Primer on SSD and internal hard drives


I recently acquired a streamer /DAC that supports an SSD or internal hard drive.  This is new turf for me and wonder if I could get some basic guidance.  Please pardon my complete ignorance on this topic.

So what is the difference between an internal hard drive and an SSD?  Is one preferable?

The manual suggests using either a 3,5" or 2,5" drive. Does size matter ? ( no pun intended)

Are there sonic differences in the different available brands?  

Again, pardon my lack of knowledge on this topic and thanks for your help.

Mike

 

mdrone

Showing 1 response by jastralfu

Sounds like your streamer is compatible with both a 3.5” HDD/SSD and a 2.5” SSD. Both connect internally via the SATA interface (which is just the standard for connecting internal storage). I prefer 2.5” SSD cause I like the smaller form factor and I think it’s much more common.  You’ll likely find a better selection of capacity and speed with the smaller form factor. Buy the best quality, largest, and fastest (read/write) you can afford that is compatible with your streamers requirements. They are incredibly cheap now, relatively speaking. +1 @cleeds, if your streamer is connected to your network and it does not have an internal optical drive to rip CDs, you should be able to copy things to it from another computer easily (this is where read/write are important as well). You should also get better performance connected internally than an external connection via USB. I’ve had good luck with Samsung SSDs but there are many quality manufacturers. Western Digital is good as well.