Hard Disk Drives (HDD)

These are the cheapest storage options and some of the slowest. These drives store data on platter that rotate at varying speeds, either 5400, 7200, 10000, or 15000 revolutions per minute. The faster the hard drive speed, the faster the data can be written but this is still limited by the moving parts inside.

Solid State Drives (SSD)

These drives are faster than the HDDs because of the fact that there is no moving parts. Thesee drives store data electronicallys in cells and does not depend on the moving parts inside. This will be more expensive than HDDs but will dramatically increase speeds of the computer.

M.2 SSD

These drives are primarily used in small form factor cases or laptops. They are technically no different from traditional SSDs, they just come in much smaller form factors.

NVMe M.2 SSD

These drives are the same size as the M.2 form factors however, they interface over the PCIe. This interface interacts directly with the CPU rather than going through various interfaces. These drives are some of the fastest drives on the market and also come with the largest price tag.

Intel Optane

This form of storage is only compatible on Intel 7th and 8th generation CPUs. Optane uses Intel's 3d NAND fabrication techniques to improve latency as little as 10 microseconds.