We’ve depended on hard drives for decades to store our data and files for our operating systems. They are almost synonymous with data storage.

But a quiet revolution has been underway for a couple of years, with the growth of the “solid state drive” or SSD. These drives contain no mechanic or spinning parts, which means they are smaller, more durable and faster. Prices have come down significantly in recent years, and they are now within reach for the average user.

Restarter Dave Lukes helps us understand the difference between the two kinds of drives, and how they can help breathe new life into older laptops and gadgets.

SSDs can allow us to make a five year old laptop feel like new again, or to “pimp out” that older iPod.

Links we mentioned

[Feature image “SSD/HDD Hybrid + HDD” by Flickr user Yutaka Tsutano is licensed under CC BY 2.0]

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