In this comparison, we will see which function has two completely different products and at different price ranges, but its purpose is ultimately the same: keep our data out there so we can take it from one place to another.
On the other hand, we will use the external USB 3.0 Transcend ESD230C SSD 960 GB, priced at about 150 euros.
And on the other hand, as a USB 3.0 hard drive we will use a My WD Passport 4 for TB, in a 2.5-inch format that requires no extra power (because with a 3.5-inch external car we lose that extra weight). The price of this is about 120 euros, so it provides us four times the price at a low price.
SSD vs USB 3.0 hard drive, performance testing
To measure our performance we will use the standard CrystalDiskMark bench, as it will tell us what functions are working with these devices for reading and writing in different environments.
SSD functionality is very large, more than three times read and write four times. But how does this translate into daily activities?
Copy of file
Suppose we want to copy files to both devices, be it movies (large files), music (many medium files), or pictures (many small files). For this test, we made a copy from the NVMe SSD system to an external device, in all cases 12 GB accumulated. Let's look at the functionality of the two:
Obviously, an external SSD has given us very high performance in all cases, but be aware that those small, small files are the difference between one and the other. Obviously an external USB hard drive is designed for storing large objects and staying there, not necessarily transmitting data.
Use with programs
We go through some of the assumptions: we have a series of files (whatever they are) on the external device that we have to work with, be it text, image editing in Photoshop, videos to work on after Effects, etc. It doesn't matter, the fact is that we need to have them on an external device to work with them anywhere.
Here the functionality is very closely related, but most importantly unless we handle very large files such as After Effects videos, the subjential performance provided to both devices is the same, even though the loading times are not. In other words, in small and medium-sized documents or files, we will not see any functional differences, and in large files we will look at them at a time when it takes a load. When it is not right for you.
In conclusion
We know that external USB SSDs are more expensive than regular self-driving cars, but they deliver better performance in all areas. On the other hand, external hard drive machines are much cheaper and not only give us more power, but also another measure that most people ignore for a lifetime: remember that SSDs have a certain number of limitations, while traditional hard drives.
This means, and we conclude with our recommendation, that if you are going to use external storage to process information there and that you are interested in it to be able to have more capacity, you should go to the hard disk drive, especially if You want to have longer backups.
Now, if you need a small volume but a lot of speed because you need storage to run or play, then an external SSD is your favorite option even if it is less expensive and has less capacity.
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