Mass storage devices are used in PCs for the operating system and data files. Since the entire Windows 10 or 11 operating system files can add up to a significant amount, mass storage devices in these PCs seldom have sizes below 120GB.
Mass storage devices come in a few shapes and physical sizes. The largest is the 3.5in HDD or hard disk drive with the highest capacity available. The 3.5in HDD have storage capacities which can go up to 10 TB or Terabytes and beyond. However, the large 3.5in HDD cannot be installed in the tiny, mini or micro PCs because of its physical size. Next is the 2.5in HDD which one is able to fit it in a tiny, mini or micro PCs. Typically the storage capacity of the 2.5in HDD goes up to 2TB and higher.
Many years ago, HDDs or hard disk drives with capacities of 500GB or 1TB were the norm for mass storage devices. HDDs relied on a magnetic pick up reading a disc which typically rotated at 5,400rpm or 7,200rpm. However even the faster 7,200rpm HDDs were relatively slow with a transfer speed of around 100 MB/s to 200 MB/s. Thus PCs with these devices took a while to boot.
In recent years, the cost of buying a SSD or Solid State Drive has dropped significantly. However the cheaper price comes with a lower storage capacity in the SSD though the gap is closing. The typical transfer rate of the 2.5in SSD is around 550MB/s, a significant improvement over the HDD. Since 2.5in SSD is physically interchangeable with the 2.5in HDD, many have upgraded their older PCs giving them a boost in performance.
With the inexpensive availability and generous capacity of USB mass storage devices, many tiny, mini or micro PCs can operate relatively well with only a 120GB SSD holding the operating system. Data can then be stored on the removable USB based mass storage devices making them relatively portable. Still many opt for a 240GB SSD or larger which allows some data storage in addition to the operating system residing in it.
In addition, there are other mass storage device choices available for SSDs which will be dealt with in later.
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