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The Benefits Of A Solid State Hard Drive |
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Written by David Green
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Saturday, 21 June 2008 |
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Whereas a standard computer hard drive is made up of a spinning disk on which data is read and written, a solid state drive, in contrast, has no moving parts, and reads and writes data to and from memory chips. This article will touch upon the tpe of solid state hard drive which is based flash memory.
by DavidGreen
Whereas a standard computer hard drive is made up of a spinning disk on which data is read and written, a solid state drive, in contrast, has no moving parts, and reads and writes data to and from memory chips. This article will touch upon the tpe of solid state hard drive which is based flash memory.
Currently, most computers don't use SSD's (solid state hard drives), but these types of computers are starting to appear.
They are typically used in laptops which are intended for use in various extreme environments, but now are also starting to be used in some mainstream computers.
Conventional drives are based on a revolving disc, which, because of it's mechanical nature, could be more easily damaged than an SSD, and data corrupted or lost.
Why Choose Solid State Hard Drives?
* Quieter - Because there is no spinning platter, solid state hard drives don't make noise as regular hard drives do. This is great for anyone who is easily distracted by noise, while trying to work.
* More immunity from vibration and shock - When notebook computers are jostled and constantly moved, this is problematic for conventional hard drives. SSD's are less prone to this problem.
* Speed - For memory access which is not sequential, SSD's are generally faster than normal hard drives due to not having a moving read/write head which has to move to the required position. On the other hand, when substantial amounts of data are read sequentially, the two types are more evenly matched. Typically, computers with solid state drives can load applications faster and boot more quickly than regular hard drives.
* Less vulnerable to wide temperature variations - Computers generally operate best when they are in locations that fall within specific temperature bounds. When it gets too hot, computers are susceptible to overheating and can become inoperable. SSD's can keep working well even in more extreme temperature conditions.
* Lighter - Computers using solid state hard drives generally weigh less than computers with standard hard drives, and are thus less burdensome to carry around. This means the computer will run longer before the battery runs down.
Before you decide on a solid state hard drive, you should keep in mind that they are usually more expensive. The price difference per unit of memory is usually quite significant. However, as the technology improves, the cost of these devices is likely to keep dropping significantly.
One more thing to consider is the limited life of SSD's. Even if they are not vulnerable to the type of deterioration that can wear down a standard hard drive, they cannot be written to forever. As a result, just as hard drives with moving parts, they can finally wear out.
For many applications, a computer with a solid state hard drive is an ideal choice, especially as the cost is going down, and the size of the available memory is constantly going up.
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