Computers have made our world reliant on the newest thing. In most cases, Intel or AMD have released new microprocessors. In recent years, however, computer performance is no longer limited by the microprocessor.
In spite of increases in hard drive memory capacity in recent years, access speeds have remained fairly constant. Basically, it’s a problem/issue fundamental to the technology. In order to increase speed, there has been little success in improving the hard drive.
In addition to conventional hard disk drives (HDD), there is a solid-state drive (SSD), you can read more in details on www.salvagedata.com/hard-drive-vs-solid-state-drive-pros-and-cons-of-using-each/. This is not a mechanical drive; it operates with flash memory, the same technology used for storing photographs on digital cameras. It wasn’t that long ago that SSD drives were a novelty.
SSDs are 4X smaller plus 4X lighter than hard drives and up to 50X faster than normal hard drives. SSDs consume less energy, produce less heat, and are more reliable, as there are no moving parts. As of now, you are able to purchase SSD drives with memory capacities up to 250GB. A disadvantage at present is the price.
Despite the fact that SSDs are more expensive than regular HDDs, they are still worth the investment. SSD drives cost about $2 per gigabyte currently, while HDD drives cost less than $1 per gigabyte. With manufacturing volumes predicted, the price difference between an SSD and an HDD should further decrease with time (SSD drives once sold for over $25 per gigabyte).
In conventional hard drives, each memory cell can only be written a limited number of times before it becomes unreadable (in flash memory it can be). Over the last few years, technology has undergone significant improvements. Furthermore, Intel created “load leveling”. The SSD memory cells are all subjected to the same workload thanks to this technique. Similar technologies are now used by most SSD manufacturers. SSDs should last an average user at least ten years.
Access speed is the primary driver of SSD’s future success. An HDD with a fast access time has an access time of about 5 milliseconds. Five milliseconds does not seem fast, especially when the microprocessor is capable of millions of instructions per second (MIPS). With SSDs, access times can be as fast as 50 times faster (100 microseconds).
In order to fully benefit from the speed capabilities of this SSD, the interface represents an important bottleneck. SSD drives are commonly connected via three types of interfaces.
As of now, conventional HDDs are generally connected using the SATA interface, but throughput, both send and receive, is limited to about 3 Gbps. SSDs may be unable to deal with this because it is too slow. Over 5 Gbps of throughput is possible with some SSD drives.
The Serial ATA 6-Gbps storage interface, also known as SATA Revision 3.0, has been released by Seagate Technology in conjunction with AMD. It’s a next-generation technology capable of twice as much throughput as the fastest SATA interface currently on the market. SSDs can also use this technology, which has been demonstrated for conventional hard drives.
The Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface is another option for interfaces. Up to four outlets can be simultaneously connected using SAS technology. Each channel in each direction can transmit up to 3 Gbps (6 Gbps per channel).
In a third alternative, a PCI Express interface can be utilized with the SSD. In PCI Express, there are only two data paths, one transmitting and receiving, each at 2.5 Gbps, resulting in a maximum throughput of 5 Gbps.
When the appropriate interface is selected, SSDs can provide maximum performance advantages.
