Typically, you can get twice or even three times more storage space from an HDD compared to an SSD for the same amount of money.

HDDs are certainly not obsolete (yet), as they have one very significant advantage over SSD – they are much, much more affordable even their higher-end models tend to cost a lot less compared to most SSDs.

Those advantages are among the many reasons why SSDs are rapidly pushing the more traditional HDD drives into obscurity. In general, the SSDs use more advanced technology, which has a number of advantages, namely, significantly faster read and write speeds, greater durability and reliability, better energy efficiency, longer lifespan, and less noise (as there aren’t any spinning parts in the drive). There are two types of external drives, depending on the technology used to store data – HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and SSD (Solid State Drive) – and it is important to know the differences between the two when picking an external drive for your Mac.