Monday, November 21, 2011

A Comparison Of Solid State Drives And Hard Disk Drives

By Andrew Johnson


A new option for computer memory storage, a solid state drive, is beginning to look attractive when compared to conventional hard drives. But for many their high cost is an insurmountable barrier to ownership. SDDs are faster and draw less energy than HDDs, and they are less heavy, making them a natural choice for laptops and other small computing devices. Fortunately, thanks to recent technological advances, their lofty prices may be coming down dramatically.

When comparing hard disk drives and SSDs, the limiting factor has always a been the per gigabyte cost factor. The ubiquitous nature of HDDs has helped them to become the more cost-effective storage alternative. However, they are bigger, heavier, and a consume a large share of available power. SSDs eat up less of a laptops energy reserves, allowing for longer usage. The lighter weight contributes to making the devices they are installed in easier to carry.

SSDs on the pricey side but they still do not come close to the amount of memory storage hard disk drives can give. A big boost in speed and a small appetite for energy are their big advantages. SSD drives may use 33% less power than of hard drives. SSDs, regardless of their overhead, are being installed in more computers and digital devices due to their quickness. The more that are being used, the more their costs decrease.

Major technological improvement will soon be incorporated into flash memory drives using NAND. These advancements will lower costs and allow the drives to be installed an increasing number of digital devices. Current SSDs may also drop in price as the new memory cards come on the market.

SSDs now offer as much as one terabyte of high-performance data storage. Such high capacities are well-suited for users of digital video and still cameras that use flash memory. More pictures and video can be taken without having to switch out memory cards and they completely eliminate the need for tape in video cameras.

Manufacturers can use the new lighter and thinner drives to create smaller laptops and tablets that do not eat up a lot of power. SSDs that are engineered to be installed in laptops employ a size similar to current laptop hard drives. They connect through a SATA II interface, providing a comfortable replacement to HDDs. Larger computer SSDs have a larger size and may use PCIe cards to control flash memory.

Today, the positives of employing a solid state drive in computers and other digital devices are eclipsed by their prohibitive cost. Conventional drives still maintain a commanding lead in the storage wars but change is coming. Recent technological developments being made now may soon make lighter, faster, less energy-devouring SSDs a much more attractive option than they have been in the past.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment