SSD definition

A SSD (Solid State Drive) is a electronic device that stores data electrically in microchips. It is a medium of non-volatile data storage which means it's a popular choice for computers to store large quantities of data for the long term. The chips uses "flash memory" which typically store by trapping charges or electrically changing a state of micro-components, similar to USB pen drives and SIM cards. The name derives from the fact there are no moving parts.

Compared to Hard Disk Drives (which use magnetic disks), SSD's are faster for reading and writing to, particularly when the data is fragmented (scattered) across the drive, are more energy-efficient, lighter, quieter, offer higher bit/byte density (thus can be smaller and have as much capacity) and are usually more reliable, but are expensive for their capacity and may have less write-endurance. Thus, they're best for heavy-read storage solutions and for mobile, where capacity is not as important, but are much less popular in Digital Video Recorders and back-up drives or in servers that store large quantities of seldom-read data.