Thursday, September 17, 2009

Solid State Drives Solve Drive Crashes



 Solid State Drives Solid state drives are the latest thing in technology these days. But did you know that the engineering behind these devices has been around for quite awhile and has only recently been commercialized? This innovation available today, ends the plague of hard drive crashes and ushers in a new era of reliable computing. This is especially true for laptops and notebooks and other forms of portable computing. This latest upgrade will now make them more durable and rugged.

This report focuses on what an SSD is and what benefits it contains for future generations of computer users.

What are solid state drives?

Solid state is a term referring to electronic circuitry that's entirely constructed out of semiconductors and was earlier only used to describe electronics that utilized semiconductors instead of vacuum tubes. An example would be the early electronic transistor radio receiver that made it possible to take your radio anywhere instead of having to stay at home listening to your old tube type radio.

These days, almost  all electronic devices are made-up of semiconductors and chips. Regarding SSD, this term refers to the physical reality that the chief data-storage medium comes from semiconductor technology instead of magnetic media such as hard drives containing rotating disks and many other complex moving parts.

SSD's are comparable to flash drives that plug into USB ports. Both flash drives and solid state drives use memory chips that are non-volatile which means that they retain stored data even without power. The form factor is the main difference between these two pieces of hardware. The flash drive is primarily designed to be an external device, while an SSD is designed to be installed internally in place of a traditional hard disk drive.

Outwardly, traditional hard drives and solid state drives look alike. This was done on purpose so that SSD's could fit anywhere a traditional hard drive resides. They can be fitted into any laptop or desktop just like any other common hard drive. They have the exact same dimensions and utilize the same ATA or SATA interface connections.

Major Benefits

There are three major benefits explaining why this kind of data drive is superior.

  1. Faster data access - Blindingly fast, you won't even see the Windows XP loading screen.

  2. Lower power consumption - Unlike regular hard drives, SSD's use less power making your laptop or notebook more energy efficient, which translates to longer battery life

  3. High Reliability - The lack of moving parts inside means there is little to no chance of a drive crashing due to shocks from dropping or jarring. Perfect for portable computing even in rugged environments

These reasons alone should be enough to convince anyone to make the switch to SSD technology as soon as possible.

Solid state drives will gradually take over the traditional hard drive as the drive of choice for computer buyers.

The Downside

Being new in the market place, they're a bit on the expensive and this makes them cost prohibitive right now. Like all new technologies, they will eventually become cheaper and cheaper. As more people buy them and manufacturers begin to produce more, prices will naturally fall. But for now, be prepared to lay out some serious cash.

If prices for solid state drives fall within the next few months, it's a sure bet that more people will definitely make the jump.