How Heat Affects a Solid-State Drive (SSD)

Solid-state drives (SSDs) are often considered more reliable than conventional hard drives — and there’s some truth to that.  Hard disk drives (HDDs) have moving mechanical components, so they’re much more susceptible to physical damage than SSDs. But both storage...
March 15, 2023

Do Magnets Damage Solid-State Drives?

No, magnets will not damage solid-state drives. However, changes in magnetic fields might cause data loss under certain circumstances. Strong magnetic fields can destroy data on hard disk drives (HDDs) and data tapes, for a simple reason: Those devices use...
February 27, 2023

How to Check Your SSD or HDD Health in Windows 11

The Windows Management Instrumentation Command-Line Utility (WMIC) is a simple tool that allows users to manage their Windows operating system.It runs through the Command Prompt and can access information from Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART), a monitoring system...
February 7, 2023

4 Things to Know About SSD Write Cycles

If you’re buying a new data storage device, you’ll need to do some research. This is particularly true if you’re buying a solid-state drive (SSD). While SSDs provide better performance than hard risk drives (HDDs), different models have different features...
November 18, 2022

Can You Recover Deleted Files From an SSD?

Recovering deleted data from a solid-state drive (SSD) is difficult, but not necessarily impossible. To explain why, we need to provide a basic overview of how SSDs work — and compare that to the way that hard drives operate. When...
October 6, 2022

Will SSDs Reach Price Parity with Hard Drives in 2023?

Solid-state drives offer numerous advantages for consumers: They’re faster than hard drives, more reliable (although still susceptible to failure), and more energy efficient.  However, they’re also much more expensive. According to Diskprices.com, the least expensive internal hard drives have a...
October 3, 2022

How Do Solid State Drives Store Data?

Solid state drives (SSDs) store files electronically using non-volatile memory. Here’s an overview of how they provide reliable data storage.
December 3, 2021

Chinese Cryptocurrency Miners Selling Used SSDs, But There’s A Catch

The plunging price of the cryptocurrency Chia has flooded the international market with used hard drives and solid state drives, according to a recent report from VNExpress International. The article cites a Facebook group with more than 5,000 Chia traders....
October 4, 2021

Are Used Hard Drives and SSDs Less Reliable?

Buying used hard drives can save you money, but “refurbished" storage media carries significant risks. Here’s what you need to know.
September 15, 2021

How Does A Surge Protector Prevent Hard Drive Failures?

All electronic devices need to be connected to a surge protector, and that’s particularly true for devices that store data. Hard drives rely on controllers, which allow the drive to transfer information to (and from) your computer. A sudden surge...
September 9, 2021