10 January 2011
Solid-State Drives or SSD are the thing to watch out for in hard drive technology. Solid-State Drives are data storage media which use solid state memory, and are called solid states as they are built entirely from solid materials with the electrons and other charge carriers contained within one material.
Solid-State Drives are fast displacing mechanically rotating hard disk drives. This is because as data storage media, Solid-State Drives are sturdier, faster and generally more reliable than magnetic hard disk drives. The only drawback is the high cost. But, as history in technology has consistently shown, prices would drop considerably through the years.
Solid-state drives operate silently because they have no moving parts.
The traditional drives, the hard disk drives, are electromechanical devices which use spinning disks and movable read/write heads. Their mechanical parts are susceptible to damage even with minor shocks or bumps. In contrast, Solid-State Drives use microchips to store data and do not have any moving parts at all.
Solid-State Drives use either of three types of memory—NAND-based flash memory, random access memory (RAM) and a hybrid of both. NAND-based flash memory retains memory even without power. The RAM type has faster access but needs power to store and retain data. The hybrid type has features of the first two types. As of 2010, most solid-state drives use NAND-based flash memory.
The following features of Solid-State Drive make it the thing to beat in data storage:
Small Size and Weight
Solid-State Devices are especially suited to portable devices and other tiny gadgets because of their small size. With the ever-growing trend towards smaller devices, the future is bright for Solid-State Devices.
Greater Durability
Because solid-state drives have no moving mechanical parts as in mechanically rotating magnetic hard disk drives, they are less likely destroyed by falls, hits and bumps. As such, they are just what fall-prone laptops need. In fact, high-end laptop makers are now using solid-state drives and market them as more expensive but extremely durable laptop options.
Silent
Solid-state drives operate silently because they have no moving parts.
Faster Access Time
Solid-state drives have the ability to access data stored on them very quickly for the same reason that they have no moving or mechanical parts.
