What does ssd hard drive mean? Testing an SSD drive. Limited number of rewrite cycles

Many computer users periodically think about upgrading their equipment, and one of the modern and effective upgrade methods is to install a solid-state drive or SSD in tandem on a personal computer or laptop, and, as an option, instead of the already familiar HDD (hard drives or hard drives) .

But since large-scale solid-state drives have become widespread not so long ago, many users have a rather poor understanding of them. Should I buy an SSD drive for my computer? Which is better? There are a number of main differences that characterize SSDs. We will try to tell you about them. And then we will look at individual models from the main manufacturers.

SSD is an abbreviation that translates into Russian roughly as “solid-state drive.” It is a non-mechanical data storage device. It has no moving parts, unlike the mechanical HDD we are all familiar with. The SSD consists of memory chips and a control controller. On average, the exchange speed when working with data (reading and writing data operations) of an SSD disk is 100 times higher than that of an HDD. For example, the response speed of hard drives is in the range of 10 – 19 milliseconds, and solid-state drives operate in the range of 0.1 – 0.4 milliseconds. For an SSD user, there are several strengths and weaknesses of such equipment.

Positive points:

• High data processing speed – both reading and writing.
• Low power consumption and low heating during operation.
• Complete absence of noise during operation.
• Small dimensions of the device.
• Resistance to mechanical damage, electromagnetic fields, temperature changes.
• Stable speed of data processing, independent of the level of data fragmentation.

Negative points:

• High cost of the device.
• Vulnerability to electrical shock.
• Limited number of data rewrite cycles.
• Possibility of losing information without the possibility of its recovery.

SSD Key Indicators

Storage capacity

When purchasing an SSD, first of all, we pay attention to its capacity and must select it depending on the tasks that we plan to perform on such a device.

When working in standard user mode as a home multimedia device with small toys and basic simple tasks, you can choose a small SSD - the operating system and software will be installed on it, and data archives such as photographs, films, documents, etc. can be stored on the second device – the good old HDD. An SSD with a capacity of 60-64 GB is quite suitable.

If the user sets slightly more complex tasks for the equipment, such as working with video editors, design software and other professional applications, you will have to purchase a larger SSD. In this case, we can recommend drives with a capacity of 120-128 GB of memory.

In turn, the gamer will need an even larger drive, because modern games take up quite large sections of disk space. Here it would be better to take a closer look at an SSD with a capacity of 240-256 GB.

In the event of a complete transition of the user from HDD to SSD, there are already high-capacity models of solid-state drives on the device market - 480, 960 GB and higher.

Of course, first of all, you will have to focus on the financial capabilities and tasks that you personally set for your personal computer. The cost of solid-state drives directly depends on their volume. Simple storage of data that is not handled daily is still more advisable to store on more capacious and cheaper, although slower, HDDs.

It is worth knowing about the following nuance of SSDs: the larger the capacity of the drive, the higher speeds it will operate. The difference in the speed of reading and writing data can increase two to three times depending on the amount of memory. For example, SSDs of the same model range, produced by one company, with a capacity of 128 GB will give us speeds of up to 200 MB/sec, and with a capacity of 512 GB - more than 400 MB/sec. This is due to the fact that during its operation the SSD controller accesses all memory crystals in parallel and, accordingly, higher capacity means higher number of crystals means more parallel operations.

You can also pay attention to the fact that different manufacturers indicate different disk capacities for seemingly the same capacity group. For example, 120 and 128, 480 and 512. The fact is that these disks have a capacity of 128 and 512 GB, respectively, but the manufacturer, for one reason or another, reserves part of the memory of its drives (this reserve is usually intended to level out the wear of flash memory cells and to replace those cells that fail).

Drive connection interface

The speed of operation when upgrading a computer by installing an SSD drive on it directly depends on its connection interface to the motherboard.

Many current solid-state drives are available with a SATA 3 interface. If your motherboard has SATA 1 or SATA 2 controllers, the SSD connected to them will not be able to work with the full performance and speeds declared by its manufacturer. To solve this problem, you need to install a SATA 3 controller on the motherboard, otherwise the upgrade will be insufficient, or even almost imperceptible. Modern SSDs are ready to provide data writing speeds of up to 400 MB/sec, and reading speeds of up to 500 MB/sec. This speed can only be achieved by working with the SATA 3 connection interface, since SATA 2 is designed for data exchange speeds of up to approximately 270 Mb/s, and SATA 1 is even lower - no more than 150 Mb/s.

In addition to the usual connection of the drive to SATA ports, SSD drives with a PCI-express connection interface have appeared, which are installed in the corresponding ports.

There are M.2 form factor drives that can also be connected to PCI-express and PCI ports via an additional adapter.

Drive controller

Flash memory cells perform all their work with the rest of the systems of our computer through the controller chip built into the SSD. Many performance indicators of the drive depend on this controller, such as: operating speeds, memory lifespan, resistance to data corruption in cells, as well as support for various technologies that improve SSD performance. There are currently many controllers being produced, and even one manufacturer of solid-state drives uses different controllers in different models. It should be noted that currently controllers from manufacturers such as Marvell, Samsung, and Intel have proven themselves to be the best. Phison and SandForce SSD controllers perform well in the middle class. It is worth paying attention to SSDs with reliable Indilinx controllers.

Understanding the models of certain controllers is not always easy, so you should pay attention first of all to a well-known brand (due to the fact that the quality control of well-known manufacturers is still much higher), to the actual tests carried out on the specific drive model being selected, and to the declared manufacturer specifications.

Drive memory type

One of the most important technical indicators of an SSD is the type on which the drive is built. Modern manufacturers create their devices using three main types of memory, which differ in the number of memory bits per physical cell:

• NAND TLC – 3 bits of information per 1 physical cell
• NAND MLC – 2 bits of information per 1 physical cell
• NAND SLC – 1 bit of information per 1 physical cell

Both the cost of the drive and its “lifetime”, that is, the possible number of rewrite cycles, directly depend on the technology used to create memory. The cost of memory decreases as the number of bits per physical cell increases, but this reduces the possible number of rewrite cycles that a given cell can withstand. That is, in simple terms, a 128 GB SSD with TLC memory type will cost much less than an SSD of the same capacity but with MLC memory type, but it will also survive a relatively small number of rewrite cycles. Approximate figures are as follows: the writing limit on drives built on TLS memory is only 1000 cycles; on MLC memory – up to 3 thousand cycles; and the SLC type, in turn, can withstand from 5 to 10 thousand rewrite cycles.

When purchasing an SSD, the best option seems to be with NAND MLC type of drive memory, since NAND SLC type of memory is usually used in the most expensive segment of solid-state drives and, rather, is necessary for working on server stations where data is constantly being rewritten. At the same time, while delighting us with their cheapness, SSD drives with NAND TLC memory type can upset us by losing their performance much earlier than we expect.

Modern technologies do not stand still, and to replace previous memory types, leading companies are already beginning to produce memory types for SSDs built on new types of architecture. After the previous flat-plane memory cells, Samsung, and after it Toshiba, together with SanDisk and Intel, together with Micron, are developing 3D NAND technology, which can significantly improve the performance of previous bit-cell construction models. Currently, SSDs with 3D NAND memory technology belong to the most expensive segment of the solid-state drive market.

Drive clipboard

The presence of a clipboard (cache) based on DDR3 memory somewhat speeds up the operation of an SSD drive, but also makes it more expensive for the buyer. The calculation is simple - for 1 GB of disk space, for optimal operation of a drive with this type of cache, there should be 1 MB of DDR3 memory. That is, an SSD with a capacity of 120-128 GB should have 128 MB DDR3 memory, with a capacity of 480-512 GB - 512 MB DDR3, and so on.

Cheaper models of SSD drives have a clipboard based on older types of memory - DDR2. The difference in the speed of drives on different types of clipboard is not a significant indicator.

Protecting the drive from blackout

SSD drives whose clipboard is built on DDR3 memory should ideally be equipped with technology to protect against sudden power outages. The technology is called “Power Protection” and allows you to save data from the clipboard to memory in the event of a sudden power outage. An ordinary UPS (UPS) performs the same function, allowing you to correctly complete work with data. So if you have a UPS or an SSD clipboard that is not based on DDR3, this function is not particularly important.

TRIM function

Depending on the manufacturer, SSDs support a wide variety of technologies that are created to improve their functionality. The most important of these technologies for SSDs is the . A solid-state drive that is not equipped with the TRIM function, when working with memory cells in which information was previously saved and then deleted, begins to operate at a reduced speed. This happens because before writing again to previously used memory cells, the SSD is forced to clear them first. While the TRIM function clears previously used memory cells in advance at the time of not very active disk use. So the TRIM function is a “garbage collection” function and is important for maintaining the overall speed of the SSD during the second and subsequent rewrites of data into memory cells. Without TRIM, the speed of the drive decreases very noticeably.

Understanding SSD manufacturers

Let us next consider the main manufacturers of SSD drives. Does it make sense to purchase not-so-cheap new equipment made by completely unknown manufacturers, albeit at more attractive prices? It is rightly believed that well-known brands make higher demands on their production and care about the quality of their products much more than those who do not necessarily need to maintain a decent level of equipment released to the market. When buying a drive from an unknown company, we are simply purchasing a “pig in a poke.”

Let us list the manufacturers under whose brand they produce reliable products that have long and firmly established themselves in the electronic devices market.

• Toshiba is one of the oldest and most famous brands producing SSDs. They do not simply assemble devices, but also have their own production of flash memory and have proven themselves worthily in the long-term production of HDDs.
• Samsung is a well-known company and one of the leaders in the SSD market. They have made and continue to make many developments specifically in the field of solid-state drives. The company supplies SSD flash memory and controllers of its own production.
• Intel is also a leading company in the production of modern equipment and the latest technological developments. Devices produced by Intel, as a rule, belong to the expensive price segment, but are usually extremely reliable. Some SSD models are produced by it on its own controllers, and flash memory is created in its own production facilities (joint with other well-known companies). The five-year warranty from Intel also perfectly characterizes the equipment from this company.
• Crucial is a brand used by the well-known company Micron in the production of SSD drives. Many users have long been familiar with Micron products and are accustomed to trusting them. Micron produces flash memory together with Intel, and the controllers it installs in its equipment are Marvell controllers. At the same time, Crucial drives in their price category are aimed at the budget segment of the market.
• Corsair is a manufacturer that has long proven itself in the electronic equipment market. The SSD drives they produce are somewhat more expensive, but they fully maintain the high quality of their model lines. Corsair is attentive to the components of its solid-state drives and uses SSD controllers from manufacturers that have proven themselves in this market - Phison, SandForce, LAMD. They produce several lines of SSDs.
• SanDisk is a fairly popular brand that cares about the quality of its products. SSDs are equipped with flash memory, which is used by the already mentioned Toshiba. The company has long been engaged in the production of equipment one way or another related to solid-state drives - USB flash drives, memory cards.
• Plextor – SSDs for this brand are manufactured by Lite-On. The quality, however, is very decent. SSDs from Plextor are equipped with Intel-Crucial (Micron) or Toshiba flash memory, and controllers are installed from the same Marvell. Drives marketed under the Plextor brand have some of the best speed and reliability.
• Kingston is a company that has been firmly entrenched in the electronic equipment market for quite a long time. It is represented on the market by a fairly wide range of SSD drives, which are equipped with controllers from well-known manufacturers - Phison, SandForce.

As we have already said, when purchasing a solid-state drive, you need to focus, first of all, on your budget and the tasks that you set for the new equipment. But there is no doubt that the equipment must be from a trusted manufacturer, with a sufficiently long warranty. The market for solid-state drives is large, however, let's summarize our recommendations.

1. It is better to purchase a well-known brand with a reliable long-term warranty.
2. The controller manufacturer is no less important than the memory cell manufacturer.
3. The higher the total disk volume, the higher its speed indicators.
4. The lifespan of an SSD primarily depends on the technology used to create the memory cells. The optimal technology is MLC type of drive memory.
5. When purchasing an SSD, you need to take into account how the new equipment will be connected, that is, the interface for connecting it to the system should be clear to you.
6. TRIM function support is important.

Understanding SSD prices

Here are a few of the best, in our opinion, SSD options.

Among the models designed for the average user with a capacity of 120/128 Gigabytes, you can pay attention to these SSDs, they can be purchased from 3.5 to 4.5 thousand rubles:

• Intel SSDSC2KW120H6X1
• Kingston SUV400S37/120G
• Toshiba THN-S101Z1200E8

Acceptable models with a capacity of 250 Gigabytes will cost from 5 to 10 thousand. You can pay attention to the following:

• Samsung MZ-75E250BW
• Kingston SV300S37A/240G

A good choice would be larger SSD models (480/512 GB), the cost will be from 10 to 15 thousand:

• Samsung MZ-75E500BW
• Plextor PX-512M8PeY
• Intel SSDPEKKW512G7X1

Larger drives will cost more – the cost starts at an average of 20 thousand:

• Samsung MZ-7KE1T0BW
• Intel SSDSC2BX012T401
• Samsung MZ-75E2T0BW

If you have already begun to decide on specific SSD models to purchase, you should find detailed user reviews on them on the Internet and try to evaluate all aspects of specific models, even from well-known manufacturers.

In conclusion, some brief tips on how to extend the life of your SSD.

• Do not fill the disk to capacity - it needs 20-30% of free space for normal operation;
• Take care of uninterrupted power supply - a sudden shutdown is harmful to the SSD;
• Temperature conditions - SSD, like any electronic equipment, does not like overheating - take care of cooling.

Hello! I’ll tell you today about what SSD drives are and whether you need to buy them. What are the pros and cons of SSD drives? Remember those days when a 40 GB hard drive was considered big and it was very cool? Now the normal size of a hard drive is 1 TB or more.

Of course, technology is developing very quickly, and SSD drives have replaced hard drives. These are new devices that have a lot of pros and a few cons, and we’ll talk about that.

SSD (Solid state drive) is a drive that does not have moving parts, like a regular hard drive. SSD uses flash memory to store memory. In simple words, this is such a large flash drive. The main advantages of SSD drives are speed, resistance to mechanical damage, and low power consumption. The downside is the high price and short failure time.

Advantages of SSD drives

Speed ​​of reading and writing information. Compared to regular hard drives, SSDs operate at high speeds. For example, a drive connected via the SATAIII interface operates at a speed of 500 MB/s. This is impressive, and it is not the limit and not the full potential of SSDs. The operating system on such drives loads in a matter of seconds.

Resistance to mechanical damage. You probably know that hard drives really don’t like various problems, strong vibrations, etc. Especially in laptops, HDDs very often begin to “crumble.” As I already wrote, the SSD has no active elements, so it is not afraid of mechanical damage, of course, within reasonable limits. I really like this; by installing such a drive in a laptop, you don’t have to be afraid to carry the laptop with it turned on, etc.

Quiet operation. The SSD drive does not make any sounds when operating. You probably know that regular hard drives make noise during operation.

Low power consumption. Compared to HDD, SSD uses less electricity, this is very important for laptops.

Disadvantages of SSD

Short operating time for wear and tear. This means that the SSD drive will work for a certain time. This is a limit on rewriting, for some reason I always saw different numbers, usually it is 10,000 times. But in the description of the drives they also indicate the operating time, for example, the SSD OCZ Vertex 4 SSD 128GB indicates an operating time of 2 million hours, which is a lot.

Price. Yes, SSD drives are not very cheap now. For example, the same SSD OCZ Vertex 4 SSD for 128GB costs approximately 1000 UAH. (4000 rubles).

Work with different OS. Currently, only Windows 8 and Windows 7 work perfectly with SSDs. They support these drives, and they themselves know how to disable services such as indexing, etc. Enabling such services reduces the operating time of the SSD drive. Therefore, I recommend using these systems.

These are what SSDs are. In fact, these are very worthy devices that will give your computer a second wind. Comments like this are encouraging: “Replacing an HDD with an SSD is like replacing a propeller with a turbine” :). And it’s true, there are a lot of advantages, and despite the disadvantages, solid-state drives are gaining popularity every day. Moreover, the price for them is only falling.

Some well-known manufacturers have switched to the production of solid-state drives completely, for example, Samsung sold its hard drive business to Seagate.

There are also so-called hybrid hard drives, which appeared, among other things, due to the current, proportionately higher cost of solid-state drives. Such devices combine in one device a hard disk drive (HDD) and a relatively small solid-state drive as a cache (to increase the performance and service life of the device, and reduce power consumption).

So far, such drives are used mainly in portable devices (laptops, cell phones, tablets, etc.).

History of development

Currently, the most notable companies that are intensively developing the SSD direction in their activities include Intel, Kingston, Samsung Electronics, SanDisk, Corsair, Renice, OCZ Technology, Crucial and ADATA. In addition, Toshiba is demonstrating its interest in this market.

Architecture and operation

NAND SSD

Drives built on using non-volatile memory (NAND SSD), appeared relatively recently, but due to their much lower cost (from 1 US dollar per gigabyte), they began to confidently conquer the market. Until recently, they were significantly inferior to traditional storage devices - hard drives - in writing speed, but compensated for this with a high speed of information retrieval (initial positioning). Solid-state drives are now being produced with read and write speeds that are many times greater than those of hard drives. They are characterized by relatively small size and low power consumption.

RAM SSD

These drives, built on the use volatile memory (the same as that used in personal computer RAM) are characterized by ultra-fast reading, writing and retrieval of information. Their main disadvantage is their extremely high cost. They are mainly used to speed up the operation of large database management systems and powerful graphics stations. Such drives are usually equipped with batteries to save data in the event of power loss, and more expensive models are equipped with backup and/or online copy systems. An example of such drives is I-RAM. Users with sufficient RAM can create a virtual machine and place its hard drive in RAM and evaluate the performance.

Disadvantages and advantages

Flaws

Advantages

• No moving parts, hence:

• Complete absence of noise;
• High mechanical resistance;
• Stability of file reading time, regardless of their location or fragmentation;

• High read/write speed, often exceeding the throughput of the hard drive interface (SAS/SATA II 3 Gb/s, SAS/SATA III 6 Gb/s, SCSI, Fiber Channel, etc.);
• Low power consumption;
• Wide operating temperature range;
• There is great modernization potential both in the drives themselves and in their production technologies.
• Lack of magnetic disks, hence:

• Much less sensitivity to external electromagnetic fields;
• Small dimensions and weight; (no need to make a heavy case for shielding)

Microsoft Windows and computers of this platform with solid-state drives

Windows 7 has introduced special optimization for working with solid-state drives. If you have SSD drives, this operating system works with them differently than with regular HDD drives. For example, Windows 7 does not apply defragmentation to the SSD drive, Superfetch and ReadyBoost technologies and other read-ahead techniques that speed up loading applications from regular HDDs.

Acer tablets - Iconia Tab W500 and W501 models, Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 running Windows 7 - run on an SSD drive.

Mac OS X and Macintosh computers with SSDs

On June 11, 2012, based on flash memory, a new MacBook Retina 15 inches was introduced, in which an optional 768 GB of flash memory can be installed.

Development prospects

The main disadvantage of SSD drives - a limited number of rewrite cycles - with the development of non-volatile memory manufacturing technologies will be eliminated by manufacturing according to other physical principles and from other materials, for example, FeRam. By 2013, the company plans to launch retail drives built using ReRAM (resistive random-access memory) technology.

see also

• Hybrid hard drive

Notes

Links

• HDD is dead, long live SSD? Critical review from Mobi magazine, 08/15/2007
• SSD drives based on NAND memory: technologies, principles of operation, varieties, 06/28/2010
• Test of four Team SSDs from TestLabs.kz

Hello friends! Technologies do not stand still and are developing more and more rapidly every year, especially in the computer industry. It seems like just yesterday that we only learned about the three laws of robotics, written by Isaac Asimov, and today the Japanese are already designing dolls whose electronic “filling” is half as powerful as a small server room, but which have never even heard of the mentioned laws.

The changes also affected the area of ​​data storage. Today you will find out what an SSD drive is and why it is needed, whether such a device is needed in principle or how you can do without it.

Why solid state

Such drives have been known for many years, but most users have only recently turned their attention to them as a worthy alternative to traditional hard drives. So why is it called solid state? The name comes from the English word Solid - “Solid state”. In fact, this is an ordinary microcircuit built on semiconductors - a green board with a bunch of tracks that everyone who has ever disassembled the body of an electrical device has seen.

The architecture of the device resembles the already familiar flash drives. SSDs use the same type of energy-efficient memory circuits that do not lose data even when there is no power for long periods of time. The only difference is in dimensions, capacity and recording speed. In addition, a flash drive is designed to be used as a plug-in external device, while an SSD is still, in most cases, an internal device.

Externally, solid-state drives resemble hard drives, but differ in size - they are smaller. According to standardization, there are slightly different form factors: for example, M2 or U2. This does not mean that an SSD cannot be installed in a regular system unit: there are special adapters for old cases, and new cases are already equipped with mounting slots.

Benefits of SSD

A logical question may arise: why such a device in a computer at all, if there are familiar and affordable hard drives. And solid-state drives have several advantages:
Higher data read and write speed. This is especially appreciated by users who process large files, as well as gamers whose games load faster.

Less power consumption. For laptop computers, this is a decisive factor, because the device can work longer on the same battery charge.

Longer service life. Due to the lack of mechanical parts, there is a higher chance that the device will not fail at the most inopportune moment.

Impact resistance. When transporting the device, there is a higher chance that the user will lose important data due to a fall or mechanical impact. This is the reason for the growing popularity of portable SSDs.

Often a small SSD is installed on a computer as a system volume to load the operating system faster. Such a computer will not only boot faster, but the OS will also be faster due to quick access to all system files.

Disadvantages and Limitations

You may ask: if this device is so gorgeous, why don't all users use it on PC? Alas, everything still comes down to cost: for the same price you can buy a regular hard drive with a capacity ten times greater than an SSD. When assembling or upgrading a computer, users are often limited in funds, so they have to “rein on their horses,” maneuvering between the coolness of the part and its cost. And so we would instruct everyone, yeah.

There is still a misconception among users that SSDs are unreliable. Yes, this was observed at the time of their mass appearance on the market. The reason lies in the use of cheap controllers that did not cope with their task. Today, the cheapest SSD is guaranteed to “survive” up to 3,000 rewrite cycles. For higher quality devices, this figure increases to 10,000. This is even more than a traditional HDD.
Another myth is that the operating system must be somehow cleverly configured to work with a solid-state drive - for example, disabling the page file. This is wrong. All the user has to do is activate the AHCI mode in the BIOS, which is necessary for the correct operation of the device. Please note that older motherboards do not support this mode - instead there is a now obsolete IDE

Why is it needed?

"To be or not to be?" - the reader will think. Buy an SSD or save money by buying something else. According to reviews from my clients, no one has ever experienced dissatisfaction with the purchase of such a device. There were several claims regarding warranty repairs, but this is a statistical error that always appears with large numbers of sales.

And if you get nervous every time your computer starts to slow down and freeze, an SSD is the best option to get rid of such phenomena. You will most likely not stop being nervous, but you will already find another reason, but the computer will “fly” with such a drive.

True, there is one small “BUT”. You quickly get used to the good stuff, and then working on a computer with a regular HDD will be a little uncomfortable. But these are little things, aren’t they?

And if you are already heading to an online store for a brand new SSD drive, read these instructions - it will help you correctly. You might also be interested, of course, if you think that you can’t live without an HDD.

I advise you to pay attention to the Kingston SSDNow A400 120GB 2.5″ SATAIII TLC device - a good and affordable 120 Gb drive.

And with that, I say goodbye for today. Thank you for your attention, friends, and see you next time. Don't forget to share my blog posts on social networks. Computer literacy to the masses! And to receive notifications about new articles.

Hello friends! As they used to say in Rus': “Every merchant praises his goods” and no matter how many different articles you read about SSDs, you are unlikely to come across the same opinion. Some people read something and decided to buy a Samsung solid-state drive, some from Toshiba, while others decided to buy an OCZ Vertex or SSD at any cost. Kingston.

About a year and a half ago, my friends and I firmly decided to buy an SSD solid-state drive, but everyone has them, but we don’t. My friends asked me to test various SSDs and choose the best one.

Solid-state drives are not sold very well, so sellers of computer goods do not carry a lot of them, so as not to lie as dead weight in the warehouse. We also do the same, which is why I had at my disposal the best-selling SSDs at that time. The most inexpensive of the entire company turned out to be the Silicon Power V70 SSD, the test of which I left for later.

I wasn’t particularly sophisticated in my tests; I installed an operating system on each SSD, then compared the SSD and a regular HDD in the CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD Benchmark test programs. I didn’t have to prove to anyone that an SSD is better than a regular HDD. Windows installed on an SSD loaded in 4 seconds; the test programs CrystalDiskMark and AS SSD Benchmark showed the complete superiority of the SSD over a regular HDD by 3-4 and even 5 times.

I carried out all the tests on the sales floor and the information was available to customers, in short, all the test SSDs were disassembled, besides, that day was good for sales and there wasn’t even a single SSD left on the display case, well, I think I was left without a solid-state drive! And then I remembered about SSD Silicon Power - V70. In principle, I knew this good manufacturer from Taiwan, but I still wanted something else, for example Crucial or Plextor!

I also decided to test it at the end of the working day and after the tests I was a little surprised, the V70 turned out to be a great solid-state drive, in no way inferior to other SSDs I tested and sold that day. And the SiSoftware Sandra program generally awarded him first place.

Over the course of a year, wherever it didn’t work for me: on a laptop and on various stationary system units and instead of a flash drive, I carried it in my pocket and dropped it on the floor, but nothing, it still works fine.

Well, okay, enough chatter, I’ll move on to the most important part of the article, the answers to your questions about the solid-state drive, and at the end of the article I’ll give some tests that prove that an SSD for installing an operating system is just what the doctor ordered.

ALL your questions regarding SSDs.

1. What is the internal structure of an SSD? Which NAND flash memory should I buy an SSD based on: SLC, MLC or TLC?

2. Which SSD manufacturer should you prefer?

3. Is the lifespan of an SSD really limited? After how many years of use will my SSD fail?

4. Is the user at risk of losing all recorded data if the resource of the memory chips is exceeded?

5. To extend the life of an SSD, is it worth disabling hibernation, paging file, recovery, disk indexing service, disk defragmentation, Prefetch technology, and moving the cache? browser and a directory of temporary files on another hard drive, and so on?

6. How much faster is an SSD than a regular hard drive?

Comparing different SSDs in terms of performance

It is important to know not only the average sequential read and write speed on an SSD, but also what is hushed up by all SSD manufacturers - the random write speed in blocks of 512 kB and 4 kB! Disk activity for most users occurs mainly in such areas!

When comparing SSDs from different manufacturers in the AS SSD Benchmark program, we can see the following result, for example:

My SSD Silicon Power V70 showed:

Sequential read and write speed 431 MB/s (read), 124 MB/s (write)

The speed of reading and writing in 4 KB blocks turned out to be 16 MB/s (read), 61 MB/s (write)

SSD from another manufacturer. As you can see, there is a high (higher than my SSD) sequential read and write speed of 484 MB/s (read), 299 MB/s (write), but there is a drop in reading/writing in 4 KB blocks, namely 17 MB/s (read), 53 MB/s (write).This means this SSD is not faster than mine, although the box of this SSD may show the numbers 500 MB/s.

SSD test in SiSoftware Sandra program

My SSD ranked first among similar models