What makes a solid state drive. Key figures of SSD

Where we analyzed what it is, how it works, etc. What we didn't say was that hard drives have actually outlived their growth potential in both volume and performance, and have been replaced by modern solid-state drives or SSDs. Although HDDs are still quite common, SSDs have also become quite popular, and are slowly pushing outdated technology from the market.

Since the topic is popular and relevant, in today's article we will deal with SSD: we will find out what it is, what features of their work, characteristics, in general - as usual. Let's start.

What is an SSD

SSD drive - a computer non-mechanical storage device consisting of memory chips and a microcontroller. It comes from the English Solid State Drive, which literally means solid state drive.

In this definition, every word has a meaning. A non-mechanical device means that there are no mechanical parts in it - nothing moves, buzzes or makes noise inside. As a result, nothing is worn out, nothing is worn out. Since SSD drives have replaced traditional mechanical drives, this property is very important. Old drives were afraid of vibration during operation, solid state drives were not.

Memory chips are used to store information. The controller on the disk allows you to receive data from memory cells and write to them, transferring data to a common computer interface, regardless of the specifics of the media memory. A giant flash drive - that's what an SSD drive is, it may seem at first glance, but only with a bunch of useless components.

What is an SSD for?

In any computer, an SSD is a replacement for a regular HDD. It works faster, has small dimensions and does not make sounds. The high speed of loading applications and the operating system increases the comfort of working with a PC.

What is an SSD in a laptop, where every watt of energy counts? Of course, first of all, it is a very economical storage medium. It is able to work with a battery charge longer. In addition, it has a very small size, which allows you to include an SSD in the most compact hardware configurations.

What is an SSD made of?

A small case in which a small printed circuit board is located is an externally SSD drive. Several memory chips and a controller are soldered onto this board. On one side of this box is a special connector - SATA, which allows you to connect an SSD drive like any other drive.

Memory chips are used to store information. This is not the one that is in every computer. The memory in an SSD drive is able to store information even after it is turned off. The memory of SSD drives is non-volatile. As with a conventional disk, data is stored on magnetic platters, here the data is stored in special microcircuits. Writing and reading data is an order of magnitude faster than when working with mechanical disk platters.

The controller on the disk is such a highly specialized one that can very effectively distribute data in microcircuits. It also performs some housekeeping operations to clean up disk memory and redistribute cells when they wear out. To work with memory, it is very important to perform service operations in a timely manner so that information is not lost.

Buffer memory, like on conventional disks, is used for caching data. This is fast RAM on an SSD drive. Data is first read into the buffer memory, modified in it, and then only written to disk.

How an SSD Drive Works

The principle of operation of an SSD drive is based on the specifics of the operation of memory cells. The most common type of memory now is NAND. Data processing is done in blocks, not bytes. Memory cells have a limited resource of rewriting cycles, that is, the more often data is written to disk, the faster it will fail.

Reading data is very fast. The controller determines the address of the block to be read and accesses the desired memory location. If several non-consecutive blocks are read in the SDD, then this does not affect performance in any way. It simply accesses another block at its address.

The process of writing data is more complicated and consists of a number of operations:

• reading a block into the cache;
• changing data in cache memory;
• development of the procedure for erasing a block on non-volatile memory;
• writing a block to flash memory at an address calculated by a special algorithm.

Writing a block requires multiple accesses to memory locations on the SSD. There is an additional operation to clean the block before recording. In order for the flash memory cells to wear out evenly, the controller uses a special algorithm to calculate the block numbers before writing.

The erase blocks (TRIM) operation is performed by SSD drives during idle time. This is done in order to reduce the time it takes to write a block to disk. When writing, the algorithm is optimized by removing the erasure step: the block is simply marked as free.

Operating systems execute the TRIM instruction on their own, which leads to the cleaning of such blocks.

Types of SSD drives

All SSD drives are divided into several types, depending on which interface they are connected to the computer.

• SATA - disks are connected to the computer via the same interface as conventional HDDs. They look like laptop drives and are 2.5 inches in size. The mSATA variant is more miniature;
• PCI Express - are connected like ordinary video cards or sound cards to the computer expansion slots on the motherboard. They have higher performance and, most often, are placed on servers or computing stations;
• M.2 - a miniature version of the PCI-Express interface.

Modern SSD drives use mostly NAND memory. According to its type, they can be divided into three groups that appeared chronologically: SLC, MLC, TLC. The newer the memory became, the lower the reliability of its cells became. At the same time, the capacity grew, which helped to reduce the cost. The reliability of the disk depends entirely on the operation of the controller.

Not all SSD manufacturers manufacture flash memory for their devices themselves. Their memory and controllers are produced by: Samsung, Toshiba, Intel, Hynix, SanDisk. Few users have heard of the Hynix SSD drive. The well-known flash drive manufacturer Kingston uses Toshiba's memory and controllers in its drives. Samsung itself is engaged in the development of technologies for the production of memory and controllers and completes their SSD drives with them.

SSD Specifications

We have almost dealt with SSD drives, it remains only to talk about the characteristics. So:

• Disk capacity . Usually this characteristic is indicated by a value that is not a multiple of a power of two. For example, not 256 GB, but 240. Or not 512 GB, but 480 GB. This is due to the fact that disk controllers reserve part of the flash memory to replace blocks that have exhausted their resource. For the user, such a substitution occurs imperceptibly and he does not lose data. If the disk size is 480 GB or 500 GB, then it is the flash memory on the disk that is 512 GB, just different controllers reserve different amounts of it.
• Disk speed . Almost all SSD drives have speeds: 450 - 550 Mb / s. This value corresponds to the maximum speeds of the SATA interface through which they are connected. It is SATA that is the reason why manufacturers do not try to massively increase the read speed. The write speed in applications is significantly lower. The manufacturer usually indicates in the specifications exactly the write speed on a blank medium.
• Number of memory chips . Performance directly depends on the number of memory chips: the more there are, the greater the number of operations that can be processed simultaneously on one disk. In one line of discs, the write speed usually increases with the size of the disc. This is explained by the fact that more capacious models have more memory chips.
• Memory type . More expensive and reliable MLC memory, less reliable and cheap TLC, as well as Samsung's own development - "3D-NAND". These three types of memory are now most commonly used in storage drives. In many ways, on modern solid-state drives, the reliability of operation depends on the quality of the controller.

conclusions

Despite their similarity to a giant flash drive, SSD drives carry a whole range of modern technologies, due to which they show a significant increase in performance without losing reliability. Working with a computer, after installing the system on such a disk, becomes much more comfortable.

In this article, I will try to explain to you what is an SSD disk, what is its difference from a conventional hard drive, I will tell you about its advantages and disadvantages, and you will also find out by what parameters (criteria) you should choose an SSD drive when buying.

This article today about SSD drives was not born by chance. It turned out that many readers do not know what it is.

So, after my description of the SSD life program, the vast majority of users rushed to check their regular hard drives with this utility, which caused confusion in the comments. There I promised to write in more detail about SSD drives - I'm doing it.

What is an SSD drive

In "dry language" the definition of an SSD disk is as follows: solid state drive(SSD , solid-state drive) - a computer non-mechanical storage device based on memory chips.

It is unlikely that you were imbued with this stingy definition. Now I’ll try to explain what an SSD disk is with a “wet tongue”, as they say - on the fingers.

I'll come from afar ... First you need to remember (or learn for the first time) what a regular computer hard drive is (it is also called a hard drive).

A hard disk drive (HDD) is that device in your computer that stores all data (programs, movies, pictures, music… the Windows operating system itself) and it looks like this…

Information on the hard drive is written (and read) by reversing the cells on magnetic plates that rotate at a wild speed. Above the plates (and between them) is worn, like a frightened, special carriage with a reading head.

The whole thing is buzzing and moving all the time. In addition, this is a very “thin” device and is afraid of even a simple swaying during its operation, not to mention falling to the floor, for example (reading heads will meet with rotating disks and hello to the information stored on the disk).

And now the solid state drive (SSD) enters the scene. This is the same information storage device, but based not on rotating magnetic disks, but on memory chips, as mentioned above. It's like a big flash drive.

Nothing spinning, moving and buzzing! Plus - just a crazy speed of writing / reading data!

On the left is the hard drive, on the right is the SSD.

It's time to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of SSD drives ...

Benefits of SSDs

1. Work speed

This is the fattest plus of these devices! By replacing your old hard drive with a flash drive, you will not recognize your computer!

Before the advent of SSD drives, the hard drive was the slowest device in a computer. It, with its ancient technology from the last century, incredibly slowed down the enthusiasm for a fast processor and nimble RAM.

2. Noise level=0 dB

Logically - there are no moving parts. In addition, these drives do not get hot during their operation, so the cooling coolers turn on less often and work less intensively (creating noise).

3. Shock and vibration resistance

I watched a video on the network - a connected and working SSD was shaken, dropped to the floor, knocked on it ... and it continued to work quietly! No comment.

4. Light weight

Not a huge plus, of course, but still - hard drives are heavier than their modern competitors.

5. Low power consumption

I'll skip the numbers - the battery life of my old laptop has increased by more than one hour.

Disadvantages of SSDs

1. High cost

This is at the same time the most deterrent for users, but it is also very temporary - the prices for such drives are constantly and rapidly falling.

2. Limited number of overwrite cycles

A typical, average SSD based on flash memory with MLC technology is capable of approximately 10,000 read / write cycles of information. But the more expensive type of SLC memory can already live 10 times longer (100,000 rewrite cycles).

As for me, in both cases, the flash drive can easily work out for at least 3 years! This is just the average life cycle of a home computer, after which there is a configuration update, replacement of components with more modern, faster and cheaper ones.

Progress does not stand still and tadpoles from manufacturing companies have already come up with new technologies that significantly increase the lifetime of SSD drives. For example, RAM SSD or FRAM technology, where the resource, although limited, is practically unattainable in real life (up to 40 years in continuous read / write mode).

3. The impossibility of recovering deleted information

Deleted information from an SSD drive cannot be recovered by any special utility. Such programs simply do not exist.

If, with a large power surge in a regular hard drive, only the controller burns out in 80% of cases, then in SSD drives this controller is located on the board itself, along with memory chips, and the entire drive burns out - hello family photo album.

This danger is practically reduced to zero in laptops and when using an uninterruptible power supply.

Bus bandwidth

Remember, I advised you how to choose flash drive? So, when choosing a flash drive, the speed of reading / writing data is also of paramount importance. The higher this speed, the better. But you should also remember about the bus bandwidth of your computer, or rather, the motherboard.

If your laptop or desktop computer is very old, there is no point in buying an expensive and fast SSD drive. He just won't be able to work even at half his capacity.

To make it clearer, I will announce the bandwidth of various buses (data transfer interface):

IDE (PATA) - 1000 Mbps. This is a very ancient interface for connecting devices to the motherboard. To connect an SSD drive to such a bus, you need a special adapter. The meaning of using the described disks in this case is absolute zero.

SATA - 1500 Mbps. More fun, but not too much.

SATA2 - 3000 Mbps. The most common tire at the moment. With such a bus, for example, my drive works at half its capacity. He needs...

SATA3 - 6000 Mbps. This is a completely different matter! This is where the SSD drive will show itself in all its glory.

So, before buying, find out what kind of bus you have on the motherboard, as well as which one the drive itself supports, and make a decision on the appropriateness of the purchase.

Here, for example, how I chose (and what guided me) my HyperX 3K 120 GB. The read speed is 555 MB / s, and the data write speed is 510 MB / s. This drive in my laptop now works at exactly half its capabilities (SATA2), but exactly twice as fast as a regular hard drive.

Over time, he will migrate to the children's gaming computer, where there is SATA3, and he will demonstrate there all his power and all the speed of work without limiting factors (outdated, slow data transfer interfaces).

We conclude: if you have a SATA2 bus in your computer and you do not plan to use the disk in another (more powerful and modern) computer, buy a disk with a bandwidth of no more than 300 MB / s, which will be significantly cheaper and at the same time twice as fast as yours. current hard drive.

Form factor

Also pay attention when choosing and buying a flash drive on the form factor (size and dimensions). It can be 3.5 ″ (inches) - larger and slightly cheaper, but it won’t fit into a laptop, or 2.5 ″ - smaller and fit in any laptop (for desktop computers, they are usually equipped with special adapters).

Thus, it is more practical to buy a drive in the 2.5″ form factor - and you can install it anywhere and sell (if anything) easier. And it takes up less space in the system unit, which improves the cooling of the entire computer.

IOPS

An important factor is IOPS (the number of input / output operations per second), the higher this indicator, the faster the drive will work with a large amount of files.

memory chip

Memory chips are divided into two main types MLC and SLC. The cost of SLC chips is much higher and the service life is on average 10 times longer than that of MLC memory chips, but with proper operation, the service life of drives based on MLC memory chips is at least 3 years.

Controller

This is the most important part of SSD drives. The controller manages the operation of the entire drive, distributes data, monitors the wear of memory cells and evenly distributes the load. I recommend giving preference to time-tested and well-proven controllers from SandForce, Intel, Indilinx, Marvell.

SSD memory capacity

It will be most practical to use an SSD only to host the operating system, and it is better to store all data (movies, music, etc.) on a second hard drive. With this option, it is enough to buy a disk with a size of ~ 60 GB. Thus, you can save a lot and get the same acceleration of your computer (in addition, the life of the drive will increase).

Again, I will give my solution as an example - special containers for hard drives are sold on the network (very inexpensively), which are inserted into a laptop in 2 minutes instead of an optical CD drive (which I used a couple of times in four years). Here's a great solution for you - the old disk is in place of the drive, and the brand new SSD is in place of the standard hard drive. It couldn't have been better.

And finally, a couple of interesting facts:

Why is a hard drive often called a hard drive? Back in the early 1960s, IBM released one of the first hard drives and the number of this development was 30 - 30, which coincided with the designation of the popular rifled weapon Winchester (Winchester), so such a slang name has taken root to all hard drives.

I only review programs! Any claims - to their manufacturers!

Good afternoon dear readers of my blog site! Today I will tell you all about solid-state SSD drives, which I myself use with pleasure and recommend this miracle of modern technology to you! Over the years, it has become customary that all information on a portable computer is stored on the HDD - hard disk drive. Winchester seems very reliable, roomy, downright eternal. But now the solid state drive is becoming more common - a hard drive ssd based on memory chips.

What is a solid state drive?

Not everyone knows what kind of beast it is, and why many developers, system administrators and just advanced users sing praises to a small device.

Such drives are based on two types of memory:

• flush;
• kind of operational.

Inside the ssd drive there is a controller for control, the device has no moving parts. Some say that this is like a big flash drive, which is not far from the truth.

The small size allows the use of devices in compact devices: laptops, netbooks, smartphones, tablets.

How does storage work?

When compared with something SSD hard drive, you can bring the way the hard drive works. He first calculates where the desired sector with information is located, then moves the moving block of magnetic heads to the track. Like a hunter patiently waiting of course, the speeds are high, but the expectation is noticeable), when the desired sector falls into place above the magnetic head. Finally, the HDD will read and output the information. The more chaotic requests ( with a difference per second, request files from sectors of disk D, and immediately decide to read system data from C), the slower the “broom” works. The heads are constantly “rushing” around the areas of the disk, which slows down the work.

But an SSD for a laptop works on a different principle: this “real estate” simply calculates the address of the desired block with information (it is unique and recognizable), gets access directly for reading or writing. No movement of parts of the drive relative to each other. The faster the speed of the flash memory, controller and external interface, the faster the data will be on the desktop. And the computer is much quieter and 10 times faster. Everyone has probably heard an annoying sound when the computer is working hard, like someone is moving stones in search of the right information? This is the HDD, and since the solid state device has nothing to move, everything happens quietly, like a spy.

But if you need to change something in the data or completely delete it, SSD does not work so easily. NAND chips are designed to perform operations strictly on sectors. Flash memory is written in blocks of 4 kilobytes, and erased in blocks of 512 kilobytes.

Because the device has to do the following work:

• The block containing the area to be modified is read. Transfers it to the internal clipboard;
• Changes the required bytes, erases the block in the memory chip;
• Determines the new position of the block (obligatory compliance with the mixing algorithm);
• Hooray - the block is written to a new location, and the SSD hard drive goes to "rest".
• Advantages and disadvantages of an SSD drive

Naturally, such devices have both pluses and minuses. Let's start, of course, with the pleasant:

• high speed of reading a data block, which does not depend on where it is physically located. This is as much as 200 Mb / s or more;
• low power consumption, about 1 watt lower than HDD;
• low heat dissipation, even Intel confirmed this. Studies have shown that an SSD hard drive heats up 12 degrees less than usual. Still, throwing magnetic heads is a rather intense mechanical action;
• benchmarking revealed that a 1 GB solid state drive is able to work just as efficiently, not inferior to models with a 4 gigabyte HDD;
• work very quietly, rarely break;
• when optimized, they are perfectly combined with Windows XP / 7.

The cons are the following:

• power consumption increases greatly with an increase in the volume of the drive, when writing entire blocks of information;
• low capacity at a high price. This is when compared with HDD;
• the number of write cycles is limited.

As they say, think for yourself, decide for yourself what is better - hdd or ssd. Most devices are already equipped with solid-state devices, so it is undesirable to disassemble them. But sometimes the hard drive can be replaced. The question is, what exactly is important: the absence of noise, energy consumption or the speed of the computer?

My personal experience with an SSD drive

About a year ago I bought a 60 GB OCZ Vertex SSD with a speed of 430MB / s, put only the system on it, and made a regular HDD as a storage for various information. I strongly advise everyone to do the same, because the performance of my computer based on the i3 processor has increased not by 2 or 3 times, but by about 10 times! Of course, for high-quality operation of the system on an SSD drive, you must first configure the system itself (if you have Windows XP, remove it and forget it, but install Windows 7 or 8). How to do this I will tell further.

Tuning, optimizing SSD for Windows 7/8

What settings are we talking about and why do they need to be done? - I answer: If you do not make these settings, then your drive will fail in 1-2, since, unlike a regular HDD, it has a limited number of write cycles (about 10,000 thousand), this is the main disadvantage today, but with the right using it will work for you 4-5 years! I've had it for 2 years now and it's great!

Tip: Don't listen to those who tell you to find a new firmware for your solid state and update it! It works great from the factory. You only need to set up the system!

Let's start setting up:

Step 1.

After you have connected the drive and are going to install the system on it, do 2 important steps:

• Disable other hard drives to avoid problems installing the system, I had a case when I installed the system and my system boot partition was created on a regular HDD and I puzzled over why the system still boots as if nothing had changed!
• And secondly, go into the BIOS and set the AHCI mode to the connector where the solid state is connected, if your motherboard was purchased after 2011-2012, most likely this mode will be set automatically for you.

Step 2

When you mark up the disk, leave 10-15% of the total disk volume untouched, over time the disk wears out and takes clusters from this unallocated space.

Now let's optimize:

Step 1.

You need to disable the system cache Prefetch and Superfetch. They are not needed when running an SSD drive. In most cases, Prefetch is disabled automatically by the system, but I recommend checking it out:

Open the registry editor(Press Windows key + R and type in Run: regedit)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> PrefetchParameters

Set - EnablePrefetcher = dword: 00000000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> PrefetchParameters

Install -EnableSuperfetch=dword:0000000

Step 2

Disable automatic file defragmentation. We do not need it, it only reduces the resource of the SSD drive. ( Only forWindows 7, inWindows 8 does not have this function, it is already used for other functions, and Windows 8 already works fine withSSD without any optimizations)

Click Start >> in the search field, enter - Defragmentation. Click on the "Set up schedule" button and uncheck the "Run on schedule" checkbox.

Step 3

Perhaps you have a 64-bit operating system and more than 8 GB of RAM, then I recommend disabling the paging file. We go:

Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced -> Performance Options -> Advanced -> Virtual Memory -> Change. Install - No paging file

Step 4

You need to change the Memory Management parameter:

Go to Registry Editor Start >> Run >> regedit

And the second way to open the registry, press the key combination Windows + R and write Regedit in the execute

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management

Install -DisablePagingExecutive=dword:00000001

Step 5

In the SSD optimization process, you can also enable disabling NTFS file system journaling

Again, go to Start > in the search bar, enter > > click on the program icon with the RIGHT mouse button and select > Run as administrator.

In the command prompt window, type: fsutil usn deletejournal /D C:

Step 6

While using an SSD drive will make your computer boot very quickly, you need to turn off sleep mode.

In the already open command prompt window, enter: powercfg -h off and press ENTER.

Also turn off indexing of the solid body:

Again > Start >> Computer >> click on the system drive ( usually the system drive letter isC) right click and select properties, then uncheck the option "Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to file properties"

Step 7

Go to Computer >> (right click) Properties >> Advanced System Settings >> Advanced >> Environment Variables.

Let's enter a new address for the TEMP and TMP environment variables, placing them on the second hard drive.

Step 8

And finally, the last step of optimizing the SSD, we will transfer the user folders (Video, Music, Documents, Downloads) to the HDD hard drive.

We create a folder on the hard HDD in advance, now it will contain the user's libraries.

We right-click on all the folders whose location we want to change. On the Location tab >> click the "Move" button, then transfer to the HDD in the newly created folder.

That's all, now I think you understand that there is nothing difficult to configure, optimize, SSD under any Windows, be it 7 or 8.

Good afternoon. Computer users have long been accustomed to referring to internal hard drives as HDDs. But, not so long ago, SSD hard drives began to appear on the markets. Many people have a bad idea, but what is it, an SSD drive? Is there a need to replace them with a regular HDD? Are these SSDs really as good as users make them out to be?

What is an SSD drive

An SSD is, as I said, a solid state drive. This drive uses NAND memory. What is interesting about this memory is that it does not require electricity to store information. I can say in a language more understandable to you, this disk can be compared with a decent-sized flash card. In fact, this is a flash drive.

I already wrote about a flash card for 1 TB, and for 2 TB. The technology is very similar. The only difference is that for 1 and 2 TB flash drives, which I wrote about, these are just flash cards. And an SSD is a hard drive and it has a very decent speed of writing and reading data.

The difference between SSD and HDD and their features

In order for us to be able to identify these differences between solid state drives and drives with spinning mechanisms, let's touch on the theory and operation of these drives.

HDD is a series of round metal plates that rotate on a spindle. Data is written on the surface of the plates with a special small head. If a person starts copying any information to the disk, or simply starts the software, the disk head starts moving to find the place where the information the person needs is located.

Most of all, it resembles the usual records of the Soviet era, which the inhabitants of our country loved so much. But, instead of a needle in this design, there is a head for reading data.

Advantages of SSD over HDD

1. The SSD drive does not have a single part that moves.
2. Based on the first point, the hard drive does not heat up, unlike the HDD, which heats up very much when a complex program or game is running.
3. Since the disk does not move, it works silently. Also, noiselessness is obtained due to a small cooler, which does not have to cool the disk.
4. Due to the absence of moving parts, low power consumption is obtained, about half as much.
5. The most obvious thing is that such a disk very quickly responds to human action. That is, if you install Windows on such a disk, the computer will start very quickly.

I have presented to you the main advantages of SSD drives, which you can check for yourself. But interestingly, people are still asking questions like this and comparing the merits of these Hard Drives:

• Because there are no moving parts, SSDs run silently and have a much longer lifespan. Ordinary drives break most often due to external damage - solid-state drives do not have this problem.
• The temperature of the solid state drive is constantly at the required level, regardless of whether the cooler cools it or not. A moving drive without a fan can overheat. Overheating can lead to malfunctions in the program or its mechanical part.

Disadvantages of SSD drives

The main disadvantage of a solid state drive is its price. It continues to be decent and has a direct relationship with its volume. The second disadvantage of such a disk is a smaller number of write/delete cycles. A movable hard drive can be overwritten and turned on / off a lot of times. Solid state has limitations in this sense. However, these restrictions in records are difficult to achieve in practice.

As a rule, the SSD warranty period is in the region of three to five years. But, in ordinary life, such disks work much longer. Hence, do not worry too much on this issue.

The most interesting thing is that there is a hybrid in which part of the solid state drive is involved, and there are moving elements. It's called a hybrid SSHD. Manufacturers in SSHD drive tried to combine the advantages of these two drives. But, the high speed of work is noticed only during the boot of the computer. The output of information and recording in this model is approximately the same as that of a conventional HDD. Hence, hybrid models are not particularly popular with people.

How to choose the right SSD drive

Let's say you came to the conclusion that you need to replace an obsolete hard drive and purchase an SSD drive. It became clear to you why it is more profitable to take an SSD. But, there is another question, namely, which of the SSD drives is better to choose in this case?

When you go to computer stores, you see drives that have different controllers, form factors, prices. With all this diversity it is difficult to choose a worthy one. Therefore, to make it easier for you to choose among such drives, I will give the parameters by which it is worth buying an SSD.

Disk speed

Every hard drive, including a solid state drive, has two types of speed: reading information and writing. The greater these speeds, the greater the benefits. But, it is worth remembering that in the descriptions of the railway, max speed is most often written.

SSD disk capacity

I have already said that the main disadvantage of solid state drives is its cost. As a rule, it depends on the volume of the disk. The minimum size for today is 60 GB. In modern realities, Windows 10 with all its updates may require 80, 90, 100 GB. Therefore, such a volume may not even be enough for the system.

But, if you like to play games and are into graphics programs like Photoshop, you need to look into disks with >120 GB capacity.

Controller and Memory

There are 3 memory variations that differ from each other in the number of bits in a memory cell - 1 bit (SLC), 2 bits (MLC), 3 bits (TLC). Option 1 is outdated and is no longer used. From here, if you notice a similar option in the descriptions of the disc, immediately pass by.

MLC is currently more common than others. We will choose him. Although, it also has its downsides. But, at the moment, there is no replacement for him, because. TLC is just beginning to be introduced on store shelves and its price is appropriate.

The problem is the same for controllers. The most common (popular) technology at the moment is SandForce, which increases the speed of the drive by compressing information before the user writes it.

But, it also has a drawback: when the disk is almost completely filled with data, then, having cleared this disk, the recording speed will no longer return to its previous pace. In other words, now it will be lower. To solve this problem, you need to remember one simple thing: do not fill the disk with data to the eyeballs. In this case, after deleting the data, the speed will be OK.

Of course, there are other, expensive controllers with Indilinx, Intel, Marvell technologies. Analyze your finances, and if they allow, look at SSDs that have controllers from these manufacturers.

Form Factors and Design

Most of the solid-state drives that exist now are made in the 2.5 form factor, which support the SATA 3 design. But, in addition to these, other, more expensive options are possible:

1. SSD external,
2. PCI card that fits directly into the motherboard slot
3. Drive, with mSATA design, which is installed in small PCs and laptops.

If we consider the design, then, all new SSDs have a SATA 3 interface, but when the motherboard has an old generation controller (I - th, or II - th), then the hard drive, despite this, can be connected. But, there is a limitation. The data rate will be like the old generation controller. In other words, when connecting SATA 3 to SATA 2, the speed data will be SATA 2.

If the 3.5-inch form factor is important for a PC, then if you want to install a 2.5-inch SSD, you will need an adapter device called "Sled". This adapter is like a small shelf that needs to be hung where you are going to mount the drive.

Note: using special The adapter has the ability to install an SSD in place of a laptop DVD. Some users remove the little-used drive now and install an SSD drive in its place. On a new drive downstairs, people install Windows. At the same time, the laptop's native hard drive is formatted and used to store personal information.

Which SSD company to choose

This issue requires close attention. Of course, in many forums you will find posts about what is the best Silicon Power, others will say Kingston. These companies produce discs of various types.

But it is not so. In reality, there are not many manufacturers that actually produce NAND flash memory, unlike brands.

You can also select companies: Samsung, Crucial, SanDisk.

How to work with an SSD drive

If you have successfully purchased and installed an SSD drive, you will start the system and be pleasantly surprised by the speed of all programs and applications. Also, the system will start very quickly. In order for your computer to continue to work so quickly, remember the requirements for operating SSD drives.

1. Do not fill the drive to the brim, to the eyeballs, otherwise, as I said, the data writing speed will decrease and, the saddest thing, it will not be able to recover. This is especially true for SandForce.
2. Operating systems that support TRIM are: Widows 7, 8.1, 10, Linux 2.6.33, Mac OS X 10.6.6.
3. It is worth storing personal information on HDDs. You should not quickly get rid of such a disk if it is in excellent condition. Insert two discs, and record video, audio, photos, and other information on the HDD that does not need high speed.
4. It is advisable to increase the capacity of the operational card and, if possible, do not use the swap file.

By following these recommendations, you have a chance to extend the life of your SSD without damaging it or slowing it down. You can buy it on Aliexpress. Disks on the page from 120 to 960 GB, i.e., actually 1TB. You can buy from the link.... Judging by the description, the disc is suitable for both Computers and (laptops).

From the screenshot you can see the volumes of the disks. If you need to install the system exactly, it is enough to purchase a disk with a capacity of 120 GB. If, however, as a full-fledged hard drive, then, at your discretion, from 480 to 960 GB. Why do I recommend installing Windows on a solid state hard drive? Your system will boot in seconds! If you purchase a 1TB disk, all your programs will fly!

In general, you can choose the one you like SSD drive on page...

A hard drive is needed to install the operating system, programs and store various user files (documents, photos, music, movies, etc.).

Hard drives differ in size, which determines the amount of data it can store, speed, which determines the performance of the entire computer, and reliability, which depends on its manufacturer.

Ordinary hard disk drives (HDD) are large in size, not high in speed, and are not expensive. Solid State Drives (SSDs) are the fastest, but they are smaller and much more expensive. An intermediate option between them are hybrid drives (SSHD), which have sufficient capacity, are faster than conventional HDDs and cost a little more.

Western Digital (WD) hard drives are considered the most reliable. The best SSD drives are produced by: Samsung, Intel, Crucial, SanDisk, Plextor. As more budget options, you can consider: A-DATA, Corsair, GoodRAM, WD, HyperX, since there are the least problems with them. And hybrid drives (SSHD) are produced mainly by Seagate.

For an office computer that is used primarily for working with documents and the Internet, a regular hard drive from the inexpensive WD Blue series with a capacity of up to 500 GB is enough. But 1 TB disks are optimal for today, since they are not much more expensive.

For a multimedia computer (video, simple games), it is better to use a 1 TB WD Blue drive as an additional one for storing files, and install a 120-128 GB SSD as the main one, which will significantly speed up the system and programs.

For a gaming computer, it is advisable to take an SSD with a capacity of 240-256 GB, it will be possible to install several games on it.
A-Data Ultimate SU650 240GB Hard Drive

For a more economical option for a multimedia or gaming PC, you can purchase one 1TB Seagate Hybrid Drive (SSHD), which is not as fast as an SSD, but still somewhat faster than a regular HDD.
Seagate FireCuda ST1000DX002 1TB Hard Drive

Well, for a powerful professional PC, in addition to an SSD (120-512 GB), you can take a fast and reliable WD Black hard drive of the required volume (1-4 GB).

I also recommend purchasing a high-quality external drive Transcend with a USB 3.0 interface for 1-2 TB for the system and important files for you (documents, photos, videos, projects).
Hard Drive Transcend StoreJet 25M3 1TB

2. Disk types

Modern computers use both classic magnetic platter hard drives (HDDs) and faster solid-state drives based on memory chips (SSDs). There are also hybrid drives (SSHD), which are a symbiosis of HDD and SSD.

The hard disk drive (HDD) has a large capacity (1000-8000 GB), but low speed (120-140 MB/s). It can be used for both system installation and user file storage, which is the most economical option.

Solid state drives (SSDs) are relatively small (120-960 GB) but very fast (450-550 MB/s). They are much more expensive and are used to install the operating system and some programs to increase the speed of the computer.

A hybrid drive (SSHD) is simply a hard drive that has a small amount of faster memory added to it. For example, it might look like 1TB HDD + 8GB SSD.

3. Application of HDD, SSD and SSHD drives

For an office computer (documents, Internet), it is enough to install one regular hard disk drive (HDD).

For a multimedia computer (movies, simple games), in addition to the HDD, you can put a small SSD drive, which will make the system much faster and more responsive. As a compromise between speed and volume, we can consider installing one SSHD disk, which will be much cheaper.

For a powerful gaming or professional computer, the best option is to install two drives - an SSD for the operating system, programs, games and a regular hard drive for storing user files.

4. Physical dimensions of disks

Hard drives for desktop computers are 3.5 inches in size.

Solid state drives are 2.5 inches in size, just like laptop hard drives.

An SSD drive is installed in a regular computer using a special mount in the case or an additional adapter.

Do not forget to purchase it if it is not included with the drive and your case does not have special mounts for 2.5″ drives.

5. Hard Drive Connectors

All hard drives have an interface connector and a power connector.

5.1. interface connector

An interface connector is called a connector for connecting a disk to a motherboard using a special cable (loop).

Modern hard drives (HDDs) have a SATA3 connector that is fully compatible with older versions of SATA2 and SATA1. If your motherboard has old connectors, don't worry, a new hard drive can be connected to them and it will work.

But for an SSD drive, it is desirable that the motherboard has SATA3 connectors. If your motherboard has SATA2 connectors, then the SSD drive will work at half its speed (about 280 Mb / s), which, however, is still much faster than a regular HDD.

5.2. Power connector

Modern hard drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) have the same 15-pin SATA power connectors. If the disk is installed in a desktop computer, its power supply must have such a connector. If not, then you can use a Molex-SATA power adapter.

6. Volumes of hard drives

For each type of hard disk, depending on its purpose, the amount of data that it can hold will be different.

6.1. Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Capacity for Computer

For a computer designed for typing and accessing the Internet, the smallest of modern hard drives is enough - 320-500 GB.

For a multimedia computer (video, music, photos, simple games) it is desirable to have a hard drive with a capacity of 1000 GB (1 TB).

A powerful gaming or professional computer may require a 2-4 TB drive (according to your needs).

Please note that the computer motherboard must support UEFI, otherwise the operating system will not see the entire disk capacity of more than 2 TB.

If you want to increase the speed of the system, but are not ready to spend money on an additional SSD drive, then as an alternative, you can consider purchasing a hybrid SSHD drive with a capacity of 1-2 TB.

6.2. Hard disk (HDD) capacity for a laptop

If the laptop is used as an addition to the main computer, then a 320-500 GB hard drive will be enough for it. If the laptop is used as the main computer, then it may require a 750-1000 GB hard drive (depending on the use of the laptop).
Hard Drive Hitachi Travelstar Z5K500 HTS545050A7E680 500GB

You can also install an SSD drive in the laptop, which will significantly increase its speed and system responsiveness, or an SSHD hybrid drive, which is slightly faster than a conventional HDD.
Seagate Laptop SSHD ST500LM021 500GB Hard Drive

It is important to consider what thickness of disks your laptop supports. Discs with a thickness of 7 mm will fit into any model, and 9 mm thick may not fit everywhere, although there are not many of these already produced.

6.3. Solid state drive (SSD) capacity

Since SSDs are not used for data storage, when determining their required capacity, you need to proceed from how much space the operating system installed on it will take up and whether you will install any other large programs and games on it.

Modern operating systems (Windows 7,8,10) require about 40 GB of space for their work and grow with updates. In addition, at least the main programs must be installed on the SSD, otherwise there will not be much sense from it. Well, for normal operation, the SSD should always have 15-30% free space.

For a multimedia computer (movies, simple games), the best option would be a 120-128 GB SSD, which will allow you to install several simple games on it in addition to the system and basic programs. Since the SSD is required not only to quickly open folders, it is rational to install the most powerful programs and games on it, which will speed up the speed of their work.

Heavy modern games take up a huge amount of space. Therefore, a powerful gaming computer requires a 240-512 GB SSD, depending on your budget.

For professional tasks such as editing high-quality video, or installing a dozen modern games, you need a 480-1024 GB SSD, again depending on the budget.

6.4. Data backup

When choosing a disk size, it is also desirable to take into account the need to create a backup copy of user files (video, photos, etc.) that will be stored on it. Otherwise, you risk losing everything that you have accumulated over the years in one moment. Therefore, it is often more expedient to purchase not one huge disk, but two smaller disks - one for work, the other (possibly external) for backing up files.

7. Basic parameters of disks

The main parameters of disks, which are often indicated in price lists, include the frequency of rotation of the spindle and the size of the memory buffer.

7.1. Spindle speed

The spindle has hard and hybrid disks based on magnetic platters (HDD, SSHD). Since SSDs are based on memory chips, they do not have a spindle. The speed of the hard drive spindle depends on the speed of its operation.

The hard drive spindle for desktop computers generally has a rotation speed of 7200 rpm. Sometimes there are models with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm, which are slower.

Laptop hard drives generally have a 5400 RPM spindle speed, which allows them to run quieter, run cooler, and consume less power.

7.2. Memory Buffer Size

A buffer is a hard drive cache based on memory chips. This buffer is designed to speed up the hard drive, but has a small impact (on the order of 5-10%).

Modern hard drives (HDD) have a buffer size of 32-128 MB. In principle, 32 MB is enough, but if the price difference is not significant, then you can take a hard drive with a larger buffer size. Optimally for today 64 MB.

8. Speed ​​characteristics of disks

Speed ​​characteristics common to HDD, SSHD and SSD drives include linear read/write speed and random access time.

8.1. Linear Reading Speed

Linear reading speed is the main parameter for any disk and dramatically affects the speed of its operation.

For modern hard drives and hybrid drives (HDD, SSHD), an average read speed of closer to 150 Mb/s is a good value. You should not buy hard drives with a speed of 100 Mb / s or less.

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are much faster and their read speed, depending on the model, is 160-560 MB/s. Optimal in terms of price / speed ratio are SSD drives with a read speed of 450-500 Mb / s.

As for downloading HDDs, sellers in their price lists usually do not indicate their speed parameters, but only the volume. Later in this article I will tell you how to find out these characteristics. With SSD drives, everything is easier, since their speed characteristics are always indicated in the price lists.

8.2. Linear write speed

This is a secondary parameter after the reading speed, which is usually indicated with it in pairs. For hard and hybrid drives (HDD, SSHD), the write speed is usually slightly lower than the read speed and is not considered when choosing a disk, since they are mainly guided by the read speed.

SSDs can have write speeds that are less than or equal to read speeds. In the price lists, these parameters are indicated through a slash (for example, 510/430), where a larger number means the read speed, a smaller one means the write speed.

For good fast SSDs, it is about 550/550 MB / s. But in general, the write speed affects the speed of the computer much less than the read speed. As a budget option, a slightly lower speed is allowed, but not lower than 450/350 Mb / s.

8.3. Access time

Access time is the second most important disk parameter after read/write speed. The access time affects the speed of reading/copying small files especially strongly. The lower this setting, the better. In addition, low access time indirectly indicates a higher quality of the hard disk (HDD).

A good hard disk drive (HDD) access time is 13-15 milliseconds. Values ​​in the range of 16-20 ms are considered a bad indicator. I will also tell you how to determine this parameter in this article.

As for SSD drives, their access time is 100 times less than that of HDD drives, so this parameter is not indicated anywhere and no one pays attention to it.

Hybrid disk drives (SSHD) achieve lower access times than HDDs, which are comparable to SSDs, with additional built-in flash memory. But due to the limited amount of flash memory, a lower access time is only achieved when accessing the most frequently used files that have ended up in this flash memory. Usually these are system files, which provide faster computer boot speed and high system responsiveness, but do not drastically affect the operation of large programs and games, since they simply will not fit in the limited amount of fast SSHD memory.

9. Manufacturers of hard drives (HDD, SSHD)

The most popular hard drive manufacturers are as follows:

Seagate- produces some of the fastest drives today, but they are not considered the most reliable.

Western Digital (WD)- are considered the most reliable and have a convenient classification by color.

• WD Blue- low cost general purpose discs
• WD Green– quiet and economical (often switched off)
• WD Black– fast and reliable
• WD Red– for data storage systems (NAS)
• WD Purple– for video surveillance systems
• WD Gold- for servers
• WD Re– for RAID arrays
• WDSe– for scalable corporate systems

Blue - the most common drives, suitable for low-cost office and multimedia PCs. Black ones combine high speed and reliability, I recommend using them in powerful systems. The rest are designed for specific tasks.

In general, if you want cheaper and faster, then choose Seagate. If cheap and reliable - Hitachi. Fast and reliable - Western Digital from the black series.

Hybrid SSHD drives are now mainly produced by Seaagete and they are of good quality.

There are discs from other manufacturers on sale, but I recommend limiting yourself to the indicated brands, since there are fewer problems with them.

10. Manufacturers of Solid State Drives (SSDs)

Among the manufacturers of SSD drives, they have proven themselves well:

• Samsung
• Intel
• Crucial
• SanDisk
• Plextor

More budget options include:

• Corsair
• GoodRAM
• A-DATA (Premier Pro)
• Kingston (HyperX)

11. SSD memory type

SSD drives can be built on different types of memory:

• 3 D NAND– fast and durable
• MLC- a good resource
• V-NAND- average resource
• TLC- low resource

12. Speed ​​of hard drives (HDD, SSHD)

We can find out all the parameters of SSDs we need, such as volume, speed and manufacturer, from the seller’s price list and then compare them by price.

The parameters of HDDs can be found by the model or batch number on the manufacturers' websites, but in fact it is quite difficult, since these catalogs are huge, they have a lot of incomprehensible parameters, which are called differently by each manufacturer, also in English. Therefore, I offer you another method that I use myself.

There is a program for testing HDTune hard drives. It allows you to define parameters such as linear read speed and access time. There are many enthusiasts who conduct these tests and post the results on the Internet. In order to find the test results of a particular hard drive model, it is enough to enter the number of its model in the Google or Yandex image search, which is indicated in the seller's price list or on the drive itself in the store.

Here's what a picture with a disk test from the search looks like.

As you can see, this picture shows the average linear read speed and random access time, which we are interested in. Check only that the model number in the picture matches the model number of your drive.

In addition, according to the schedule, you can roughly determine the quality of the disc. An uneven schedule with large jumps and high access time indirectly indicate inaccurate low-quality disk mechanics.

A beautiful cyclical or simply uniform graph without large jumps, combined with low access time, speaks of the exact high-quality mechanics of the disk.

Such a disc will work better, faster and last longer.

13. Optimal drive

So, what kind of disk or disk configuration to choose for a computer, depending on its purpose. In my opinion, the following configurations will be the most optimal.

• office PC - HDD (320-500 GB)
• entry-level multimedia PC - HDD (1 TB)
• mid-range multimedia PC - SSD (120-128 GB) + HDD (1 TB) or SSHD (1 TB)
• entry-level gaming PC - HDD (1 TB)
• mid-range gaming PC - SSHD (1TB)
• High end gaming PC – SSD (240-512GB) + HDD (1-2TB)
• professional PC – SSD (480-1024 GB) + HDD/SSHD (2-4 TB)

14. The cost of HDD and SSD drives

In conclusion, I want to talk a little about the general principles for choosing between more or less expensive disk models.

The price of HDDs mostly depends on the capacity of the disk and slightly on the manufacturer (by 5-10%). Therefore, it is not advisable to save on the quality of HDDs. Get models from recommended manufacturers, albeit a little more expensive, as they will last longer.

The price of SSD drives, in addition to volume and speed, also depends heavily on the manufacturer. Here I can give a simple recommendation - choose the cheapest SSD drive from the list of recommended manufacturers that suits you in terms of volume and speed.

15. Links

Hard drive Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB
Hard drive Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB
A-Data Ultimate SU650 120GB Hard Drive