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Help Me Choose: Storage

The storage drive is where your computer permanently saves documents, photos, music, videos, and other files. More storage means your computer can hold more information.

Solid State Drive (SSD)

An SSD, or Solid State Drive, is a type of storage device that doesn’t have moving parts that provide user with longer battery life, improved shock resistance and faster data transfer than HDDs.

Benefits of a solid-state drive:
  • Lightweight and cooler than standard hard drives
  • Greatly outperforms HDDs in read/write speeds
  • Improved performance
  • Durability
  • Better for mobile users

SATA Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

Hard Disk Drive is a data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve information on one or multiple platters. HDDs are more sensitive to shock and vibration because they use mechanical parts to transfer data onto disks.

Benefits of using this type of drive:

• Cost per GB is lower compared to SSD
• Much higher number of write and rewrites compared to SSD

Dual-Drives

Some systems have a dual-drive configuration, they are equipped with both HDD and SSD storage devices, allowing the best of both worlds.

Benefits include:

Primary drive: SSD for quick load times on key applications and tasks, such as Operating System, Photoshop and Video Games.
Secondary drive: HDD for cost effective storage for photos and video. SSD for system performance priority over cost.

How Much Storage Do I Need?

To decide how much storage you need, consider how you are going to use your computer.
Storage Drive Size
Best For
1 TB or more
 Storing large digital libraries and professional-level content created in applications like Adobe Creative Suite, visualizing or analyzing huge datasets, and saving many large games.
512 GB to 1 TB
 Storing high-resolution images or PowerPoint presentations, managing a large music library, and saving a couple of large games.
256 GB
 Managing word processing and spreadsheet files, storing music or images, and saving a limited number of smaller games.
Less than 256 GB
 Saving standard documents, images, and learning applications.

FAQ

eMMC (embedded Multi-Media Card) is a type of storage that is offered in an industry-standard BGA package consisting of both flash memory and a flash memory controller integrated on the same silicon die. Performance of eMMC storage is somewhere between speed of HDDs and SSDs. eMMCs are often paired with cloud storage, i.e. education segments where the files are stored on a remote server.

Benefits of using eMMC
• Better performance compared to HDD
• Completely quiet compared to HDD
• Low cost/performance solution compared to SSD

Downside of eMMC
• Not easily replaceable if it’s soldered in the motherboard
• Limited capacity being the common capacity range 32GB to 128GB
• Slower performance when compared to SSD
• eMMCs are often paired with cloud storage, i.e. files are stored on a remote server
Does SSD Performance differ by Classification
Quad-level cell (QLC) drives are the latest development of flash storage technology. The technology stores four bits per cell whereas TLC (triple-level cell flash) stores three bits per cell. As result, QLC technology stores more bits per the same cell. This drive is available in 3 capacities: 512GB, 1TB and 2TB and will become more popular with the adoption driven by the cost advantage.
Intel® Core™ Processors
Learn More about Intel