How to Know If You Have an SSD or HDD in Windows 10

Why would you want to know if your computer uses SSD (Solid State Drives) or HDD (Hard Disk Drives)? One of the main reasons is to see if an upgrade if necessary. HDDs are the traditional storage devices that have been around for a long time. To do a quick comparison, HDDs are heavier, slower, and bigger but cheaper than SSDs. SSDs are the new storage technology that will entirely replace HDDs in the future, given all the advantages over HDDs. It’s faster, smaller, and lightweight. This is why newer computers and laptops use SSDs. If your computer still uses HDD you might want to upgrade to SSD.

To find out if you have HDD or SDD installed in your computer, follow the steps below:

Step 1:

Press the Windows Key + S in your keyboard or you click the search bar on the taskbar.

Step 2:

Type “defrag” in the search bar.

Step 3:

Click on “Defragment and Optimize Drives”.

Step 4:

To check if you have a SSD/solid-state drive or HDD/hard disk drive, look under “Media Type”. If you have HDD installed, you would see “Hard disk drive” just like the picture below. If you have SDD installed, the Media type would be “Solid state drive”.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• SSDs are a lot faster than HDDs because they use solid state drive method unlike HDDs that use spinning disks.
• While SSDs are a lot faster than HDDs, many argue that HDDs last longer than SSD.
• SSDs are much smaller than HDDs making them suitable for small and lightweight laptops and other devices.