SSD explained

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are an improvement over the old school style of hard drive in that they don't use moving parts or easily damaged data disks. They instead rely on flash memory, which you are probably familiar with as the memory type used in USB keys, memory sticks for cameras and so on.

While there are many reasons that SSD storage is an improvement over the old spinning disks that we've relied on for so long, there are also some downsides, which is why we're going to list some of the most important pros and cons below.

Pros:
+ SSD storage is much more secure than old platter-style hard disks. They are more resilient to damage as well as wear and tear.
+ SSD storage is a faster way of accessing data, as we saw at CES in this video here.
+ Solid state drives can often be more compact, although they do come in the standard sizes for easy replacement and upgrading.
+ Without moving parts, SSD drives can run cooler while using a great deal less power due to the lack of moving parts.

Cons:
- SSD drives don't generally have the same capacity as the old school hard drives due to the prohibitive cost of high-capacity SSD drives.
- If you do want to get a high-capacity SSD drive, you may have to take out a second mortgage and/or sell your wheels. They can easily cost four digits and up.

All that being said, it's easy to see why SSD storage is in demand. And with the prices coming down it's likely that solid state drives will soon be the norm. Stayed tuned for the next three episodes where we'll talk about upgrading to SSD storage as well as finding external SSD solutions.