SSD vs HDD

Hard drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD) differ fundamentally in technology, speed and lifespan.

SSD — Fast, but Pricier

NVMe SSD: 3,000-7,000 MB/s
SATA SSD: ~550 MB/s
No moving parts, shock-resistant, silent

HDD — Cheap for Bulk Storage

120-280 MB/s
Up to 20+ TB per drive
Very cheap per terabyte

Recommendation

System + databases: NVMe SSD
Documents + daily work: SATA SSD
Backups + archives + media: HDD (or NAS)

Related: RAM & Storage Guide · RAID Explained