Solid State Hard Drives (SSD, SSHD, m.2 SATA, m.2 PCIE)

Solid State hard drives provide dramatic increases in both speed and reliability.  Replacing a motorized drive with an SSD means you are moving from the speed of rotating platters to the speed of electricity.  Modern SSD's rarely degrade, are less affected by impact or heat, and have become affordable.  There are various SSD form factors.  The most common form factor is 2.5" SATA, meaning it is a direct replacement for a typical laptop or desktop hard drive.  These drives can be installed in either laptop or desktop computers.  M.2 SATA drives and m.2 PCI-Express (NVMe) drives are installed in both laptops and desktops equipped with modern motherboards and the correct slot for either of these drives.  The fastest solid state drives are m.2 PCI-Express, which bypass limitations of the aging SATA bus and interface directly with the PCI-Express bus, essentially the same architecture as video cards.  However, no matter which SSD you select, it will be dramatically faster and more reliable than the best mechanical hard drive.  For best results, use SSDs with a modern operating system such as Windows 10 or Mac High Sierra (and above) to ensure the drive is maintained correctly by its internal maintenance cycle known as wear leveling or TRIM.