What is the difference between HDD, SSD and GDDR Type of memory technologies?
In: Technology
An HDD works similar to magnetic tape (like VHS and audio casettes), except that the magnetic material is applied to a bunch of spinning disks instead of a spool of tape. The data is stored by changing the magnetic orientation on the disk, and read by detecting the magnetic field.
An SSD uses flash memory, that is tiny cells etched onto a silicon chip, which can trap an electric charge. Think of billions of microscopic batteries on a small chip: If the battery is full, it’s a 1, and if it’s empty, it’s a 0. Both hard disks and SSDs can store their data for a very long time, which is why they are so widely used for storage.
GDDR is a type of volatile memory used for graphics cards. That means it uses small transistor circuitry to store data, the so called “flip flops”. A flip flop works like a light switch: You flip it on, and it stays flipped. Flip it off, and stays flipped off. However, instead of a metal spring, this particular light switch uses an electric motor to remember whether it was on or off – and if the power goes out, you lose all data on it.
It is possible to store data permanently using volatile memory, but this needs a continuous power supply to work. This is sometimes used for very high performance server applications where hard disks aren’t fast enough and flash memory would be worn down too quickly.
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