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What is more reliable hard drives or SSD?

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Bubble99

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I'm wondering what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? What last longer hard drives or SSD? I know SSD are faster than hard drives and that is one of the reason everyone is switching over to SSD. But what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? Do hard drives break down more than SSD?

How long do hard drives or SSD last?
 
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Bubble99 said:
I'm wondering what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? What last longer hard drives or SSD? I know SSD are faster than hard drives and that is one of the reason everyone is switching over to SSD. But what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? Do hard drives break down more than SSD?

How long do hard drives or SSD last?
Click to expand...
The answer is "it depends". One key difference is that SSDs when they fail, they fail catastrophically. From working fine to kaputt with no warning. At least with HDDs, there are warning signs and, usually, a brief period when you can try to extract your most important data before it finally gives up the ghost.
 
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It's just one data point, but I have a 10MB hard disk in my Tandy 1400HD "laptop" (or luggable as it weighs about 11lbs). That hard drive still works after 39 years, longer than any modern SSD has been around. Now that said, it hasn't been in constant use. I stopped using it on a regular basis around 1990, but I did reformat it with DOS 3.3 and reinstalled DeskMate and Battle Chess a couple years ago. I think the common thought is that SSDs are great for primary storage/OS, but HDDs are still used quite often as backup/long term storage, but this may be a function of the lower price per GB of HDDs, more than concern about SSD longevity. I use HDDs for all my backups.

The SSD in my 2012 Retina MBP was still doing fine 12 years later when it was donated. So in my limited experience and opinion, SSDs are super reliable for the "useful life" of a modern computing device, barring some extreme catastrophic failure. And HDDs are great as long term storage.
 
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I have several 18yr old HHDs still working well in a seldom used 2008 Macpro, and I have a couple of 10yr+ old 2.5" SSDs in daily use mounted in enclosures, connected to my mac mini, for backup.

But anything can break, anytime, so be backed up.
 
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SSDs have lower mean time between failure (MTBF) rates by a good margin. I have not had a single SSD failure and ~10 HD failures.
  • HDDs: ~300,000 to 1,200,000 hours (commonly quoted ~1M hrs).
  • SSDs: ~1,000,000 to 2,000,000+ hours (enterprise models often >1.5M hrs).
 
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I have never had a hard drive fail in any of the Macs I have had through the years, starting in the mid '80's. SSDs are quite fast and this is a good thing, but for long term storage of my photos and other important data I prefer hard drives, since I can always recover most of the data if I need some day. Some hard drives used by gamers, while not as fast as SSDs, still are fast enough for me.

According to what I read about SSD's and durability, they are superiors to hard drives, but since I have only used SSDs for about 7 years along the old hard drives, it is too soon for me to form an opinion.

Maybe the questions the OP is asking are answered in this LINK-PP article?:

HDD vs. SSD: Key Differences, Pros, and Cons for Modern Data Storage

Discover the differences between HDD and SSD in speed, reliability, and cost. Learn which storage drive suits your needs and explore LINK-PP connectivity solutions.
resources.l-p.com resources.l-p.com
 
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IMO and by the book, SSD last longer, just avoid the no-brands and reviewed as run-hot. But all depends on usage as mentioned.
 
Generally, hard disk drives are far less reliable with all their moving parts and sector errors.

However, they are a mature technology and the data stays on them for a long time, unpowered, unlike SSD cells.

SSD are more likely to fail catastrophically so you should back up either media regularly and incrementally with a tested application like Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, Super Duper!, ChronoSync, etc., preferably with a second, off-site backup.
 
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Bubble99 said:
I'm wondering what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? What last longer hard drives or SSD? I know SSD are faster than hard drives and that is one of the reason everyone is switching over to SSD. But what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? Do hard drives break down more than SSD?

How long do hard drives or SSD last?
Click to expand...

What's your usage profile? As other's have noted, each have some advantages though generally SSD are less likely to fail in the first 5-10 years under typical laptop/desktop use.

However, SSD are somewhat "consumable" in that they have a limited number of total writes. And being so fast you can actually rack up those writes pretty quickly if you try. However, that kind of trying is not like what most people do.

HDD are particularly ill-suited for portable applications. If you're talking laptop usage, almost certainly SSD is the way to go for reliability. Extrapolating from my laptop's average daily writes, it would take hundreds of years to hit the write maximum on an SSD with a 1000TBW rating.

If you need a near-line archive of lots of data for a desktop, HDD can be quite cost effective (especially now that SSD prices have doubled or trippled). Also they are a good match to 24x7 sequential write applications like surveillance camera logging. Just avoid bumping them.
 
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SSD is superior in almost every way: drops survival, wider functional temperature range, speed, practically immune to magnetic damage.

I would only use HDD for RAID system, except a RAID 0. SSD would be prohibitively expensive and you don't get early warning of a drive failure.
 
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I've lost three separate hard drives (within three years of each other) and never lost an ssd.

I got lucky and didn't lose any data.

Moving parts, is all I'm saying. I'll never buy another hard drive again if I can help it. But that's based on some limited personal experiences.
 
Can you buy 4 TB hard drive for any where from $50 to 90 dollars? Or is it more expensive now?
 
AbeLincoln1984 said:
I've lost three separate hard drives (within three years of each other) and never lost an ssd.

I got lucky and didn't lose any data.

Moving parts, is all I'm saying. I'll never buy another hard drive again if I can help it. But that's based on some limited personal experiences.
Click to expand...
Exact opposite for me. Purchased 2 WD 850X Black 4TB SSD in 2024 and put them in a 8TB RAID 0 array (2 separate Maiwo enclosures - no fans) as a daily backup to my MacStudio startup drive. They were always plugged in via USB4 and ran just about as fast as the internal SSD. One failed early in 2025 and the other failed last week. Both were replaced by WD under warranty, but it gives me pause. Heat may have help cause this as even though I used high quality thermal pads and set them on the aluminum stand base for my ASD, they were always very warm to the touch. They are now mounted in a 2nd dual drive 405 Acasis enclosure w/fan and a on/off switch, purchased last week.

I have 3 @ 8TB WD 580X bought in 2025 ($529 each then vs $2,400 each now!!) and hoping they don' fail as soon as the 4TB version did. They are registered with WD and the warranty is good until 2030. One is my main 8TB startup drive in an Acasis 405 enclosure w/fan the the other 2 are in a Acasis dual 405 enclosure w/fan as a main 16TB RAID 0. They run 10 to 15 degrees cooler because of the fan, 8TB is now 34C and 16TB IS 37C.

2nd drive Backups, done numerous times a week, are dual 4 and 8TB Samsung Sata III SSD's in Oyen Digital MiniPro RAID dual drive USB-C enclosures. One at 8TB and the other at 16TB, These transfer data about 3 times faster than the HDD's RAID and have had Zero issues. My 3rd backups are HDD in Oyen Digital Mobius dual drive RAID 0 arrays with fans and have not had any drive issues, one is 5 years old. But they are backed up only weekly. 4th Backup is a 24TB Single USB-C HDD, again Oyen Digital enclosure (Toshiba Enterprise drives for all my HDD's).
 
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I'm using a 4TB SSD in an external OWC TB enclosure for Time Machine, and I have monthly full system backups on a few Seagate 8TB external HDDs. I also have a physically tiny Seagate 2TB USB-C drive that I use for quick temp storage of things I'm moving around. I lost a fair amount of data back in 2009 and ever since, I keep regular and historical backups. The HDDs haven't let me down for longer term storage but they are only powered on during actual backups (knock on wood), and the SSDs I've used so far have all been reliable.
 
SpecFoto said:
Exact opposite for me. Purchased 2 WD 850X Black 4TB SSD in 2024 and put them in a 8TB RAID 0 array (2 separate Maiwo enclosures - no fans) as a daily backup to my MacStudio startup drive. They were always plugged in via USB4 and ran just about as fast as the internal SSD. One failed early in 2025 and the other failed last week. Both were replaced by WD under warranty, but it gives me pause. Heat may have help cause this as even though I used high quality thermal pads and set them on the aluminum stand base for my ASD, they were always very warm to the touch. They are now mounted in a 2nd dual drive 405 Acasis enclosure w/fan and a on/off switch, purchased last week.

I have 3 @ 8TB WD 580X bought in 2025 ($529 each then vs $2,400 each now!!) and hoping they don' fail as soon as the 4TB version did. They are registered with WD and the warranty is good until 2030. One is my main 8TB startup drive in an Acasis 405 enclosure w/fan the the other 2 are in a Acasis dual 405 enclosure w/fan as a main 16TB RAID 0. They run 10 to 15 degrees cooler because of the fan, 8TB is now 34C and 16TB IS 37C.

2nd drive Backups, done numerous times a week, are dual 4 and 8TB Samsung Sata III SSD's in Oyen Digital MiniPro RAID dual drive USB-C enclosures. One at 8TB and the other at 16TB, These transfer data about 3 times faster than the HDD's RAID and have had Zero issues. My 3rd backups are HDD in Oyen Digital Mobius dual drive RAID 0 arrays with fans and have not had any drive issues, one is 5 years old. But they are backed up only weekly. 4th Backup is a 24TB Single USB-C HDD, again Oyen Digital enclosure (Toshiba Enterprise drives for all my HDD's).
Click to expand...
Thermal paste works to a certain point, but I assume that mechanical ventilation (cool air and fans) would be more efficient. The problem is that since the SSD is inside an enclosure, mechanical ventilation does not cool the SSD as fast as the internal SSD in the Mac.
 
AlaskaMoose said:
Thermal paste works to a certain point, but I assume that mechanical ventilation (cool air and fans) would be more efficient. The problem is that since the SSD is inside an enclosure, mechanical ventilation does not cool the SSD as fast as the internal SSD in the Mac.
Click to expand...
I agree, heat was most likely the cause of failure for my 2 WD SSD @4TB each. They were always plugged in when my Mac Studio was on.

Now all 3 of my external SSD enclosures have a very quiet built-in fan and they run a LOT cooler. Plus I have gotten into the habit of ejecting the enclosures if I wont be using it for a while. One is for Photos and one is for TV/Movies. Only my main 8TB startup drive is on all day now and hopefully the fan will keep it cool enough to avoid any future heat issues.
 
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I will choose to extend:
weckart said:
The answer is "it depends". One key difference is that SSDs when they fail, they fail catastrophically. From working fine to kaputt with no warning. At least with HDDs, there are warning signs and, usually, a brief period when you can try to extract your most important data before it finally gives up the ghost.
Click to expand...
conmee said:
I think the common thought is that SSDs are great for primary storage/OS, but HDDs are still used quite often as backup/long term storage, but this may be a function of the lower price per GB of HDDs, more than concern about SSD longevity.
Click to expand...
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Hard Disk Drive Failures - GeeksforGeeks

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Why hard drives fail, and what you can do about it

Nothing lasts forever, and that's especially true for mechanical hard drives. We highlight the reasons for HDD failures and give you tips on how to prevent defects.
www.pcworld.com www.pcworld.com

www.howtogeek.com

Your unpowered SSD is a ticking time bomb

Long-term cold storage on an SSD could be a risky business. There are better options.
www.howtogeek.com www.howtogeek.com
forums.macrumors.com

What is more reliable hard drives or SSD?

I'm wondering what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? What last longer hard drives or SSD? I know SSD are faster than hard drives and that is one of the reason everyone is switching over to SSD. But what is more reliable hard drives or SSD? Do hard drives break down more than SSD? How long do...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
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SpecFoto said:
I agree, heat was most likely the cause of failure for my 2 WD SSD @4TB each. They were always plugged in when my Mac Studio was on.

Now all 3 of my external SSD enclosures have a very quiet built-in fan and they run a LOT cooler. Plus I have gotten into the habit of ejecting the enclosures if I wont be using it for a while. One is for Photos and one is for TV/Movies. Only my main 8TB startup drive is on all day now and hopefully the fan will keep it cool enough to avoid any future heat issues.
Click to expand...
I have always ejected external devices such as hard drives and SSDs. Maybe that's the reason why I have never experienced a hard drive failure. By the way, I do the same thing with all Macs in my household. Yes, most people live the Mac in sleep mode, which seems to be fine, but if I am not going to use it for a while I don't need it turned on (energized).
 
AlaskaMoose said:
I have always ejected external devices such as hard drives and SSDs. Maybe that's the reason why I have never experienced a hard drive failure. By the way, I do the same thing with all Macs in my household. Yes, most people live the Mac in sleep mode, which seems to be fine, but if I am not going to use it for a while I don't need it turned on (energized).
Click to expand...
I've always ejected external devices too. I've experienced four hard drive failures; two internal (Dell, HP) two external (iomega, WD), only one of which was user error (kicked a cable and a drive went flying). The others were working until they didn't. I take extremely good care of my things.

Everything is going to fail eventually. Hard drives had a good run.

May you never hear the awful clicks of death.
 
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