SSD Benefits and Advantages of Solid State Drives or SSDs
Solid-state drives are now all the rage with computer users and the new machines they are buying, but they do cost more over computers that still have conventional hard disk drives.
However they do have some major advantages that makes the extra cost worth paying for.
So what are the benefits and why should you buy one?
Most current solid state drives use either NAND Flash memory or alternatively SDRAM and of course they actually contain no moving parts whatsoever - perfect for notebooks and mobile computers (see Note 1 below for more information on this).
Soild state drives also consume less power and therefore do no give off as much heat and as a consequence they do not require fans to keep them cool, so this also makes them quieter too. Seems like the days of noisy Notebooks due to annoyng fans may soon be gone. Let's hope so!
Supporters of the new SSDs have been extremely pleased with the benefits and advantages of using a solid state drive instead of a conventional hard disk platter drive and the most important of these benefits are as follows:
MAIN ADVANTAGES
[1] Much faster startup times - so you have to wait less time for your data to become accessible
[2] Shorter seek times - so your computer actually gets to the data you want much quicker
[3] A lower power consumption - so you save on electric bills if you always leave your pc on standby and no more fan noise!
[4] Overall better durability - so if you bang or knock your computer while it is working it won't be damaged
[5] Small size - so they can be installed in very small computers such as Netbooks for the ultimate in mobile computing
Fast Drive Start Up and Short Data Seek Time
SSD drives have actually been used in some more specialized applications, such as for military systems and for optimizing bigger servers, for several years.
And now the larger computer manufacturers are also offering solid state drives in some of their top computers.
For example Apple now even offer a 64 gigabyte SSD option with their MacBook Air notebook computers (see Note 2 below for more information).
Low Power Consumption
However because this technology is new and not yet fully adopted by every notebook and netbook manufacturer you will find that solid state drives will currently cost somewhat more than your traditional platter-based computer hard drive
But as with any new computer based product costs will come down and then we will see solid-state drives become the dominant computer drive, probably in the very near future.
A More Durable Device and Smaller
If you shop around you will see that there is already more competition in the SSD market and prices are getting more competitive and if you want a great deal cheap SSD drives you should be good to go.
Solid state drives have many benefits and you should seriously consider getting one either as an external drive for your current personal computer or as an internal drive when you buy your next laptop, notebook or netbook etc, especially if you consider any of the benefits they provide important to you.
Notes:
1. The Flash memory used in solid state drives retains its data even after the power has been removed from the device. This enables SSD equipped personal computers, such as laptops and netbooks, to come on instantly with no start-up delay. Since SSDs do not require the usual start spin-up time delays and consequentially high battery usage to spin up the platter of today's standard hard disk drives they are perfect for laptops, netbooks, notebooks and other mobile computing applications.
2. An additional benefit of all solid state drives is that they can be manufactured in much thinner sizes than is normal for current hard disks. This means that they can be installed in notebooks that have very small form factors. For instance other small computers such as the popular XO computer that is being marketed as part of the One Laptop Per Child Program also uses solid state hard drives instead of traditional hard disks.
The real advantage of a solid state hard drive device is that is solves all of the major problems associated with today's current traditional platter based hard disk drives.
Because there are no moving parts in SSD drives the issues you currently find with excessive heat generation and drives that get damaged when moved or dropped even from just a small height are greatly reduced!
SSD Drives are here and they are here to stay - big time!
