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SSD Buying Guide
SSD (Solid State Drive) are enhanced version of your regular hard drives. Enhanced means a much better both in terms of hardware and performance. Unlike regular drivers we get a bit heavy models with spindle, disc and head inside it. Those all work at a prescribed rate to give you better data transfer ratio. There is certain condition to follow while using them. Like they can be affected due to shock or power failure. This makes this drives more responsible for data loss. Physical damage is easier than electric failure. SSD are designed to remove these barriers and give you awesome speed of data reading. SSD does not come with moving parts. They are fixed chips on board offers you high speed flash chips working on low power. The best example of a very small or portable version of ssd is an usb drive. It has a single flash chip inside it with minimal storage value. It works on low power and provides you easy data mobility. You can rely on the drive for small backup solution. Later on came to existence a much higher and cheaper solution called as movable drives. This movable drives offers you storage ability equal to the internal hard drives of a PC.
They work usb support and can or cannot consist of flash chips. It is important to ensure that the removable drive which you’re purchasing must offer you better data transfer ability. I had noticed that external drives with separate power supply support offers you a higher data transfer rate in comparison to those who depends on single source for power. Like usb outlet only. Just for testing purpose I had added an 80GB internal drive to enclosure. It was heavier to carry and bigger in size also. Opposite to it was a 250gb removable drive. I moved 4GB of data at a time. The transfer rate of compact removable drive was slower than the one which was fitted to enclosure. I had noticed many times my friends getting frustrated with slow transfer rate and on the contrary the specification showed a highest transfer rate that you can ever imagine. I do not really like to go in detail. What I assume when I am in a market is choose a good looks portable drive with the storage space I want. But many a time we ignore the hardware specs where transfer rate and hard drive lifecycle does matters. There are certain tips that you can be helpful for you in buying a SSD. Today they are costly.
But in the coming time due to advancement in technology you might get a cheaper solution for the same with better output. The condition to buy SSD is finding the right storage space. Today SSD comes with 256GB support. The much higher size you go for the most costly it becomes. A SSD is capable of offering you more than 600mb/s data transfer rate. You can enjoy awesome speed on it. SSD's are recommended for both pc and laptops. In my branded system you can find ssd as a support for raid partition where the data copy is stored. This gives more durability. SSD's today are choosing as a stronger option for data backup. SSD uses solid state memory which is small black chips. Most commonly called as flash chips. In comparison to traditional magnetic disc SSD offers you no moving part and greater read/write speed. So typically this is safer from physical shock. Because of absence of moving parts it become more stable. Upgrading to SSD in place of traditional drive can be a costly solution today. But it is possible to get an ssd in a laptop. If you are going to purchase a new laptop then you can customize the same and ask for SSD. That might add some to the cost. SSD consume low power. They work cooler and offer high speed. Today there are ample of models in the market which offer you SSD as per different specs. So you might be wondering which the right is for you. Consider that most of the solid-state drive uses NAND flash memory technology, on which we are about to say something about it. This particular technology allows a uniform distribution of the data.
Features:
- Performance - are significantly faster in accessing data
- Reliability - in fact it is less likely that failures occur
- Energy efficiency - net savings in power consumption than normal HDD
- Reduced access time - working in tenths of a millisecond, and you must keep in mind that the access time of magnetic disks is 50 times greater, attested as it is between 5 and 10 milliseconds
- More resistant to damage - according to some specific spread by the same manufacturer has arrived here to a shock resistance of 1500 g
- Longer life - Solid state drives have an average failure rate of less than those of the hard disk
How to Choose a SSD
It is very easy to choose a product or compare it if you know the advantage and disadvantage. The advantage/disadvantage allows you understand what is the good points and limitation of a product. This is applicable for every stuff. SSD comes with advantage and with some limitations also. So if you are confused whether to go for this or not then there are some points that can help you. I had mixed the advantage and disadvantage below on the base of some points. First thing which comes in mind while buying a SSD is that it is thin and easy to upgrade. But remember that SSD lack storage space. The traditional models which are available today are not upto the requirement. Upgrading or buying a SSD needs a much wiser choice. While in comparison to that the traditional are easier to choose.
Transfer Speed
Transfer Speed is the data speed when you move files between partitions or from one drive to another. The speeds differ in each condition. The speed which you are getting while transferring a file between partitions must be entirely different while moving a file among drives. So you need to ensure what you really want. SSD offers you a high transfer power. In a traditional drive there are disc and spindle and head. That means lots of moving part. When you transfer data between partitions the disc rotates a high speed. The speed is defined in RPM (Round Per Minute). For example a regular drive offers you 7200RPM. That means seventy two hundred rounds per minute. The higher it rotates the higher speed you get. But this heats the drives and consumes more power. On the contrary SSD does not have disc. They have flash chips. So it gives you faster speed on the lowest power consumed. SSDs are better always then traditional drivers. Another advantage is the search speed in SSD and traditional drives. When you search some file in your operating system the hard drive rpm define the result time. This is less than a 0.5 millisecond in SSDs. While 15 millisecond approx in traditional drives. This is best for gaming. So this can be counted under advantage.
Cost
Talking about the cost then this is the first disadvantage of this drives. In comparison to traditional drives you can buy a full fledge 500GB ram drive with 7200RMP under relative low cost. The price for a regular 32/64GB drive is four times higher. You are getting speed and durability but on the cost of high price and low storage. Manufacturers are trying to bring at a lower value. Also the price of SSD’s differs based on the memory module used inside it. Some SSD comes with faster memory modules while some comes with slower.
Moving Parts
There are not moving parts in SSD. That gives the distinct feature to it in comparison to other drives. So there are no chances of getting damaged because of head crash. Although that does not mean that the drives will work forever. They usually stops working due to failure of memory module used inside it. Another important feature of this is that SSDs are silent. For hard drives, this is variable, a disc is generally more powerful, noisier. For a system disk, a disk is preferred at 7200 rpm whereas secondary hard drive storage will opt for a hard 5400/5900 rpm. This speed affects the background noise of the hard drive, to which is added an additional noise when accessing the data itself.
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Re: SSD Buying Guide
Low Storage
It is right that there is no expected storage size available for SSD's. They are much lower and cannot fulfill data requirement. That is the reason SSDs are not largely opted for server works. You must ensure the minimum storage space you need for a SSD. They are commonly used among various notebooks. A better alternative is to go for SSD + traditional drive. SSD can be used for your important data backup only. Using a good SSD has a significant performance improvement over using a faster processor or more RAM. Also a good use of the SSD would be to couple it to another hard drive, either internal to a computer, be it a landline or mobile. In this way the first should be used for the files we access more commonly, such as those of the system of the OS, the second would be used as storage of all other programs and data.
Low Power Usage
SSD does not consume much power. That the reason they are recommended best for a Laptop or notebook. Because of low power consumption they give more stability to your system and there are rare chances or crash. It also gives better transfer ratio on lowest power usage. So netbook can get a hike in battery life if equipped with a SSD. SSDs are thinner and very portable.
SLC vs. MLC
Two types of NAND flash memory is available on USB flash drives: SLC and MLC. SLC flash memory (Single-Level Cell) with performance above the flash memory MLC (Multi-Level Cell). The high-performance USB flash products in Buffalo and its PDAs and digital video players, use this type of technology flash. The advantage of flash memory MLC (Multi-Level Cell) is its price, but it works more slowly. SLC flash memory allows access and faster write with control logic to a bit "easier" than that used by 2-bit MLC flash memory. Program operations of SLC chips last 100,000 cycles, ten times longer than MLC on. At first glance, SLC flash memories are more expensive than MLC. However, if one takes into account the reliability and longevity of higher SLC memory, the total cost of an SLC memory is lower.
SSD Drives
Below is the list of some of top SSD models available. You can try to read info on any of them below. Going for best SSD has a reason behind. This drives are tested and offer you better result. There are ample of benchmarking report on the web that offer you better perspective of performance.
Top SSD Drives
Toshiba 256GB SSD - $370 : With SATA II 3Gb / s, 2.5-inch SSD drive and 256GB of capacity, Toshiba 256GB SSD model is based on NAND flash memory MLC (Multi Level Cell) with a read speed of 120MB / s and a write speed of 70MB / s, the average of the devices in the same category. The measuring 70.6mm x 53.6mm SSD x 3.0mm and with only 3 mm thick, could entice producers who normally use conventional hard drives from 9.5 mm in laptops and ultraportable. Toshiba has also announced the launch of new systems designed to flash modules netbook, UMPC and MID. They too are based on MLC NAND flash memory, will come in capacities of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB model THNSA08G0P4L, THNSA16G1P4L, THNSA32G1P4L. The speed will be set to read 80MB / s 50MB / s in writing. The I / O performance of the Toshiba drive is dramatically low, as reflected in the fact that the drive does not improve I / O performance than a conventional 2.5 "hard drive.
Samsung 256GB MLC SSD - $299.99 - Samsung 256GB MLC SSD, with its 256 GByte, is more than sufficient for many uses, both in notebook systems, both for the desktop. There are two models here 64GB MLC SSD, 128GB MLC SSD, and as in the tested version as 256GB MLC SSD. The MLC NAND-based solid state disks are Samsung to a maximum sequential read rate of 220 mb/s. The write speed of MLC SSDs with high 200 mb/s estimated. Of course this ability, combined with the new SSD technology, offer you power efficiency are necessary, such as dedicated appliances and blade servers, to name a few. The unit under test is made of 2.5-inch form, therefore suitable for each type of task and is characterized by the design extremely linear conferred by the sealed chassis of metallic material. The SSD technology eliminates any moving mechanical parts, such as engine heads and plates, replacing them with flash memory modules for high performance.
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Re: SSD Buying Guide
Plextor M2S 128GB - This new range means M2S Series SSD storage devices internal 2.5-inch format designed around a memory controller Marvell 88SS9174. To storage capacities 64, 128 and 256 GB, these exploit connectivity SATA III 6 Gbit / s. The 64GB model announced and up to 110 MB / s write and up to 370 MB / s read and 128 GB to 210 MB / s write and up to 420 MB / s read. But the most interesting performances are promised by the 256 GB model that displays peaks at 330 MB / s write and 480 MB / s read. All devices are made in the 2.5-inch form factor. To maintain high performance uses third revision of the SATA interface, and cache memory 128 MB of DDR3. According to Plextor proprietary technology Instant Restore Technology minimizes the effects of lost productivity in the long run. Also implemented load balancing algorithms, supported by a team TRIM.
OCZ Vertex 3 240GB - $499.99 - OCZ Vertex is one of the best brand available. It uses second-generation SF-2281 SSD processor maintains all of the original core technology SandForce Originally Introduced in the SF-1200 series, now aim Improves SSD performance with 20% faster IOPS and 40% faster sequential read / write throughput. They have enhanced BCH ECC capability, and the new processor now supports SATA-7 Security Erase. Finally, the new SF-2200 series implements cost-effective 20nm-class NAND flash from all leading flash vendors with Asynch/ONFi1/ONFi2/Toggle interfaces. SSDs are approaching the home user, lowering prices, but we always find examples that make us wonder about its massive expansion in the future. For now, the most remarkable performance products are still almost a luxury, but luckily all that is changing incredible performance at 6 Gbps SATA interface is used almost entirely, or stay close to the limit.
OCZ Agility 3 240GB - $279.99 - OCZ, after formally abandoned the fluctuating memory market and have focused their interest only on the world of solid state drives, wants to repeat and consolidate the commercial success just over a year ago, when introduced, well ahead of the competition , the first SSD with SandForce controller. The partnership between OCZ and SandForce continues unabated, and this time, it involves the introduction of the third version of the Agility series of SSDs. This solution is built around the new controller SandForce SF -2281, NAND Flash uses asynchronous from 25 nm production Micron compliant ONFI 2.2, and is, of course, equipped with interface 6 Gbps. Memory chips are MLC NAND flash (16 units in total, eight per side, with a manufacturing process made by Micron 25nm), and obviously supports TRIM function, besides supporting RAID. There were no excessive differences between the specifications of the three models of Agility 3 (by capacity), at least beyond the IOPS, which are higher for the 240 GB model we discussed today.
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Re: SSD Buying Guide
Memoright 128GB SSD - $300 - $500 - The Memoright SSD MR25.2-032S is available in the capacity of 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128 GB. We received four 32-GB models, so we can test the capacity of these drives in RAID 0. The performance of Disk-32GB Memoright is amazing. The access time of 0.1 ms is similar to that of other flash drives, but the read speed of 115 MB / sec is a new record for SSDs. The great thing is that the write speed is scoring similar values. The SSD 32 GB has achieved, in our tests, a moderate value of 95 MB / sec read, but stopped reading at 75 MB / sec.
Intel X25-M 160GB - $440 - Intel X25-M 160GB offers a better increase in the performance. The adoption of 34 nanometers makes it possible to offer NAND Flash chips larger capacities. For this version of the 160 GB X25-M, we pass example 20 chips of 8GB but only 10 chips with a capacity of 16 GB! This will allow Intel to offer a 320 GB SSD by the end of the year. This SSD is MLC-based chips, but Intel is very proud to announce the read speeds of almost 250 MB / s! To achieve the giant Santa Clara has developed a 10-channel parallel architecture for managing NAND chips. Moreover, it is interesting to see how Intel is announcing the same consumption for both models (80 and 160 Gbytes), numbers in any case extremely small when compared with other mechanical models.
Intel 510 120GB - $285 - With its high performance X25-M, Intel has remained for so long at the forefront of the SSD market. Intel has had to react and the arrival of SATA 6.0 is the dream opportunity to give us a new little beast, the 510, we are testing today in its 120 GB variant, and send theoretically 450 MB / sec read and 210 MB / sec write. The new generation of SSD begins to arrive. The first of these was the Crucial C300, with its controller Marvell SATA 6.0 first generation. Intel is also present with his 510, a model available in 120 GB and 250 and that does just uses a Marvell controller, but this time the second generation. This allows the Intel SSD to pretend to more than 400 MB / sec read go for the model 120 and 500 MB / sec with 250 GB.
Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB - $499 - The SSD drives are slowly accepted by the customer, with the price, of course, should not be playing a major role. If you advance in his system on 2 hard drives divide and saves only the main programs and the operating system on the SSD, then reaches a 100 GB drive is sufficient. The Crucial RealSSD C300 is already there from 64 GB, which would be enough for such a use. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure to an SSD drive, which is determined not think twice. We chose a 256 GB version, as it was not neutered like the 64 GB model and 128 in the write rate. A highlight of the RealSSD C300 series is of course the SATA 6 GB supports, which improve performance somewhat, in Intel's drives to finally put the fear. Of course this is a board or additional SATA 3 controller needed the order to get the full performance.
Corsair 256GB - $399 - Offer you Corsair 256GB 85,000 IOPS and a read speed up to 555MB / s, Force Series GT is on another level. There is speed and speed. Force Series SSDs have more speed in reading and writing from the moment they are installed on the PC, using the latest technology with SATA 3 Interface 6Gb / s. This SSD features a whopping 200MB / s read speed and a 170MB / s write speed. That's A Serious Their increase over previous model, Which Offered up to 90MB / s read speed and a 70MB / s write speed. That's over double the performance speed.
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