (10.7.5), I am planning to buy
SSD is an abbreviation for "Solid State Drive." HDD is similar but stands for Hard Disk Drive. The former is made from memory chips on a circuit board; the latter has a rotational mechanism consisting of several platters spinning at high speed on which the data are stored. SSDs are much faster than HDDs.
A Fusion Drive is an Apple invention using software to join an SSD and an HDD together to provide the high and inexpensive storage capacity of the HDD with the speed of the SSD. A Fusion Drive is slower than an SSD but faster than an HDD.
SSDs are much more expensive than HDDs but a lot faster. You will need to decide how you wish to balance your money with your computer needs. Your friend's advice is biased.
SSD is an abbreviation for "Solid State Drive." HDD is similar but stands for Hard Disk Drive. The former is made from memory chips on a circuit board; the latter has a rotational mechanism consisting of several platters spinning at high speed on which the data are stored. SSDs are much faster than HDDs.
A Fusion Drive is an Apple invention using software to join an SSD and an HDD together to provide the high and inexpensive storage capacity of the HDD with the speed of the SSD. A Fusion Drive is slower than an SSD but faster than an HDD.
SSDs are much more expensive than HDDs but a lot faster. You will need to decide how you wish to balance your money with your computer needs. Your friend's advice is biased.
HDDs are mechanical with movable parts that are delicate and could be damaged. The average life of a normal HDD in consumer service is about 3-5 years. No one yet knows the average life of an SSD but probably much longer than you would likely ever own the computer.
These estimates assume no misuse or abuse and normal expected lives of electronic chips. They are both stable media. However, when an SSD fails it fails completely with little chance of data recovery. This is not quite the problem with HDDs where data loss is not always catastrophic and unrecoverable.
I use about 6 2.5" form-factor SSDs and even more mini-SSD cards. I've had some for about 5 years and others for lesser time periods. So far I've had no failures. On the other hand, I've had some HDDs for longer periods without failure.
This information you provided me is very clear and understandable. As you suggested, I will make a decision depending on my needs but I have another question for you if you possibly know the answer for and here it goes: which one is more stable and less to break-down of the two? I dont know if this question is valid? Is it because it is new technology and therefore may have problems in the future or is it more reliable than the HHD?
Am I pushing my luck when I ask you about fusion? If you have any thoughts about that? As I understand it is faster than an HDD but less fast than an SSD. Would the Fusion last longer or as long as an HDD?
By the way I am 73 and bought my first iMAC in 11/2008 and is an early 2008 model and I still have it. I suspect I would hold onto the new one I plan to buy maybe around the same lenght of time.
Please feel free not to respond if I am overdoing it with the questions. What you have given me up till now, is very good and helpful info that would help me make a decision.
Thanks a lot!!
A Fusion Drive only has the life of the first component to die - the HDD or SSD. BTW, I am 75 and bought my first computer in 1981 and my first Mac in 1988.
Thanks Kappy. Appreciate your assistance and will keep you posted. I have enough info for now. Thank you for your help!! 🙂
What is an SSD Drive?
