Table of Contents
Overview of hard drives
The hard drive is where the operating system and/or personal data are stored for retrieval when needed. The hard drive is related to computer boot speed, computer data access speed, safety of personal data stored on the computer. There are currently two main types of hard drives: HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and SSD (Solid State Drive).
As a device that ranks almost first in the list of easy/regular replacement/upgrades “RAM>Hard Drive>Graphics Card>Case>Power>CPU>Mainboard” you can buy one. The temporary hard drive is enough to save money for other components and then upgrade later.
Important parameters of the hard drive
Hard drive type: HDD, SSD
HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is also known as a mechanical hard drive because its mechanism of action is to store data on magnetic disks rotating at high speed. In general, it is an old, slow hard drive, not suitable for gaming, with the benchmark being the boot time of the computer, the HDD takes about 1 minute. The only reason they have not been eliminated from the market is that the price per GB is very cheap, suitable for storing “learning materials”, Full HD, 4K “blockbuster movies” of up to several dozen, several hundred GB. If you are someone who watches movies online, downloads movies, and installs games but “deletes them after they’re done”, you don’t need to pay attention to this type of hard drive. But if you are a collector, you can go to the following link and buy the cheapest drive with the largest storage capacity, no need to worry about other parameters: HDD.
SSD (Solid State Drive) is also known as solid state hard drive because nothing moves, all data is stored on memory chips that are firmly soldered onto a circuit board. There’s no need to discuss the advantages: high speed, good impact resistance, compact,… with comparison being the boot time, SSD takes about 12 seconds. The only problem is that compared to an HDD of the same capacity, SSD is relatively more expensive. However, not everyone needs a few hundred GB for storage, and SSD prices have dropped sharply in the past few years, so it has gradually become the better choice for PC Gaming.
Standard plug
The difference in plug standards only occurs with SSDs because all new HDDs have the same SATA3 plug standard, while SSDs have SATA3 and M.2 standards. Too confusing, right? It’s as simple as this:
You should choose an M2 SSD if possible because of its compactness, but please note that the mainboard must have an M2 slot to install it. To check whether the selected mainboard has an M2 slot or not, you can look at the specifications of that mainboard or quickly estimate by reading the article “Building a PC Gaming Configuration – Choosing a motherboard (mainboard)”.
Storage capacity
Whether SSD or HDD, they are both storage devices, so of course storage capacity is an important indicator. Normally, Windows and some simple software take up about 30GB, so with a 120GB hard drive, you will have 90GB left, enough to install current popular online games at the same time such as League of Legends, DOTA 2, CS: GO, but you have to choose. Choose between PUBG or Apex because there is not enough free space for both. With a 240GB drive, you can comfortably install all of the above games and add another Offline game like GTA V or Shadow of Tomb Raider,… depending on your choice. With 500GB, you can comfortably install a lot of games and software without worrying.
Summary
In short, you should choose SSD instead of HDD for PC Gaming and can buy additional HDD later if you have high storage needs because this component is easy to upgrade. If the mainboard has an M2 slot, you should buy an M2 SSD for a compact and lightweight system. To comfortably install games, you should choose an SSD capacity of over 240GB.