SSD vs. HDD in 2025: Settling The Debate For Good

The SSD vs. HDD debate can, admittedly, be solved by saying “SSDs are fast, HDDs are big”. But there are a lot more nuances and terminologies you need to know when it comes to this topic, such as disks, flash memory, lifespan, durability, and cache. There’s a lot of things going on under the hood when it comes to storage drives!

The right storage solution for you isn’t always the most expensive one, which is why I’m here. To help you get a better grasp of what each can do – and what both SSDs and HDDs can offer you in terms of value and performance – we’ll need to break down different facets of the SSD vs. HDD argument and look at the strengths, weaknesses, and potential use cases of each type of storage drive. And once you’re armed with this knowledge, finding your ideal storage drive will be easy.

SSD vs. HDD Defined

Before we jump into the SSD vs. HDD argument, we need to define what an SSD and HDD are.

SSD stands for solid state drive. Solid state drives use NAND flash memory cells which use electricity to write and retain data even while the drive is unpowered. SSDs are managed by an SSD controller, which serves as the brain of the storage drive.

Because SSDs run purely on electric currents, they’re lighter, more durable (due to no mechanical parts), and most importantly, much faster – so much so that if you aren’t using either an internal or external SSD for gaming, work, or your operating system, you’re seriously missing out.

HDD stands for hard disk drive, and refers to a type of drive on which you store files. HDDs are big, bulky, and can be noisy thanks to their moving parts: spinning platters with magnetic coatings on which data is stored, as well as actuator arms over each disk. Hard disk drives use magnetism to change the current of each of the magnetic coatings, then use a magnetic reader to locate data and convert it to signals your computer can understand. 

This reliance on moving parts means that HDDs are slower and more susceptible to mechanical failure down the line. However, this also makes them more affordable, and getting an internal or external hard drive to store data or backups is a good idea. 

As with SSD controllers, HDDs also have an HDD controller, which is the green circuit board below the drive.

Key Differences at a Glance

To better illustrate the differences between an SSD and an HDD, here’s a table with the key differences between the two. Bear in mind that these are average numbers:

Feature	SSD	HDD
Speed	500 – 3,500MB/s	30 – 150MB/s
Durability	5 – 10 years*	3 – 5 years*
Noise	None	Humming, whiring
Price	~$50-60 for 1TB	~$30 for 1TB
Capacity	Smaller, more expensive	Bigger, more affordable
Power Use	Less power use	More power use
Form Factor	Usually 2.5 inch, M.2	Usually 2.5 or 3.5 inch (bigger due to enclosure)

* In practice, drives can last longer or shorter, and can crash at any time. The older a drive, the more likely it is to crash. Don’t trust this number as a hard rule, and always have backups of important data on another drive or in cloud storage.

Speed – Which One Reads and Writes Faster?

First, let’s talk about speed. In terms of SSD vs. HDD, SSDs are the clear winner: just ask anyone who’s ever used an SSD. This is due to the use of electric currents rather than mechanical parts for writing and retrieving data. But while SSDs are 100% faster than HDDs, there’s a bunch of numbers you can look at to quantify just how fast a drive is.

Transfer Speed

A drive’s speed is usually indicated as megabytes per second, or MB/s, and refers to how quickly a drive can move or access data. There are two ways of reading or writing data: sequential (which deals with single, large files or blocks) or random (lots of small files or apps). Both HDDs and SSDs are much better when accessing data sequentially, but keep in mind our average figures in the table earlier: HDDs have an average read/write speed of 30 – 150 MB/s, while SSDs can easily reach speeds of 500 – 3,500 MB/s.

RPM

HDDs have another metric unique to them: RPM. RPM (rotations per minute) indicates how quickly an HDD spins its platter; more spins means the arm can read or store data faster. Most HDDs have an RPM of 5,400 or 7,200, but there are HDDs with RPMS as low as 1,200 or as high as 15,000. Do note that even the highest RPM HDD can’t match an SSD’s speeds.

Drive Interfaces

Third is a drive’s interface. All drives – whether solid state drive or hard disk drive – must communicate with your computer via an interface. There are several interfaces available, but internal drives use either the SATA or NVMe interfaces, while external drives use a USB interface. 

The SATA interface uses cables – a larger SATA power cable to supply the drive with power, which connects to your desktop PC”s power supply, and a smaller SATA data cable, which goes into your motherboard. NVMe drives are plugged directly into your motherboard. By eschewing a cable, NVMe drives are able to provide speeds that SATA drives can’t achieve. Lastly, the USB interface uses USB ports to interface with your computer.

Disk Buffer and DRAM

Finally, if you’re looking to squeeze every last bit of performance from a drive, you can take a look at its caches, referred to as disk buffer or disk cache for HDDs or DRAM for SSDs. To keep it simple, drives use caches – extra memory located on the device itself – to speed up data retrieval; rather than having to look through the entire drive for data, the cache stores data that you frequently use in itself for ebay access. The more extra memory a drive has via disk buffer or DRAM, the bigger the boost from this. NVMe SSDs can also have Host Memory Buffer (HMB) instead of onboard DRAM, which leverages some of your system’s DRAM instead.

While bigger disk caches or DRAM do improve speed, do note that DRAM impacts the ability to write data much more than read it. This means that if you’re going to get a solid state drive for gaming, you’ll probably be fine with a DRAM-less drive. Conversely, if you’re going to be writing a lot of files though, such as via video or photo editing (exports are a massive write), you should get an SSD with DRAM. Be sure to double-check a drive’s tech specs to see the details of its cache.

SABRENT Rocket Nano XTRM

If you need a fast external SSD, the SABRENT Rocket Nano XTRM that boasts extreme speeds (2,700MB/s) via its Thunderbolt 3 connection. If you don’t have a compatible port, this external drive still offers a reliable 900MB/s read and write speed.

BUFFALO DriveStation 4TB

Big, slow, steady…and reliable. just like a buffalo. This external HDD may not be as fast as internal drives, but it does have a slightly faster RPM of 7,200 to help it along. It also has support for USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, which will help it store data faster than a typical HDD.

Storage – Which Can Store More?

When it comes to SSD vs. HDD in terms of storage space, HDDs have a clear advantage. Yes, you heard that right: HDDs are point-for-point the winner when it comes to raw storage space.

Mechanical Parts are Cheaper

Granted, HDDs are much slower than SSDs. But there lies their advantage: it’s much cheaper for manufacturers to buy and make the spinning platters, actuator arms, and magnetic coatings that comprise a hard disk drive compared to an SSD. 

This lower cost trickles down to the consumer. On average, a 1TB hard disk drive can go from between $30 – $50, depending on brand and quality. In comparison, a 1TB SSD can go from $60 – $90 (again, factoring in brand and quality). 

The more storage capacity you get, the more apparent the HDD’s advantage becomes: the Seagate Barracuda 2TB HDD, for example, sits at just $65, while 2TB SSDs easily start hitting prices at or above $120. When it comes to the ability to store data, there’s no doubt who wins any SSD vs HDD debate, no matter the size: hard disk drives offer bulk data storage solutions for both small and large files at a very affordable price.

SSDs for Frequent Access

Keep in mind that sometimes, storage capacity isn’t everything. If you’re going to not only store data but access it regularly, it may be better to use an SSD as a storage drive. Manufacturers are also constantly looking into newer technology to make more efficient and more affordable SSDs.

Kingston XS2000

The Kingston XS2000 is a small but feisty external SSD. If you need fast data transfer on the go, or need to work on large files, small SSDs might be the right storage solution for you.

Seagate Expansion

Seagate’s Expansion series of external drives provide ample storage capacity at a very reasonable price – their 24TB HDD comes out at roughly $13.75 per TB of space. That’s more than enough space to store data for archiving or to free up your SSD!

Performance – Which One Works Better?

While HDDs are the winner in the SSD vs. HDD storage contest, SSDs once again take the prize when it comes to performance.

We touched on the idea of sequential and random reads and writes earlier, but as a refresher, sequential means things are accessed as a big block, in sequence, while random means things are accessed at arbitrary, different parts in memory. Large files, like videos, are read sequentially, while smaller files are read randomly – think about all the dlls, art and video assets, game code and net code that each game you play has to access simultaneously!

Differences in Random Access

While SSDs and HDDs both do well in sequential read/writes, they’re vastly different when it comes to random ones. Our files may look neat and organized in a folder, the truth is they can be scattered about in the physical drive. Now, imagine how a hard disk drive would work to access random data – it’d have to keep spinning platters around to retrieve data from several different locations. An SSD, on the other hand, uses electricity to write data or retrieve data, leading to random read/write speeds that HDDs just can’t reach.

IOPS and Queue Depth

Lastly, note that there’s a limit to how many input/output (I/O) commands a drive can take, called IOPS (input/output operations per second). To mitigate this, drives have queue depth, which indicates how many input/output  commands they can handle simultaneously. The higher the queue depth, the more commands the drive can take, and the faster they’ll go without bottlenecks. While SSDs don’t have to struggle as much when it comes to queues (thanks to higher speed), SATA storage drives can only handle 32 I/O requests, NVMes are the best here, as they’ve got an utterly massive queue depth of 64,000.

Crucial X9 Pro

Thanks to the Crucial X9 Pro’s flash memory, it can write and locate data in a flash. This makes it an excellent choice for people looking to use it for gaming!

Western Digital My Passport

External HDDs like the Western Digital My Passport may not be top-of-the-line, but they’re still a good budget pick for big sequential writes, such as big files.

Durability and Reliability – Which One is Tougher?

Whether you’ve got a powerful desktop PC or a great gaming laptop, your hardware won’t amount to much if your storage drives are unreliable. And when it comes to SSDs versus HDDs in terms of hardware durability, SSDs take the win.

The main reason why SSDs are more reliable than HDDs is because of their lack of moving parts. HDDs are prone to mechanical failure as they run entirely on their spinning disks and magnetic coating, which wear out with use. SSDs, on the other hand, lack moving parts, so they’re more resistant (not immune!) to damage with use.

TBW and DWPD

This lack of mechanical parts also makes SSDs more predictable when it comes to measuring their durability. SSD durability can be measured in two ways: Terabytes written (TBW) and drive writes per day (DWPD). Both of these are relatively simple to understand: TBW is the amount of terabytes an SSD can write before it’s expected to give out, and usually serves as the benchmark for a manufacturer’s warranty (i..e, if an SSD fails way before reaching its TBW, it’s probably defective. DWPD is the number of drive writes – as in writing to the drive until it’s 100% full – the SSD can be written to per day. If you’re a regular user, worry not, as DWPD is only important for really intensive stuff, like server use. Both of these values can be computed, but you can also search for the specs of a drive to see its TBW.

HDDs have a similar stat called mean time between failures, or MTBF. This one’s easy – it’s an estimate of how much time an HDD can spend running before it fails. Do note that this one is a rougher estimate, since it’s hard to account for every factor that can cause a hard disk drive’s parts to fail.

Always Have A Data Recovery Plan

Bear in mind that even though the math is sound, there are a lot of other factors that can affect how long an individual drive will last, and the numbers that manufacturers throw out often don’t reflect reality. When a drive gives out, you only have a few options available to you: get a new one, or try to salvage the drive/recover your data. While data recovery options for both HDDs and SSDs, they can be rough. In the case of HDDs, this often requires opening the disk to recover data, but SSDs have it worse – most SSD controllers are proprietary, so you’re going to need to spend a lot to recover data. More often than not, the best thing you can do is check if your drive still falls within the warranty.

What you can concretely do is have a data recovery plan. SSDs do tend to last longer than HDDs, but nothing beats having backups – so have an extra drive or a cloud storage service to store data and duplicates of your important files.

Crucial X10 Pro

The Crucial X10 Pro is a hardy external SSD that has both great file transfer speeds and a rugged design to help it last longer. It also comes with a neat five-year warranty.

Toshiba Canvio Gaming

Toshiba’s Canvio Gaming external HDD offers great value for money: $30 per TB, a compact form to minimize its form factor, and best of all, a 2-year warranty.

Lifespan – Which One Lasts Longer?

Now let’s talk about lifespan. As indicated in the table at the beginning, manufacturers often put hard limits to the lifespan of their drives. The truth, however, is that there are a ton of factors that affect the lifespan of any drive, and that you can more or less disregard the lifespan that manufacturers include (though remember what we discussed about durability). In a nutshell: drives can fail at any time, and the older they are and the more use they see, the more likely they are to fail.

Mechanical Parts Determine HDD Lifespan

For HDDs, the main determinator of lifespan is the mechanical parts. Now, the higher the quality of the materials used in a hard disk drive’s construction, the longer they’ll last (which is why it’s ideal to get HDDs from known brands), but no drive is immune to wear and tear. As the disks spin and the actuator arm writes and retrieves data, they’ll start deteriorating over time. This causes bad sectors – parts of the disk that can no longer be read. And because HDDs use mechanical parts, they’re particularly vulnerable to physical damage like falling. On average, a hard disk drive will last from 3 – 5 years.

Even Flash Memory Cells Wear Down

SSDs, on the other hand, experience a different kind of wear and tear. No moving parts means that SSDs are more resistant to physical damage, but their flash memory cells will degrade with use, eventually turning into bad sectors and giving out. While these tend to last longer than hard disk drives on average, even an SSD will eventually give out after maybe 5 – 10 years.

Extending Lifespan

Now, there are some ways to mitigate damage and lifespan: 

• Cool your PC! Use fans or water cooling to keep your desktop PC’s internal parts working for longer. 
• Secure your drives within your PC case to protect them from physical damage.
• SSDs also use a technique called wear leveling. When an SSD is tasked to write data, the SSD controller determines which parts of flash memory should take the load – essentially evenly distributing the work to prevent excessive strain on any particular part.

Samsung T7

Samsung has built a strong reputation for their brand, so you know you can trust their SSDs. The T7 is a fast SSD with ample storage capacity, but it’s also built tough – not only does Samsung take special care with their construction, but this external SSD is also built to withstand physical damage, ensuring a longer lifespan.

Transcend 4TB USB 3.1 Gen 1 StoreJet

The Transcend StoreJet external hard disk drive comes with a rugged design, which minimizes physical damage from falls and tumbles, and thus prolongs its lifespan. Perfect for outdoorsy types – especially if you’re running out of space on your phone or camera! 

Size & Form Factor – Which One Is Smaller?

Form factor refers to the physical size of a storage drive (and also tells you where the drive will be plugged in) which you’ll need to consider when adding more storage to a desktop PC. Generally, there are two types: “inch” form factors and M.2.

Inch Form Factors

There are several “inch” form factors: 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch, 5.25 inch, and so on, though most hard drives fall into 2.5 or 3.5 inch. These inches refer to the diameter of the spinning disks, for HDDs, while inch SSDs approximate the same size as the spinning disk. Keep in mind that these figures don’t account for HDD enclosures. All “inch” form factor drives require a SATA interface – meaning they must be connected to your power supply unit (PSU) via SATA power cable, and to your motherboard via SATA data cable.

M.2 Drives

M.2 is the form factor used by drives that go directly onto the M.2 slots on your motherboard – meaning they’re cable-less and aren’t restricted by your PSU. These drives are very slim, resembling RAM sticks more than traditional storage drives. M.2 drives are often appended with a number that starts with 22, such as 2242 or 2280. These numbers indicate the length of the M.2 drive in millimeters, so a 2242 M.2 drive is 22mm wide and 42mm long. It’s important to keep these numbers in mind, as you need to get the correct length of M.2 drive to fit into your slots. And if you want to get the most out of your M.2 drive, make sure to get one that matches the generation of your motherboard’s PCIe slots – if in doubt, check the box or the manufacturer’s website.

Keep in mind that there are two different types of M.2 drive: SATA and NVMe, both of which are slotted into your motherboard. M.2 SATAs, despite their name, do not use SATA cables – they just use the SATA protocol for data access, making them slower. NVMEs are M.2 SSDs that are lightning fast.

Inch Drives Are Bigger

In terms of physical size, inch drives are bigger and heavier (especially HDDs), while M.2 drives are smaller and lighter, but require your motherboard to be able to support them. If weight is a consideration, such as if you’re getting more drives for a laptop, SSDs are ideal due to their smaller size and weight. But if you have the cash to spend (or are building something like a server), you really can’t go wrong with M.2 NVMEs – they’re fast and weigh next to nothing.

SSK SD500

Some external SSDs, like the SSK SD500, utilize NVMe technology with their USB interface. While they’re not quite as fast as a dedicated M.2 NVMe, this interface gives them much faster transfer speeds compared to their peers.

UnionSine 1TB Ultra Slim

Yes, HDDs are big and bulky, but even they can be optimized. The UnionSine 1TB Ultra Slim, for example, downsizes its enclosure without compromising protection, leading to a much lighter 2.5-inch external HDD that’s perfect for long-term data storage.

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SSD vs. HDD for Different Needs

Both SSDs and HDDs offer different things. And while SSDs are often the superior choice, it’s always a smart idea to take some time and outline exactly what it is you want out of a drive. If you’re having trouble deciding on whether to get an SSD or an HDD, I’ll take you through some common use cases to help you decide.

Gaming

Whether you’re a hardcore or casual gamer, you’re doing yourself a serious disservice by not upgrading to an SSD. Solid state drives far outpace their HDD peers in terms of speed and performance, which gamers will always want to maximize. Who wants to play a stuttery game?

SSDs have a lot of things going for them that make them a clear choice for any gamer. The key advantage a gaming SSD has over an HDD is its flash memory (via its lack of moving parts). This means that SSDs have a much higher throughput than HDDs when it comes to reading and writing – and any time a game needs to access its data, it has to read. This speed means that not only will games load faster, but they’ll also be able to access their data (asset streaming, code) more consistently, leading to less micro-stutters and smoother overall gameplay. Do note that most modern games are optimized for installation on SSDs, and you will notice a drop in performance if you use an HDD for them.

It’s also worth noting that the gaming industry is moving towards SSD as the standard storage format. While the PS4 and the Xbox 1 accept HDDs as external storage, more modern gaming consoles such as the PS5 only recognize SSDs. If you haven’t upgraded yet, now is as good a time as any to make the switch to SSD.

SSDs are the clear choice for gamers who want to improve their game performance, that doesn’t mean that HDDs are totally out of the picture. Light games – especially indies or older games – that aren’t very demanding will work very well on HDDs.

Content Creation

The extra speed that an SSD grants isn’t just for games. Content creators will greatly benefit from an SSD, with how heavy video editing software is. And it’s not just the software that’s heavy, no, the raw files are too. With how much storage space raw, unedited footage takes, how much reading and writing data you’ll be doing during the editing process, and how big the final product’s file size can be, you’ll be very glad for an SSD’s speeds. I’d even venture so far as to say that an SSD is a borderline requirement for these projects.

But as with gaming, while SSDs are the clear winner, HDDs still have a part to play. The sheer amount of bulk storage that HDDs offer make them a cost effective storage drive for raw files.

Streaming (Watching vs. Creating)

When we talk about streaming, there are two sides we need to consider – that of creators and that of viewers. Creators, as we’ve already discussed, will pretty much require an SSD to streamline the content creation process, as they’ll be doing a lot of reading, writing, and editing, all of which will require a disk to constantly access data. Viewers, however, have more flexible options. 

These days, most of us consume content via passive streaming, which is the act of just letting something play with minimal input from the user. Whether it’s Netflix, Spotify, or other media, you don’t really need an SSD to appreciate these. However, some users prefer to download media, whether for offline viewing or for achieving purposes. And when all you need is ample storage capacity, hard disk drives shine. The lower cost really helps their case! 

On a pure money to storage space ratio, HDDs are the winner. Sure, they may not have the flash memory cells that SSDs have, and must use mechanical parts that result in slower read and write speeds…but it’s hard to beat the sheer amount of storage space that HDDs provide. HDDs also have the added advantage of being much more affordable than their SSD peers, due to using older architecture and moving parts.

Everyday Use and Office Work

While you can get by with an HDD for everyday tasks, the difference between using an HDD or SSD for your office work is still night and day.

I’ve been talking a lot about the applications of SSDs for heavy tasks like gaming or video editing. However, you don’t need to be a power user to get mileage out of an SSD. Boot time, for instance, is vastly shortened on an SSD (we’re talking seconds here, not even a full minute). An SSD’s speed will also come in handy not only when moving files, but also when you use applications such as text processors, spreadsheets, coding software, and more.

And if budget is a problem, keep in mind that you don’t need to get the latest NVMe models or get drives with gigantic storage space – a simple 500GB or 1TB SATA SSD will more than suffice!

Travel and Portability

When it comes to travel and portability, SSDs are the clear winner. If you travel a lot, whether it’s for work or leisure, you should definitely be using SSDs for both storage and on-the-go editing.

If you’ve ever seen your drives outside your computer and especially if you weighed them, you’ll know that there’s absolutely no contest in this. Not only are SSDs more durable than HDDs due to no moving parts (which are another hazard that make HDDs more susceptible to physical damage), SSDs are also much easier to carry around due to their lower weight. Laptop users are also sure to appreciate the lower power usage of an SSD compared to an HDD, which is the cherry on top.

Final Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?

If you’re having a tough time deciding where you are in the SSD vs HDD argument, it might be better to break down several use cases to see where you fall:

• Gamers will 100% want an SSD (and if you can afford it, an NVMe) due to their speed, which leads to faster load times and better performance.
• Photographers don’t need to pick one or the other – they can use both an SSD and an HDD in their setup. The SSD will be for processing photos, while the HDD serves as an archive and bulk storage for both raw, unedited files that have yet to be processed, as well as a backup for finished photos. Remember: it’s good practice to have multiple ways to access your backup data, including online services such as cloud storage.
• Budget users will get along just fine with HDDs. While they’re definitely not as fast as SSDs and won’t be beating the “slow HDD” allegations anytime soon, they offer fantastic value in terms of storage solutions – HDDs offer more storage capacity than SSDs at a much lower price!
• Streamers, like photographers, will very likely want a mixed setup. For content creators, the flash memory speeds offered by SSDs will be very welcome when it comes to editing. Viewers will appreciate the bulk storage capacity of HDDs for collecting and watching videos, since these take up a lot of space.

Hybrid Setup: The Best of Both Worlds

Of course, you could always opt for a hybrid setup. You don’t need to strictly use one type of drive over the other, and I myself run a setup of 1 NVMe SSD, 2 SATA SSDs, and 2 SATA HDDs. This setup allows me to pick and mix where to store my data:

• One SSD is reserved almost exclusively for my operating system and core applications like browsers. 
• More modern games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 go to the NVMe to ensure that I get the best possible read and write speed.
• Less demanding games that I regularly access go to one of two SSDs.
• Light games (indies or older titles) or bulk raw files such as text, photos, or any other documents go to one of my 2TB HDDs.
• I also have an external HDD for backups. One should always have a data recovery plan!

Now, this type of setup isn’t uncommon. Most people will go for at least a dual-drive setup of one SSD for the operating system (and optionally partitioned for faster gaming or processing) and one HDD for general storage, as it offers a good mix of speed and storage without costing too much.

Remember: you don’t need to splurge on drives. It’s much more practical and cost-effective to first assess what you’re trying to accomplish with new storage solutions before committing to a purchase. There’s no point filling your motherboard with expensive NVMEs if you’re just going to store text, photos, and other documents!

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FAQs

What is better, SSD or HDD?

Both SSDs and HDDs have their own parts to play when it comes to storage solutions. SSDs offer vastly superior speed and durability compared to even modern HDDs. However, HDDs still don’t cost as much, and are a great choice if all you need is bulk data storage, an HDD can also be a good choice.

Is a 256GB SSD better than a 1TB HDD?

That depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re going to be constantly streaming the files from a drive (for example, playing a game, editing videos, or running an operating system), a 256GB SSD is very likely going to be the right storage solution for you. However, if you’re looking for a simple storage solution for large files, a 1TB HDD might be the better choice due to being more affordable.

Do SSD last longer than HDDs?

On paper, yes, SSDs last longer than HDDs. When it comes to SSDs vs. HDDs in terms of durability, an SSD’s lack of mechanical parts makes them more resistant (not immune) to wear and tear from use. Keep in mind that no drive is safe from drive failure, so be sure to actively back up your important data on cloud services or other drives!

Is SSD better than HDD for daily use?

Yes, I would say that SSDs are better than HDDs for daily use. When it comes to SSD vs. HDD, SSDs are much, much faster thanks to flash memory, and this speed makes a difference whether you’re working, gaming, or just booting an operating system. HDDs, however, will help when it comes to long-term or bulk data storage. Most people will benefit from hybrid setup that incorporate both an SSD and an HDD.

What does SATA mean?

SATA means “serial advanced technology attachment”, and is both a connection protocol and transfer protocol. SATA as a connection protocol means that a drive must be cabled into both PSU and motherboard; SATA as a transfer protocol means it uses the SATA method of data transfer. Bear in mind that there are M.2 SATA drives that use the SATA method of data access but don’t need cables!

What does NVMe mean?

NVMe is a transfer protocol, but in the context of drives, it refers to NVMe SSDs. These are M.2 drives that feature extreme speed thanks to being plugged directly into the motherboard, which minimizes transfer latency.

Is M2 and NVMe the same?

No, M.2 and NVMe aren’t the same, though they’re closely related. An M.2 drive refers to a type of form factor that’s very similar to a RAM stick, and fits into the M.2 slots on a motherboard. NVMEs refer to NVMe SSDs, which are a type of M.2 drive with incredible speed.