Solid State Hard Drive Review – What Are SSDs
This solid state hard drive review website discusses the characteristics and benefits of solid state drive (SSD) technology. SSDs are now becoming the standard in hard drive technology and most new and more higher priced desktops and laptops will utilize SSDs. They are certainly the future of hard drive and computer storage technology.
So what are SSDs? In a nutshell, SSDs are just like hard drives but they store data differently from your traditional type of Hard Disk Drives or HDDs. They use non-moving flash memory, while HDDs utilize either optical media or rotating magnetic disks. SSDs are compatible with the traditional hard drive interfaces, such as SAS or an internal SATA hard drive. They also have a familiar hard drive form factors although they are typically mush smaller and lighter. The reasons why SSDs are far superior to regular hard drives include:
- Better performance including faster boot/load times and faster processing times (read and write). For example, windows boot time are typically twice faster than HHDs.
- SSDs have a 90% lower hard drive failure rate than HDDs.
- SSD use less power so for laptops and netbooks this is a huge advantage
- They are smaller and lighter and this again is a big plus for portability (e.g. lighter laptops)
The remainder of this solid state hard drive review post discusses SSDs in more detail. However, if you already up to date with SSD technology then please visit the following pages (by clicking on the link) to:
- Read reviews of the fastest and highest rated SSDs on the market today (these solid state hard drive review posts are updated weekly).
- Learn more about the solid state hard drive.
Solid State Hard Drive Review: No More Mechanical Components
In this short solid state hard drive review, some comparisons between SSDs and HDDs are made. SSDs access data electronically. They do not have moving mechanical parts that are prone to break down. SSDs are recently becoming more popular; more buyers prefer them despite higher cost per gigabyte than HDDs, and despite having minor disadvantages not covered in this solid state hard drive review. They also have a bigger capacity, thus avoiding the hassles and baggage that a user of an external hard drive deals with every time he works outdoors. Outdoors, an external drive, even a 2tb portable hard drive, is usually out of the question.
Unlike HDDs, a solid state hard drive is entirely electronic, and it emits no sound. It is thus less susceptible to physical shock, and has lower latency and access time. SSDs can easily replace HDDs in most applications, because they both use the same interface.
Solid State Hard Drive Review: Form and Function
To continue with the solid state hard drive review, most SSDs use a NAND-based flash memory, which retain memory even without power. There are also SSDs with volatile RAM memory for faster access, but which do not need data persistence after unexpected power loss. An SSD’s main components are the controller and its memory. The controller incorporates the electronics which bridges the NAND memory components to its host computer. In earlier versions, the DRAM volatile memory has been the primary memory component in SSDs; now, the NAND flash non-volatile memory is more commonly used, which also cost less. It also has the ability to retain data even without a constant power supply.
As the final part of this solid state hard drive review, three types of SSDs can be mentioned. The first is the flash-based solid-state drive, which do not need batteries to maintain data. However, they are not as fast as DRAM-based solutions. Some flash-based innovations include an 18 gigabyte 3.5 in SSD, SSDs with 100,000 IOPS with capacities reaching 320 gigabytes. 1tb SSDs have a write speed up to 654 MB/s, and read speed of up to 712 MB/s. There are also flash SSDs which use a 6 Gbit/s or 768 MB/s SATA laptop hard drive interface.
Enterprise flash drives are designed for applications which require high IOPS, energy efficiency and reliability. Thirdly, secure digital card drives are simple, inexpensive SSDs needing a USB flash memory adapter in case the computer does not have its own built-in SD flash memory card reader. This concludes this short solid state hard drive review.
If you require more information, please visit the following sites that are authorities in this topic...
Solid State Hard Drive Review – What Are SSDs
FlashSim: A Simulator for NAND Flash-based Solid-State Drives