SSDs come in different shapes and sizes, but are typically either a stick like this Seagate Firecuda drive or are in a 2.5-inch enclosure that looks more like a traditional internal hard drive.

The first is a SATA SSD, which comes in a 2.5-inch form factor and connects to your motherboard with the same cables and ports as a SATA HDD. The second (and newer) is the M.2 SSD.

SSD vs HDD in a NAS However, hard drives currently offer higher storage capacity than SSDs. The highest capacity hard drive available is 22TB, compared to the maximum 8TB SATA SSD.

If we’re comparing the SSD vs HDD in terms of speed, there is a clear winner. Due to the nature of the SSD’s flash memory, accessing bits of data within the drive is extremely easy and fast.

An external drive with a 2.5-inch magnetic hard drive usually has a maximum capacity of 5TB. You can get a 4TB drive for less than $110 — for example from Toshiba’s Canvio Basic series.

Stargazing Skywatching Kit Best external hard drives 2025: Top HDD and SSD models References By Tantse Walter Contributions from Chris McMullen, Mina Frost, Rowena Cockett last updated May 16, 2025 ...