USB flash drive, HDD and SSD: Which is the best option for you?

If you've ever searched for ways to store large amounts of data via USB, you'll know three main candidates: Flash drive (USB), external hard drive (HDD) and external SSD drive. All three drives can store data well, but they are more suited to each specific role.

Consider these 3 types of drives and where each option best plays its role.

USB flash drive

USB flash drives (referred to as USB) are small bar devices that fit snugly into the USB port. Their compact size makes them a convenient means to store data.

Advantages of USB

Do you need to transfer data from one place to another? If so, it is worth considering using a USB. The biggest advantage of this device is its compact size, meaning you can easily store it in your pocket and take it with you.

USB is very good impact resistance when traveling. That's because its memory doesn't have any moving parts that can be damaged or worn out.

Disadvantages of USB

The biggest downside to USB is storage space. USB flashes when you need to carry small files like photos and documents, but if you want more, you'll be disappointed.

At the time of writing, USB starts to appear in 256GB capacity and 512GB options may be hard to find. These USB flash drives are quite expensive, so are not ideal for many people.

External hard drive HDD

If your computer's hard drive is filling up quickly, you can plug an external hard drive into the USB port and it will act as a secondary drive. This makes it easy to expand the storage space on your computer without having to move data anywhere.

Advantages of external hard drives

Of all the options, the external hard drive provides you with the largest storage capacity. For nearly the same price as a 256GB USB drive, you can buy an 1TB external hard drive instead - that's four times the size!

As such, external hard drives are the best option to deal with computer memory that is slowly shrinking. Buy a terabyte for a cheap price, plug it into your computer and you have a lot of space for lots of files and programs. You can even install an operating system on it!

Disadvantages of external hard drives

Out of these 3 storage media, the hard drive is the only device that uses moving parts. This makes them more susceptible to damage from bumps and scratches. Mechanical damage is a potential cause of data loss.

As such, external hard drives are best used when left in place. You can plug them into your PC and transfer large amounts of data there cheaply. They act as great devices to plug into computers and store data there for long periods.

However, today's external hard drives are about the size of a wallet and can be easily carried around, so they don't have to stay in place forever.

External SSD

The brother with the modest HDD is the external SSD. This drive stores data on flash memory instead of relying on moving parts. They are often used in tandem with a computer hard drive.

Advantages of external SSDs

SSDs have high speed due to the absence of moving parts, making them faster than HDDs. SSDs also have more storage space than USB, making them suitable for storing operating systems and software.

Disadvantages of external SSD drives

However, this SSD is not cheap. If you want an external SSD, be prepared to pay more per GB than an external hard drive or USB.

Therefore, this option is not suitable for storing large amounts of data cheaply. However, they reduce the load time for software installed on the drive, so SSDs are the best option for storing games and programs.

Storage potential

Although USB, HDD and external SSD can expand memory via USB, each option has its own role. USB is the king of portability, external HDDs have a ratio of storage to cost ratio, external SSDs have good capacity and speed to help software load easily.

You can refer to: Differences between SSD and HDD.

Does the article miss any usage for these useful storage devices? Please share your opinion in the comment section below!

Wish you find yourself a suitable choice!