eMMC vs SSD storage: What's the difference?

What are eMMCs?

In fact, when it comes to laptop storage, you think of four different storage types: SSD, HDD, hybrid hard drive, and eMMC. But how much do you know about them?

eMMC is a variant of MMC, a memory card standard used for solid-state storage. There are many variants of MMC: RS-MMC, DV-MMC, MMCplus and MMCmobile, MMCmicro, MiCard, SecureMMC and eMMC, etc.

The full name of eMMC refers to embedded MultiMediaCard. It is an internal memory card that is widely used in portable devices due to its relatively cheap price and small size.

eMMC is used in portable devices such as smartphones, digital cameras, entry-level laptops, tablets, and even some removable devices. You can also use eMMC on your computer or laptop. There's one thing that's special about eMMC: You can expand the internal storage capacity of an EMMC-equipped laptop by inserting a memory card into its memory card slot.

Although since 2018, enterprises have rarely built MMC slots (SD cards are more common), but as the main means of integrated storage in portable devices, eMMC is still widely used in consumer electronics. eMMC provides a low-cost flash system. Its built-in controller can stay in Andriod or Windows phones and cost-effective PCs. It can appear as a bootable device in the host interface instead of more expensive solid-state storage, such as a solid-state drive.

eMMC integrates flash memory and flash controller on the same silicon. It consists of an embedded storage solution with a MultiMediaCard interface, flash memory and a host controller.

More importantly, eMMC is cheap and is a cost-effective storage device.

 

What is a solid state drive?

SSD stands for Solid State Drive. Sometimes also called a solid-state device or solid-state disk. SSD is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuits as memory to permanently store data. Instead, SSDs enjoy the best performance and highest price compared to other storage types. Additionally, SSDs are more resistant to physical shocks.

In addition, SSD reads and writes faster, operates more quietly, and consumes relatively less power. Therefore, users who have high requirements for computer performance and sufficient budget are more inclined to choose SSD laptops.

Although SSD prices have fallen over time, their cost per storage unit (as of 2018) still exceeds that of hard drives.

 

eMMC VS SSD

 

EMMC vs. SSD: Feature Comparison

You can upgrade SSD but not EMMC storage

As I mentioned earlier, eMMC is embedded or soldered directly onto the motherboard of the device. This affects its upgradeability.

For example, to desolder an eMMC chip, you need to turn the board upside down and heat the chip area. However, this increases the possibility of chip damage due to high temperatures.

So it's difficult, if not impossible, to replace or upgrade it.

As for SSD storage, the situation is different. It plugs into its host device via a ribbon cable.

To be precise, the types of card slots it uses include PCIe, SATA, and mSATA interfaces. It is worth mentioning that these interfaces make it very easy to upgrade SSD storage.

So instead of using heat like you would with eMMC, the SSD can be easily unplugged and reinserted at any time.

 

 

SSDs are faster than EMMC storage drives

Embedded multimedia cards are similar to SD cards and therefore much slower than SSDs.

Additionally, eMMC devices have controllers that make eMMC bootable. Hence, it is also used as a system drive in cheap Android phones, Chromebooks, tablets and laptops.

What eMMC lacks, however, is the firmware and multiple flash chips that make SSDs so fast. So booting a device with it will be fast, but not as fast as a device with an SSD. Performance is not the same with eMMC storage. In fact, some of them are faster than others.

An SSD, on the other hand, has more than enough components to make it run the fastest. Therefore, its host device can boot faster than any other boot drive. Speaking of components, it has multiple NAND chips that share each task among themselves. Additionally, it has firmware that distributes tasks among the chips. In addition to this, SSDs use faster connection interfaces than eMMC interfaces.

 

 

Noise, Vibration and Power Consumption

eMMC storage is solid state, so it has no moving parts, such as spinning disks. So, while running, it doesn't make any noise and doesn't vibrate the device.

As a result, smartphones, tablets, and laptops that use this type of storage can run quietly.

In terms of power consumption, eMMC consumes less power than SSD. However, their difference in power consumption can sometimes be insignificant and debatable.

eMMC consumes as little as 0.5 to 2 watts. One of the benefits of this low power consumption is that eMMC improves the battery life of its host device.

Like eMMC, SSD storage is solid state and has no spinning disks. Therefore, the laptop using it will not make noise or vibrate while running.

Regarding power efficiency, SSDs can consume more power than eMMCs. However, it consumes less power than a hard drive.

On average, an SSD can consume about 2 to 3 watts.

Roughly equal average transfer speeds up to 400MB/S

New versions of the eMMC standard continue to emerge with varying specifications. The latest version (as of October 2021, when I publish this article) is version 5.1A.

Specifically, this version opens files at 250MB/s (sequential read). Also, it saves files at 125MB/s (sequential write).

eMMC version 5.1A offers typical transfer rates of up to 400 megabytes per second (MBps). In contrast, a solid-state drive using a SATA connection provides roughly the same transfer speed.

eMMC is faster for transferring fewer files, while SSD is faster for transferring large files.

So, if you consider the low cost of eMMC, it is not bad to get storage transfer speed comparable to SSD.

 

 

Price/Cost of Storage

The ultimate comparison of eMMC vs SSD is their price. A device (phone, tablet, or computer) with eMMC is much less expensive than one with an SSD drive.

However, SSD drives make up for the price difference with their faster performance.

 

 

EMMC vs. SSD: Pros and Cons Compared

Following are the advantages of eMMC vs SSD.

Advantages of EMMC vs SSD

1. Fast reading and writing speed. Both eMMC 5.1 and SATA SSDs can achieve transfer speeds of up to 400MB/s. Also, these devices can achieve very high write speeds.

If you're wondering what read and write speed means, reading happens when you open a file on the device. On the other hand, writes happen when you save a file.

Therefore, since eMMC and SDD provide fast read/write speeds, devices using them will perform better than those using HDD. This is assuming all other factors are equal.

2. Both eMMC and SDD are noiseless. Have you ever worked on your laptop and heard a spinning noise? This noise is usually caused by spinning HDD platters or CPU fans.

Conversely, have you ever heard such an annoying noise on your smartphone or tablet? The answer is no!

You won't hear this noise on your smartphone because your smartphone probably uses eMMC storage. Also, apart from the novice sound from the fan, no noise like this is heard on a laptop with SSD storage!This is a major advantage.

3. eMMC and SSD are very energy efficient. SSD storage is energy efficient, while eMMC is more energy efficient. Thus, the battery of a tablet or smartphone with eMMC storage can last between 3 and 5 days per charge.

Meanwhile, that's not the case for laptops with SSD storage if we ignore battery configurations and other factors. The battery life of such laptops can usually last several hours per charge.

Still, devices with either of these storage types will have better battery life than devices with HDDs. This is because HDDs have mechanical parts (spinning platters) that consume more power.

4. Higher portability with eMMC and SSD storage. eMMC is very small and suitable for mobile devices. You'll find eMMC flash memory in smartphones, tablets, and low-cost ultraportable laptops.

In comparison, SSDs are larger in size than eMMC. However, SSDs are very thin compared to HDDs.

SSDs are used in thin and light computers where HDDs cannot be installed due to their ultra-thinness. For example, you'll find SSDs in ultrathin laptops, subnotebooks, and other powerful portable notebooks.

5. Automatically handle data read and write operations. The fact that eMMC storage has a built-in controller that manages data read/write operations is another advantage. This is because it frees up the CPU to perform other tasks.

Since the CPU does not handle reads and writes, it is free to perform other tasks.

 

 

Disadvantages of EMMC and SSD

1. The storage capacity of eMMC and SSD is low. The first downside of eMMC vs SSD comparison is that both offer a smaller range of storage.

For example, you can find 32GB and 64GB of eMMC storage. However, there are also 128GB and 265GB eMMC storage, which are more difficult to find.

SSDs, on the other hand, mostly come in 256GB or 512GB sizes. Higher capacity SSDs exist, but may be too expensive to purchase.

This means that devices with these types of storage don't offer much storage. It's worth noting that most devices with eMMC and SSDs have storage expansion slots.

So if you get a device with eMMC or SSD storage, you'll probably accept low storage. At the same time, you can get HDDs with terabytes of storage for a pretty affordable price.

2. Unlike SSD, eMMC is not upgradeable. In terms of upgradeability, eMMC is very difficult to upgrade, if possible. More specifically, upgrading eMMC storage requires special technical skills in electronics soldering and desoldering.

In contrast, upgrading SSD storage is less complicated. Even so, it requires a certain level of understanding of computer hardware maintenance.

3. Limited number of read/write times before failure. SSDs are expected to last about ten years. For those who pay high prices for high-capacity SSDs, ten years is comfortingly short lifespan.

Coming to eMMC, the lifespan should be shorter than SSD. This is true because eMMC uses only one NAND chip to perform all operations.

However, longevity is also affected by how often you delete and re-save new files on this storage.

4. Unlike SSD, eMMC is not designed to run demanding applications. Devices with eMMC storage cannot run resource-intensive applications. Therefore, they are best suited for handling light computing tasks such as web browsing, media playback, etc.

Conversely, laptops with SSD storage perform better when running demanding jobs. Therefore, computers used for gaming and content creation are often equipped with SSD storage.

5. eMMC and SSD do not support distributed access. Only devices with eMMC soldered on can use storage. Therefore, multiple users cannot access it at the same time.

The same thing applies to SSD storage. Its SATA or PCIe cables can access it individually. This means that multiple users or devices cannot access the contents of the SSD at the same time.

 

Finally, for smartphones and cameras, we know we don't have SSD storage options, but eMMC. However, if your laptop gives you two storage options, choose the SSD option.

I hope I was able to explain eMMC vs SSD and how they compare. I also hope you found this article easy to follow?