The Future Is Here: Solid State Drives!
If you're much of a tech enthusiast, you've probably known about Solid State Drives for several years now; however, if you find yourself to be a few steps behind the cutting edge, you may not know about this technology that can greatly improve a computer's performance! Either way, this article will attempt to explain the basics behind what Solid State Drives are, how they work, and what they are best used for.
History of Hard Drives
First, let's start with a little background information. A Solid State Drive is a special type of hard drive (a nonvolatile digital memory storage device). Hard drives store your computer's data in a long-term manner so that your computer can access that information later, whether it be personal documents, programs, or important files that allow your PC to function. Your computer accesses this stored memory every time it turns on, and data is read from and written to the hard drive in a vast number of operations your computer performs. Therefore, the speed of a hard drive can have a major effect on the computer's performance as a whole.
In recent computer history, the most popular type of hard drive used in computers was by far the Hard Disk Drive (HDD). HDDs utilize the magnetic properties of a physical platter or "disk" to record data. A motor spins the platter at thousands of rotations per minute while an independent head moves about the platter to read and write data.
There's a reason HDDs have dominated the market for so long -- HDDs can hold very large amounts of data for a relatively low cost. However, they have a fair number of limitations as well.
Because of their reliance on physically moving parts, HDDs have certain inherent speed barriers. While this might not have mattered so much when HDDs were initially introduced, computer processor power has increased over time to the point where the data transfer speed of HDDs can actually limit or bottleneck the computer system as a whole; in other words, the other components of the computer have improved so much that HDDs have become the weakest link. This is bad news! That means that even if you have a lightning-fast processor, a shiny new graphics card, and all the RAM you can handle, your computer can still be really slow because all those fast components are waiting on your slow-poke HDD to catch up!
Solid State Drives to the Rescue
(This is where our hero comes in to save the day.) The Solid State Drive (SSD), in contrast, has no moving parts but instead relies on a technology called flash memory. While SSDs date back well into the 20th century, their commercial success is much more recent. The modern SSD has become very attractive to the average consumer for a number of reasons:
"That's it! SDDs are the clear winner!" you say. Well, there's one major caveat that keeps HDDs in the fight: price. SSDs have fallen and continue to fall in price, but even so, an SSD is still considerably more expensive than an HDD of the same capacity. This means there's a choice to be made: do you want capacity or performance? If you can afford an SSD, then there's no contest; however, HDDs present a much better cost-to-capacity ratio for the value-oriented.
So what's the right answer? Do what's best for you. Many individuals and computer manufacturers alike have chosen a best-of-both-worlds compromise with an SSD as the main drive in the computer and a much larger HDD as a secondary drive. This way, they can boot their computer quickly and perform their most common operations at super high speeds while having the capacity for larger, less-frequently accessed files like photos and movies. However, this solution isn't available to everyone -- especially those with small laptops without much space for drives. In such a case, users generally either have a large, super-slow HDD or a fast SSD that has way too little storage space for their needs. What's the best choice there? My advice would be to purchase a laptop with the largest capacity SSD you can afford, then consider purchasing an external drive -- an HDD -- for any bulk storage you may need.
Conclusion
In summary, HDDs and SSDs both have strengths and weaknesses, and each is best for certain scenarios; however, if you're in the market for an every-day laptop or desktop, I'd strongly recommend you consider an SSD-based system. If you use your computer for anything more than a weekly YouTube browsing, your increase in productivity will be well worth the extra cost of an SSD in my humble opinion. And if you have the luxury of choosing the components of your system individually, think about your storage needs and consider getting an SSD-HDD combo for the best price-to-performance ratio possible.
History of Hard Drives
First, let's start with a little background information. A Solid State Drive is a special type of hard drive (a nonvolatile digital memory storage device). Hard drives store your computer's data in a long-term manner so that your computer can access that information later, whether it be personal documents, programs, or important files that allow your PC to function. Your computer accesses this stored memory every time it turns on, and data is read from and written to the hard drive in a vast number of operations your computer performs. Therefore, the speed of a hard drive can have a major effect on the computer's performance as a whole.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/ |
There's a reason HDDs have dominated the market for so long -- HDDs can hold very large amounts of data for a relatively low cost. However, they have a fair number of limitations as well.
Because of their reliance on physically moving parts, HDDs have certain inherent speed barriers. While this might not have mattered so much when HDDs were initially introduced, computer processor power has increased over time to the point where the data transfer speed of HDDs can actually limit or bottleneck the computer system as a whole; in other words, the other components of the computer have improved so much that HDDs have become the weakest link. This is bad news! That means that even if you have a lightning-fast processor, a shiny new graphics card, and all the RAM you can handle, your computer can still be really slow because all those fast components are waiting on your slow-poke HDD to catch up!
Solid State Drives to the Rescue
(This is where our hero comes in to save the day.) The Solid State Drive (SSD), in contrast, has no moving parts but instead relies on a technology called flash memory. While SSDs date back well into the 20th century, their commercial success is much more recent. The modern SSD has become very attractive to the average consumer for a number of reasons:
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| http://pcworld.com/ |
- Much faster read and write speeds
- Much faster computer boot times
- No moving parts, so no noise or vibration
- More durable and not susceptible to damage from magnets
- Smaller form factor
"That's it! SDDs are the clear winner!" you say. Well, there's one major caveat that keeps HDDs in the fight: price. SSDs have fallen and continue to fall in price, but even so, an SSD is still considerably more expensive than an HDD of the same capacity. This means there's a choice to be made: do you want capacity or performance? If you can afford an SSD, then there's no contest; however, HDDs present a much better cost-to-capacity ratio for the value-oriented.
So what's the right answer? Do what's best for you. Many individuals and computer manufacturers alike have chosen a best-of-both-worlds compromise with an SSD as the main drive in the computer and a much larger HDD as a secondary drive. This way, they can boot their computer quickly and perform their most common operations at super high speeds while having the capacity for larger, less-frequently accessed files like photos and movies. However, this solution isn't available to everyone -- especially those with small laptops without much space for drives. In such a case, users generally either have a large, super-slow HDD or a fast SSD that has way too little storage space for their needs. What's the best choice there? My advice would be to purchase a laptop with the largest capacity SSD you can afford, then consider purchasing an external drive -- an HDD -- for any bulk storage you may need.
Conclusion
In summary, HDDs and SSDs both have strengths and weaknesses, and each is best for certain scenarios; however, if you're in the market for an every-day laptop or desktop, I'd strongly recommend you consider an SSD-based system. If you use your computer for anything more than a weekly YouTube browsing, your increase in productivity will be well worth the extra cost of an SSD in my humble opinion. And if you have the luxury of choosing the components of your system individually, think about your storage needs and consider getting an SSD-HDD combo for the best price-to-performance ratio possible.
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