Solid State Drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses a series of ICs as memory that is used to store data or information. As an analogy, we may be familiar with USB Flash Drive or USB Thumb Drive or USB memory stick. An electronic device that we use to store data, which we often carry with us everywhere, which is plugged into a computer's USB terminal when we want to retrieve or store data.
SSD can be considered as an advanced version of a USB Flash drive with a much larger capacity and serves as a replacement for the hard drive that has been used in computer devices. So SSD is an electronic device that functions to store data such as a hard disk (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) but its construction is like a USB Flash Drive, which is composed of several ICs as memory.
Like USB Flash Drives, SSDs don't have moving parts inside. Data or information is only stored in microchips. Unlike the hard disk which has a mechanical arm that moves to and fro to write and read data on a magnetic disk. This difference makes SSDs work much faster than hard drives. Hard drives (HDD) move mechanically to retrieve and store data or information, while SSDs move electrically to store and retrieve data or information. Of course SSD works faster than HDD.
Generally SSDs use so-called NAND-based flash memory. This is a type of Non-Volatile memory. Simply put, Non-Volatile means that the memory can still store data even if the supply voltage is turned off. This is the basic principle of a permanent memory as well as a USB Flash drive.
At first, many doubted the durability of the data stored in this type of memory. They think data can only be stored for a few years. The data will be lost if it is stored any longer. But the reality is not so especially with the latest technology. Even data can be stored safely for up to 200 years. Here's an example of a Samsung brand SSD.
