External SSD or hard drive? The benefits of superfast storage in a row
The speed and capacity of a USB stick are somewhat limited, and an external hard drive is particularly vulnerable. The choice of an external SSD seems to be a foregone conclusion, but we have to find out what you should pay attention to.
In the external storage market, the transition to SSDs is slower than in the PC market: where desktops and laptops with mechanical hard drives are only available in the lowest segment, the electronics store is still full of external hard drives. They are relatively cheap – for the price of a 1TB external SSD, you can buy five times larger hard disk – but that is not the only reason why the advance of the external SSD is not precisely at high speed.
If we look at external storage more broadly, external SSDs have a much larger competitor: the USB stick. For a long time, the USB stick was the preferred medium for transferring files between PCs, but development in technology seems to have come to a halt in recent years.
A more attractive alternative
The external SSD must fight on two fronts at the same time – yet it is ultimately the perfect successor for both categories. Compared to the external hard disk, an SSD is much faster, more compact, and a lot more robust. Compared to a USB stick, an external SSD may be slightly more voluminous, but the SSD wins both on performance (practically always) and price (especially with larger capacities). Moreover, an SSD has a technology that significantly improves the service life of the device. A frequently used USB stick sometimes wants to stop from one moment to the next; that is something you have to worry about considerably less with an SSD.
The benefits of external SSDs at a glance.
1. Super fast backup
Where you sometimes spend hours transferring files with an external hard drive with an SSD, it is much faster. An external SSD is, therefore, the ultimate mobile backup.
2. Extra space on your laptop
With an external SSD, you can quickly expand the storage space of your laptop. The speed of technology makes it possible to work directly from the device. This is not possible with an external hard drive. The same applies to your telephone. With the right cable, it is possible to give your smartphone a vast amount of fast storage space.
3. Security
Compared to an external hard drive, an SSD is also very safe. That is because the technology itself is a lot less vulnerable and is, therefore, less likely to break in crashes and other accidents. The Samsung T5, for example, can fall to more than three meters and can carry a weight of 500 kilos, because the device has an IP67 label.
4. Fast loading times on your game console
An external SSD can be connected to your Xbox or Playstation. By installing games on the SSD, the game console can access the information that needs to be loaded at a much faster time. This results in faster loading times and therefore a better playing experience.
5. In the pocket
An external SSD is usually a lot smaller than an external hard drive. Of course, the SSD does not match a USB stick in this area. There are more or less standardized variants of 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) and 3.5 inches (approximately 9 cm) diameter.
