How to find out which SSD is suitable for a laptop. Supported technologies and TRIM function. Why should you believe me

SSD drives provide higher operating speeds compared to conventional hard drives and have many other advantages. They are installed on high-performance systems, especially laptops. The reasons for their popularity are also resistance to mechanical damage and magnetic fields, quiet operation, lower energy consumption, and lack of overheating. An SSD disk is a non-mechanical memory storage device that, like a regular flash drive, consists of microcircuits and a controller. The main disadvantage of the device is the limited rewriting resource. The 2018 rating of SSD drives according to the Mark.guru portal will help you choose the best model for your computer that will cope with its tasks for a long time.

To choose the best and most reliable SSD drive, you need to compare the following parameters:

Volume. A key characteristic showing the storage capacity. If you use it only as system memory, then a small amount will suffice. If this is the main or only storage medium, then it is better to choose a more capacious, but correspondingly more expensive one.
Type. There are single-level SLC, 3-level TLC and multi-level MLC. The first type is the fastest, but also the most expensive. MLC is the most common due to its low cost, but does not have a very long resource. TLC is the slowest and cheapest with a low resource. The most modern type is multi-layer 3D V-NAND, which has high reliability and better performance.
Form factor, in other words, dimensions. Since SSDs are more often used in laptops, most models have a value of 2.5 inches. If you want to install such a disk in a PC instead of a hard one, you can use a special adapter.
Speed. Typically, the maximum speed for writing and reading data is indicated, and actual performance in practice may differ significantly from the stated ones. It also evaluates the random write speed, which is expressed in operations per second (IOPS).
Connection type. The most commonly used is SATA3 with a bandwidth of up to 6 Gbit per second.
Resource. Indicates the maximum number of rewrite cycles. The limitation of this indicator is the main disadvantage of solid-state media. The best SSDs can withstand up to 10,000 cycles, budget ones - up to 3-5 thousand. Often expressed in terms of data capacity limits and operating hours.

1 Samsung 850 Evo

The rating of SSD drives opens with the 850 Evo series solid state drives; they are recognized as the best for laptops and computers for using the most modern technologies that provide high write speeds and durability. Compared to the previous 840 version, it has twice the random write speed and high performance. The possible volume reaches 4 TB. The last two interfaces have a Rapid mode available, which uses a quarter of the computer's RAM as a cache to speed up data transfer.

Samsung's proprietary 3D V-NAND technology increases capacity by arranging cells in 32 layers, which allows not only to increase memory capacity, but also to provide better speed and reliability of data storage.

Options:

possible volume 120, 250, 500 GB, 1, 2 or 4 TB;
Sata 3;
540/520 Mb/s;
up to 90,000 IOPS;
form factor 2.5 inches, M2, mSata;
Trim support;
buffer memory 512 MB – 2 GB depending on capacity;
operating time between wear and tear is 1.5 million hours.

Advantages:

high recording speed;
high capacity;
reliability of data storage;
durability and wear resistance;
various size options.

No deficiencies were identified.

The average price is 23,000 for 1TB.

Prices for Samsung 850 Evo:

2 Toshiba Q300 480GB

Second place goes to a relatively inexpensive solid-state drive from Toshiba. It is 3 mm thick, so it is suitable for installation in laptops. NAND memory is used, 3 bits per cell. The main advantage of the disk, which allows it to occupy high positions in the rating, is its affordability with high technical indicators.

Toshiba's original technology uses low-cost TLC cell technology and SLC cache to improve performance.

Options:

480 GB;
550/520 Mb/s;
Sata 3;
up to 83000 IOPS;
1.5 million operating hours;
Trim support;
2,5”;

Advantages:

high speed;
good performance;
attractive combination of price and quality.

No deficiencies were identified.

The average price is 10,600 rubles.

Prices for Toshiba Q300 480GB:

3 SanDisk Extreme Pro 480 GB

The SanDisk SSD provides fast loading speeds for games and graphics applications, suitable for computers and laptops. Using such a disk saves battery power and eliminates overheating thanks to the built-in self-regulation function. The disk comes with proprietary software that allows you to monitor changes in its characteristics, for example, operating efficiency and capacity, in real time. The disk, unlike conventional hard disks, has high vibration resistance and shock resistance.

nCache Pro technology improves performance and performance through a two-level caching system for small files. Large files are combined in a buffer into a common data array before being written to the main flash memory.

Options:

480 GB;
550/515 Mb/s;
Sata III;
MLC memory;
2,5”;
up to 100,000 IOPS.

Advantages:

good performance;
10-year warranty from the manufacturer;
suitable for laptops.

Flaws:

low recording speed compared to analogues;
sometimes there are defective specimens.

The average price is 19,600 rubles.

Prices for SanDisk Extreme Pro 480 GB:

4 Kingston KC400 SSDNow

Kingston's SSD drive is 15 times faster than a conventional hard drive, has high reliability and provides data protection thanks to NAND memory. The drive can be installed in laptops or desktop PCs. The model features wear leveling technology, thanks to which the difference between the most frequently and least used blocks is no more than 2%. There is also an intelligent memory cleaning function that increases service life.

Options:

capacity 128, 256 GB and 1 TB;
550/530 Mb/s;
MLC memory;
SATA 3;
2,5”;
up to 89000 IOPS.

Advantages:

choice of capacity;
good speed;
modern technologies for extending service life.

Flaws:

According to some reviews, there are difficulties in updating the firmware.

The average price is 26 thousand rubles.

Prices for Kingston KC400 SSDNow:

5WD Blue SSD 1TB

In fifth place in the rating is an SSD drive of impressive capacity from WD. It has a thickness of 7mm and a metal body, suitable for laptop use. The drive provides good speed and is specially designed for multitasking, ensuring fast work in several applications simultaneously.

Options:

250, 500 GB and 1 TB;
545/525 Mb/s;
Sata 3;
2.5” and M2;
resource 400 TBW;
1.75 million operating hours;
up to 80,000 IOPS.

Advantages:

large capacity;
two form factor options;
convenient software;
speed and reliability.

Flaws:

relatively low resource;
shorter warranty than competitors.

The average price is 20,100 rubles.

Prices for WD Blue SSD 1TB:

6 PNY CS2211 240GB

The PNY SSD delivers fast performance when loading games and transferring large files. Ideal as a system hard drive replacement for gamers and when working with 4K video. Characterized by low power consumption, fast work with multimedia content and multitasking.

Having a thickness of 7 mm, it is complemented by the included pad, which allows it to be installed in places where the 9.5 mm fastenings are installed.

Options:

240, 480 and 960 GB;
560/547 Mb/s;
SATA 3;
up to 95000 IOPS;
MLC NAND;
2,5”.

Advantages:

good speed;
reliability;
software included.

No deficiencies were identified.

The average price is 8200 rubles.

Prices for PNY CS2211 240GB:

7 OCZ ARC 100 240GB

The ARC 100 drive is a representative of the budget segment, while using the technological developments of more expensive models from previous series. It is a cost-effective solution for users based on time-tested tools. Made in a 7mm metal case.

The model is based on the Barefoot 3 M10 controller, which maintains consistent performance throughout the life of the drive. Also, thanks to it, fast work with poorly compressed data, for example, video files, archives, and game installation packages, has been achieved.

Options:

120, 240 and 480 GB;
490/450 Mb/s;
SATA 3;
up to 80,000 IOPS;
resource 21.9 TBW;
2,5”.

Advantages:

reliability;
maintains performance well over its service life;
affordable price.

Flaws:

low speed.

The average price is 6200 rubles.

Prices for OCZ ARC 100 240GB:

8 Kingston HyperX Savage 480 GB

The Kingston drive increases the speed of the entire operating system and maintains its performance even when the capacity is full. The model features a bright design in the style of modern gaming computers. The thin 7 mm case makes it possible to install it in almost any laptop or PC. The manufacturer offers a 3-year warranty and free support.

The kit may include a 3.5" case, an adapter for a 9.5 mm mount, an external pocket with USB 3.0, as well as all the necessary mounting screws, making it easy to replace a standard hard drive.

Options:

240, 480 and 960 GB;
2,5”;
SATA 3;
520/500 Mb/s;
up to 88000 IOPS;
operating time 1 million hours;
416 WPD.

Advantages:

good performance;
high-quality assembly;
many adapters included;
reliability.

Flaws:

average resource and speed;
frequent mistakes;
For correct operation, a firmware update is sometimes required.

The average price is 13,300 rubles.

Prices for Kingston HyperX Savage 480 GB:

9WD WDS250G1B0A

The Marvell controller used in the model improves energy saving, so it is recommended for use on laptops. It also supports data encryption, which ensures reliable operation. The SSD has a good resource and optimizes the location of data, allowing you to work with several high-resource-intensive applications at the same time.

The model is certified compatible with a wide range of laptops and desktop computers, including can be used on modern thin ultrabooks.

Options:

250 GB;
2.5 or M2;
SATA 3;
100 TBW;
540/500 Mb/s.

Advantages:

versatility;
reliability;
proprietary software;
high-quality assembly.

Flaws:

frequent mistakes;
According to some reviews, the actual speed is much lower than the declared one.

The average price is 6500 rubles.

Prices for WD WDS250G1B0A:

10 Transcend SSD370

The maximum possible capacity in the SSD370 model line reaches 1 TB. In addition to fairly high speed and good resource, the disk also supports a number of additional functions. In particular, an intelligent block control system, protection against sudden power failure, TRIM, wear minimization. The model is characterized by high resistance to vibration, shaking, and shock resistance. The manufacturer provides a three-year warranty, as well as a free SSD Scope software product. With its help, you can monitor the condition of the disk, improve its efficiency and prevent problems. Included is a 3.5 mm bracket for mounting the drive into a desktop PC.

DevSleep mode allows you to completely turn off power in standby mode, while maintaining the ability to quickly turn on in a split second. This is relevant when used in laptops to increase battery life.

Options:

capacity up to 1 TB;
2,5”;
SATA 3;
570/470 Mb/s.

Advantages:

good capacity;
adapter included;
many additional functions to optimize and extend service life;
proprietary software.

Flaws:

low resource;
marriage occurs;
high price for high-capacity models.

The average price is 5,500 rubles for 128 GB, 33,760 for 1 TB.

Prices for Transcend SSD370:

11 ADATA Premier SP550

The model is presented in various capacity options, the most budget of which is 128 GB, one of the most popular is 480 GB. The SSD drive implements error correction technology, ensures data integrity and a good service life. The thin 7mm case allows it to be used in laptops and ultrabooks.

Options:

480 GB;
560/510 Mb/s;
SATA3;
2,5”;
up to 75000 IOPS.

Advantages:

relatively low cost;
good speed;
high-quality assembly.

Flaws:

cheap TLC memory.

The average price is 12,500 rubles.

ADATA Premier SP550 prices:

Conclusion

The first doubt when buying an SSD drive is usually caused by its limited service life. The most modern models using the latest technologies ensure guaranteed long-term stable operation. But the price of these representatives of leading brands is often prohibitive. Such SSDs are recommended for gamers and people who work professionally with graphics and video. High-capacity drives also have a high price tag. For everyday use, it is recommended to choose small MLC disks, and for low loads you can limit yourself to cheaper TLC disks. They have less resource and performance, so it is recommended to use special utilities to monitor the memory status and replace it in a timely manner.

Currently on sale you can find solid state drives with a capacity of up to two terabytes, but for financial reasons, for most PC owners it makes more sense to use a small SSD drive from 120 GB for the operating system and programs. It is better to allocate a capacious hard drive of 1 TB or more for file storage.

Connection: SATA or PCIe

Popular SSD drives with a SATA interface can replace a 2.5-inch HDD in a laptop. Of course, they can also be installed in a desktop PC by connecting them to the power supply and motherboard using a SATA cable. The case we recommend, for example, boasts a compartment that is located behind the motherboard.

The new M.2 form factor was originally developed as a solution for compact ultrabooks. It involves placing memory chips and controllers on a board measuring no more than 80x22 mm.

SATA or M.2:

If your motherboard has an M.2 slot (like the one we recommend), you'll save two cables and some space in your case. These drives tend to be slightly more expensive than SATA drives of the same type and capacity, although they are easier to install.

Manufacturer, Capacity and Controller

The top ranks of the Top 10 according to Chip are firmly occupied by Samsung drives. New line of solid state drives Samsung 850 in option Evo recommended for home use. At a comparable price, these models are ahead of the products of famous competing manufacturers Crucial, Intel, Kingston, OCZ, Plextor or SanDisk performance, and also thanks to a five-year warranty.

The solid-state drive for Windows and basic programs must be at least 120 GB, but often this is not enough when other programs and Windows updates begin to be installed. Since using an SSD that is full to the brim is bad for its performance and lifespan, it is better to purchase a larger drive.

Samsung SSD 850 Evo 1TB: The double-sided board uses eight memory modules in parallel, resulting in faster speeds and shorter memory access times compared to smaller capacity models.

The SATA interface limits the SSD's data transfer speed to 550 megabytes per second. 120- and 250-GB drives achieve this speed only for a short time due to the nature of the cache. After about five seconds, their 3 GB cache fills up, and the write speed of the 120 GB model drops to about 150 MB/s, and the 250 GB model to 300 MB/s.

Models of 500 GB and higher write at a constant speed of 550 MB/s. Only PCIe format drives have practically unlimited speed (see right), which, however, will work optimally only starting with a new generation of microarchitecture Intel Skylake.

Since each rewrite process wears out the flash memory used in SSDs, manufacturers indicate the expected lifespan of the devices. The durability of solid-state drives depends on the memory technology, element base and compensation mechanisms.

In long-term rewrite tests before defects appeared, the results of most SSDs significantly exceeded theoretical indicators. Behind the models Samsung 850 Evo the 3D V-NAND cell structure (compared to NAND flash) has proven to be an advantage in this regard.

Photo: Manufacturing companies; Juliane Weber; Tomasz Czarnecki

SSD drives are increasingly used in modern laptops, tablets, smartphones and even desktop computers. In this article we will tell you about the features of these devices and help you choose the right SSD drive for your laptop.

An SSD disk, or solid state drive, is a computer non-mechanical storage device based on memory chips, which has replaced HDD hard drives. It has no moving mechanical parts, so it is more reliable and less susceptible to mechanical damage.

Advantages of an SSD drive:

high speed;
low power consumption;
low noise level;
small weight and size;
impact resistance;
low probability of failures;
ability to work at low temperatures.

All these advantages are due to the non-mechanical design and modern technologies used in production.

Thus, the advantages are obvious. But before you choose this important device for any laptop, you need to know about its disadvantages.

Disadvantages of an SSD drive:

High price. Decide for yourself whether this point can be classified as a disadvantage, but it obliges us to be as careful as possible in choosing the right SSD device.

Limited number of rewrite cycles. The number of such cycles can range from several thousand to several hundred thousand, depending on the manufacturer and model. However, a drive with a number of cycles of 100 thousand is enough for 3–4 years of full-fledged operation - this is a good period for a device with such efficiency and reliability indicators. When using a laptop only as a home computer, the service life of the SSD can increase several times.

Difficulty or impossibility of recovering information after electrical damage.

Selecting an SSD drive

Volume

The first thing you should pay attention to when choosing an SSD device is its capacity. Which one should you prefer? It starts from 32 GB and, increasing the price, grows to 1000 GB or more. At this stage, you should decide what properties and, as a result, results you want to obtain. Let's make a reservation that devices less than 60 GB should not be considered - they were in demand several years ago, but not now.

If you plan to use the laptop only for work and storing not too much information, you can choose the 120 GB option. It will be enough to accommodate the system and documents and ensure good speed.

If you are going to not only work, but also play or store a considerable amount of information, pay attention to the 500 GB options. They will provide not only space, but also much greater speed than 120 GB options.

A capacity of 1000 GB will allow you to load the laptop to the maximum and at the same time enjoy high speed. But here the price of the issue arises: other devices of this size themselves cost as much as a full-fledged computer, and most of them are not suitable for use on laptops.

Size

The sizes of SSD drives differ from each other. Obviously, you should pay attention to size when choosing a device for a particular gadget. A desktop computer can be equipped with a 3.5-inch drive, and a laptop with a 2.5 or 1.8. Some drives may be even smaller in size, such as mSATA for a SATA slot and M2 for a PCI-E slot.

Interface

The standard interface for modern SSD drives is SATA 3 and PCI-E. If your laptop is no longer as new as you would like, and it has a motherboard with SATA 1 or SATA 2 controllers, you should replace them with SATA 3. Otherwise, the speed and efficiency of the drive will be significantly lower than stated. For PCI-E you will also need a corresponding connector.

Memory type

There are 3 types of such types:

100,000 rewrite cycles, the highest speed and reliability and, accordingly, price. Typically used for servers.
3,000 rewrite cycles, fairly high performance and reliability, reasonable price. The most recommended option for a home or work computer.
1,000 rewrite cycles, the speed is low, but such a drive lasts quite a long time. Has the lowest price.

The greater the number of cycles, the longer the device will last.

Manufacturer

Such drives are produced by a huge number of companies, well-known and not so well-known. Here are some tips on what parameters you can use to choose a manufacturer:

Installing an SSD drive on a laptop

First of all, you need to decide how you will install it - inside the laptop or outside.

For outdoor installation, both a special external device connected via USB and a regular disk, but packed in a special case, are suitable. This option is used if it is impossible to install the drive inside.

To put the SSD inside, you need to remove the bottom cover of the laptop and perform one of the installation options:

place the device in a free place;
put it in place of the HDD disk;
put it together with a HDD (option for SSD with M2 form factor).

We use an SSD drive

The best option is to install the operating system and the most used programs on the new drive. This will speed up its operation and extend its service life.

The disk should not operate at its capacity limit, so you should periodically empty it of unused files. This simple action also affects the speed and service life. The maximum recommended occupancy is 70%.

Removing unnecessary files

Deleting information from drives of this type is a little more difficult than from HDDs. This is done in 2 steps:

Ensuring smooth operation

As we wrote above, electrical damage can cause irreparable damage to a device, ranging from loss of information to breakdown of the device itself. To prevent this from happening, you need to fulfill 2 conditions:

When operating on battery power, ensure that the charge level is always at the proper level;
When operating from the network, use an uninterruptible power supply.

Operating system optimization

To better configure your OS, it is advisable to use software from the SSD manufacturer. It will help you effectively align partitions (if you are using the drive for more than just the OS) and will even provide your laptop with the latest firmware. If the manufacturer is little known or does not offer its own software, you can use the AS SSD utility. It will no less successfully help with partition alignment and notify you if it detects a problem.

Now you know what to look for when choosing an SSD drive for your laptop, which option to choose, how to handle it, and what to expect. We will be glad if you share your experience in using drives of this type in the comments!

Preamble

The article is updated every year, so check back here from time to time. Some information that was relevant in 2014 is no longer relevant in 2019. Pay attention to the notes in the text of the article and read the updating sections at the end of the article.

I keep repeating that in order to make a good choice of technology, it is necessary, at least in general terms, to understand the subject area. Know what characteristics the equipment you choose has. Know how these characteristics affect the operation of equipment.

Buying an SSD drive is much more complicated than it seems to the uninitiated. There is a lot that is not obvious, hidden under the surface. This article will list the important characteristics of SSD drives. It will be explained how the parameters of an SSD disk affect its consumer quality. The material is large in volume, since the topic is quite complex.

There are a lot of letters here, but if you have the patience to read everything to the end, then it will be easier for you to decide which SSD drive is better to buy. But if you don't like to read a lot then wait for the truncated version of this article.

Introduction

SSDs are no longer a luxury and are becoming a means of storing data. Over the past couple of years, especially during 2013 and early 2014, prices for SSD drives have dropped so much that it is already possible to install such a drive in a completely ordinary computer. At the same time, the speed of modern SSD drives is such that their use provides the greatest increase in performance in terms of money spent.

For $120 - $150 spent on a good SSD drive, you can get more real performance gains than the same money spent on a processor or RAM.

Even the crisis of 2015-2016 did not affect the availability of SSD drives. During these years, SSD drives cost at the level of a 2.5" HDD, although adjusted for capacity by a factor of 4 (128 Gb SSD cost the same as 500 Gb HDD). In 2017, SSD drives became slightly more expensive relative to HDDs.

Characteristics of SSD drives

This part of the article will describe the most significant characteristics of SSD drives. Technical parameters that improve or worsen the consumer quality of SSD drives.

Main characteristics of SSD

These are the SSD parameters that most influence the consumer quality of the drives.

Manufacturer

SSD drives are made by many companies. Even more companies sell them under their own labels without manufacturing them (OEM production). But there are only a few companies whose discs are safe and secure to buy.

Intel. The company, together with Micron, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. It is no coincidence that they provide a 5-year warranty on their discs.
Micron(trademark Crucial). The company, together with Intel, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. The difference from Intel is that Micron (Crucial) focuses on the budget segment of the market. Lower price, shorter warranty period. But the disks are good, although they don’t shine with speed.
Samsung. One of the leaders in the SSD market. And not only in terms of sales volume, but also technologically. The company produces its own flash memory and its own controllers. The disks are 100% proprietary - both memory and controllers, everything is our own. Although in the budget EVO 850 series, some models may have foreign controllers (Phison or Silicon Motion).
Plextor. A Japanese company famous for its laser drives. In fact, the SSD is not made by itself - Lite-On makes them for it. But the discs are very good. On Marvell controllers. Plextor is not only about quality, but also about speed.
Corsair. An American company known for the high quality of various products - RAM, power supplies. The company's products are aimed at so-called "enthusiasts", people willing to pay more for higher quality and speed. However, their budget models can be very average in speed.
SanDisk. An American company, one of the leaders in the production of flash drives and SSD drives. Partner of Toshiba in the production of flash memory chips. Thus, disks are made from its own flash memory.
Toshiba. The Japanese company is, among other things, a manufacturer of flash memory chips. Thus, disks are made from its own flash memory.

SSD disk capacity

SSD drive manufacturers indicate this difference in the specifications of their drive models. Therefore, before buying a fast drive, carefully read its specifications; perhaps the size you have your eye on is not as fast as you expect.

That's when size matters.

There is one more feature related to the capacity of SSD drives. There are groups of models based on capacity, but not all models from this group have the same capacity. Example. Group with a capacity of 120/128 GB. Some models in this group have a capacity of 120 GB, while others have a capacity of 128 GB. What is this connected with?

The fact is that in fact all disks in this group have a capacity of 128 GB, but on some models 8 GB is reserved both to level out the wear of flash memory cells and to replace failed cells.

Some manufacturers may not be entirely sure of the quality and lifespan of the flash memory used in their model and therefore make such a reserve. Some people make such a reserve simply for greater reliability. For example, the quality of flash memory in Intel drives is very high, however, the company is playing it safe by making a reserve of cells.

Controller used in the disk

The best controllers are considered Marvell And Samsung MDX. More details about controllers later in this article.

Write speed degradation (garbage collection)

Reduced writing speed on the SSD disk after it is completely full and after filling the data will be deleted. That is, writing to reusable memory blocks. Read more about this in the section.

Minor SSD Features

Hardware encryption with support for TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 standards. This makes it possible to use hardware encryption but manage it from the OS. For example, it will be possible to offload the central processor when using Windows BitLocker.

Power Loss Protection. Some SSD drive models have protection against sudden power failure. Usually these are just capacitors, the charge of which is enough for the disk to complete the necessary write operations to the memory cells.

Interfaces

SATA

Today (2014) all SSD drives are available with a SATA 3 interface. However, there are still many computers with SATA 2 (SATA 300) and even SATA 1 (SATA 150) controllers installed on their motherboards. Is it possible to install a new SSD drive in such a computer?

Of course you can. However, you need to understand that in this case the new SSD drive will produce real speed significantly lower than its rated characteristics.

Modern SSD drives can typically perform read operations at speeds of over 500 MB per second. And recording at a speed of more than 400 MB per second. This speed can be fully realized on computers with a SATA 3 (SATA 600) controller, for which the practical data transfer speed limit is approximately 570 MB per second.

But for SATA 2 controllers, practical speed is limited to approximately 270 MB per second. Accordingly, for SATA 1 controllers it is even lower - less than 150 MB per second. So, if you put a new SSD drive into an old computer, it will run slower than it can.

So for a new SSD drive you need to buy a new computer? No.

There are other options to get full speed on your old computer. You can install a SATA 3 controller made on a PCI or PCI-express board. And then connect the SSD drive through this controller.

PCI-express

In addition, there are now models of SSD drives that are made in the form of a PCI-express card, for example Plextor M6e. So you don’t need to buy anything else, just insert the disk card into the PCI-e slot and that’s it. You can also install an M.2 form factor SSD into the PCI-e slot, but through an adapter card from M.2 to PCI-e.

M.2 (Next Generation Form Factor, NGFF)

Also, a new, faster interface for peripheral devices has now been approved - M.2. You can buy an M.2 adapter made on a PCI-express board and then install an SSD drive with an M.2 interface there. The disk mentioned above Plextor M6e, just such an option is a PCI-express card with an M.2 adapter, on which a disk with an M.2 interface is installed.

The new M.2 interface (Next Generation Form Factor, NGFF) is essentially a PCI-express bus, only the connector has been changed - it is adapted not for expansion cards, but for small devices. SSD drives in the M.2 form factor are already on sale. This interface should provide data transfer speeds higher than the practical limit for SATA 3 - 570 MB per second. The M.2 interface specification assumes the use of 4 PCI-express lines. For SSD drives in the M.2 form factor, 2 PCI-express lanes are used so that theoretically the exchange speed with the drive can reach 2 GB per second.

Memory

There are two types of flash memory (flash-memory) - NAND and NOR.

The difference between NAND memory and NOR is that the cells are combined into blocks and processed in blocks. While in NOR, each cell is processed individually. NAND memory has longer access times to memory cells, but is significantly cheaper to manufacture.

In the production of SSD drives, NAND type flash memory is used.

NAND flash memory manufacturers

Memory for SSD drives is manufactured by only a few companies - Intel and Micron (general production), Toshiba and SanDisk (general production), Samsung, Hynix.

The first such memory was created by Toshiba in the late 80s of the last century. Thus, it is the oldest NAND flash manufacturer.

Based on the type of pin layout in the chip package and subsequent access from the controller, NAND flash is divided into two types:

Synchronous and asynchronous ONFI. It is manufactured by Intel and Micron, Hynix
Asynchronous Toggle Mode. It is made by Samsung, Toshiba and SanDisk.

Types of NAND Flash Memory Cells

Today (in 2014) SSD drives use NAND flash memory with three types of cells:

NAND SLC(single-level cell) - flash memory in one physical cell which stores one bit of information.
NAND MLC(multi-level cell) - flash memory in one physical cell which stores two bits of information.
NAND TLC(triple level cell) - flash memory in one physical cell which stores three bits of information.

The difference between these types is that as the number of bits stored in one cell increases, the cost of memory in terms of its capacity decreases. That is, relatively speaking, 128 GB of MLC memory is cheaper than the same 128 GB, but of the SLC type.

However, you have to pay for everything. As the number of bits per cell increases, the number of write cycles that cell can withstand decreases. For example, SLC type memory can withstand up to 5000 - 10,000 rewrite cycles. And the writing limit for MLC memory is up to 3000 cycles. For TLC type memory this limit is even lower - 1000 write cycles.

That is, as the number of bits per cell increases, the lifetime of this cell decreases. But at the same time, the recording speed increases.

In 2017, we can talk about the victorious march of TLC memory. Probably more than half of all SSD drives are made on this memory.

Basic parameters of flash memory for SSD

The main characteristics of flash memory for SSD drives are:

The number of write cycles that a single cell of this memory can withstand. This parameter determines the lifespan and reliability of flash memory.
The technical process by which the flash memory crystal is manufactured.
Type of flash memory cells.

The second and third flash memory parameters directly affect the first parameter. The dependency is as follows:

Reducing the process technology reduces the lifespan of flash memory.
Increasing the number of bits per cell reduces the lifetime of flash memory.

That is, MLC type memory will have a shorter lifespan than SLC type memory. Memory manufactured using a 25-nanometer process will have a longer lifespan than one manufactured using a 19-nanometer process.

Memory capacity (size)

Indicated in gigabytes. The peculiarity of SSDs is that larger capacity disks provide faster data exchange speeds, especially when recording. The difference in writing speed between a 120/128 GB disk and a 480/512 GB disk can be up to two or three times.

For example, a disk with a capacity of 120/128 GB can give a maximum recording speed of less than 200 MB per second, and a disk of the same model, but with a capacity of 480/512 GB will give a writing speed of more than 400 MB per second.

This difference is due to the fact that the SSD disk controller works with all memory crystals simultaneously (in parallel). And one disk model uses the same memory crystals. Accordingly, the difference in capacity is the difference in the number of crystals. Fewer memory crystals means less parallelization of operations and lower speed.

There is no need to confuse memory crystals and memory chips. One chip can have from one to four memory crystals. That is, in disks of different capacities the number of microcircuits may be the same - 8, but the number of crystals will be different.

Manufacturers of SSD drives indicate this difference in write speed in the specifications of their drive models. Therefore, before buying a fast drive, carefully read its specifications; perhaps the size you have your eye on is not as fast as you expect.

It happens that a person reads a test review on the Internet, which says that the XX disk gives a write speed of 450 MB per second. And buys this disk model. Installs and is surprised to discover that the write speed is only 200 MB per second. The thing is that he read about a model with a capacity of 512 GB, but bought a model with a capacity of 128 GB.

This difference increases as new 128-bit memory crystals enter the market, instead of 64-bit ones. Simply put, if an SSD is assembled on 64-bit memory chips, then full speed of read/write operations is possible on disks with a capacity of 240/256 GB. And if the disk is assembled on 128-bit memory chips, then the full speed of read/write operations is only possible on 480/512 GB disks.

For example SSD drive Crucial M500 assembled on 128-bit memory chips. There are 4 models in this line:

120 GB - write speed 130 MB per second.
240 GB - write speed 250 MB per second.
480 GB and 960 GB - write speed 400 MB per second.

As you can see, the difference in recording speed between the younger and older models is more than three times. Although these are the same discs in all respects. Except for the number of memory crystals. By the way, Crucial in its 2014 model M550 uses crystals of different bit depths. For 128 and 256 GB models, 64-bit crystals are used. For 512 GB and 1 TB models, 128-bit crystals are used. Due to this, the difference in speed between the younger and older models has been reduced.

There is one more aspect depending on the disk capacity. The larger the disk capacity, the theoretically longer its service life. The fact is that a flash memory cell can withstand a limited number of write cycles and when this limit is reached, for example, an MLC type cell has been written to 3000 times, it fails.

All SSD disk controllers use cell interleaving during recording in order to even out cell wear. Free memory is used for interleaving. Accordingly, the less the disk is occupied with data and programs, the more opportunities the controller has for interleaving cells and the longer the memory will last.

Large disk capacity is the easiest way to increase free disk space. Let's assume that your programs and data occupy 100 gigabytes. If this is placed on a 120 or 128 GB disk, then the disk will be almost entirely occupied and few cells will be available for striping. But if the disk capacity is 240 or 256 GB, then a lot of cells will be available for striping - more than 50%. Thus, the load on the cells will be much lower and there will be longer and more even wear.

Controllers

The computer cannot gain direct access to flash memory, so in addition to memory chips, a controller chip is also installed in the disks. Several companies produce such microcircuits:

SandForce. Now this company is owned by another company - LSI. SandForce controllers, such as the SF2881, are the most common. They dominate the budget SSD segment. Even Intel produces SSD drives on these controllers (models 520, 530).
Marvell- their controllers 88SS9187 and 88SS9174 are used in high-performance SSD drives from different manufacturers, in particular Micron (Crucial), Plextor, SanDisk. For example, some of the fastest SSD drives in the world are Plextor M5 Pro, Crucial M500, Crucial M550, use controllers Marvell88SS9187, 88SS9189. The company has also released a fast controller for the interface supporting NVMe (M.2).
Indilinx. Now this company is owned by OCZ and the latest controller model is called Barefoot 3. Accordingly, these controllers are mainly used only in OCZ drives.
LAMD (Link_A_Media Devices). The fast but rarely used LM87800 controller. For example, it is used in Corsair Neutron drive models. The company was bought by the Korean Hynix and these controllers are used only in conjunction with Hynix flash memory.
Phison. This company has long been known for its controllers for USB flash drives. Recently, it has begun an attack on the SSD drive market. It offers low-cost solutions for the production of SSD drives - controller, firmware, board design. Its controllers are used in budget models, for example Corsair LS, SmartBuy Ignition 2.
MDX. This controller was developed by Samsung and is used in its drives.
Intel. In some models of its SSD drives, Intel uses its own controller. These are server models S3500, S3700, as well as the Intel 730 model aimed at the business segment of the market.
Silicon Motion. Another company offering budget controllers for SSDs. In terms of performance, nothing outstanding. However, companies like Intel and Micron use Silicon Motion controllers in their very successful 2018 models - Intel 545s and Crucial MX500, which demonstrate high speeds in both read and write.

Various characteristics of the SSD disk depend on the controller. Speed of operation, lifespan of flash memory, resistance to data corruption.

For example, Marvell controllers provide high performance with operations on arbitrary data blocks. This is exactly the load that falls on the disks in real computer operation. The Intel controller is focused on high performance under conditions of a large number of parallel requests (server load model).

But SandForce controllers have an unpleasant feature - after the disk is full and cleared, the write speed does not return to its original values (when the disks were empty). The speed of operation also decreases when the disk is very full. At the same time, SandForce controllers provide high recording speed on easily compressible data, such as texts and documents.

Each controller has its own characteristics. Your strengths and weaknesses. If you have certain mandatory requirements for an SSD drive, then when choosing a model it makes sense to study the features of the controllers.

Inexpensive SSD drives

Inexpensive SSD drives are usually made on SandForce controllers, and Phison has been actively working in this segment for the last couple of years.

The reason for this is that both LSI (SandForce) and Phison offer complete solutions for manufacturing SSD drives. There is not only a controller, but also the firmware for it, as well as the board design for mounting all the hardware.

Thus, the manufacturer of finished drives does not need to do anything other than solder the parts onto the board and mount the board into the case.

TRIM (garbage collection)

SSD drives have an important difference from HDDs, which affects the write speed. In HDD, recording is performed “on top” of old data. Disk blocks that previously contained data and then that data was deleted are simply marked as free. And when you need to write, the HDD controller immediately writes to these free blocks.

When using flash memory, blocks that previously contained some information must be cleared before being written. This leads to the fact that when writing to previously used blocks, the writing speed drops significantly, because the controller needs to prepare them for writing (clear them).

The problem is that operating systems traditionally do not work with the file system in such a way that deleting files clears the contents of the blocks on the disk. After all, there was no need for this on HDDs.

Therefore, when using SSD drives, the effect of “performance degradation” occurs. When the disk is new and all flash memory blocks are clean, the write speed is very high, as specified. But after the disk is completely full and some of the files are deleted, re-writing will occur at a lower speed. Because the disk controller will have to clear the flash memory blocks before writing new data there.

The drop in write speed to reused flash memory blocks can be very high. Up to values close to the recording speed of HDD disks. When testing SSD drives, they often even conduct a special test to reduce the write speed of reusable blocks.

To combat this phenomenon, the new operating systems have added the TRIM disk ATA command. When a file is deleted, the file system driver sends the TRIM command to the SSD disk controller. Using this command, the SSD disk controller clears freed flash memory blocks, but does this in the background, in between read and write operations.

Using this command returns full write speed to reused flash memory blocks. However, not all operating systems support this command. But only relatively recent versions:

Linux kernel since version 2.6.33.
Windows 7, 8 and 10.
Mac OS X starting from version 10.6.6 (but for this version you need to install an update).

Until now, the popular WIndows XP (as well as Vista) do not support this command.

A workaround for older OSes is to use third-party programs. For example, this could be the hdparm program (version 9.17 and higher) or proprietary programs of the SSD drive manufacturer, for example Intel SSD Toolbox.

There are two models of SSD drives in which the degradation of the speed of reused blocks is less pronounced than others:

Plextor M5 pro (old model, discontinued).
Plextor M5S (old model, discontinued).
Intel 545s (2018 model).

The firmware of these disks can partially clear unused blocks without the TRIM command. Restoring the write speed to higher values, but not to the full rated write speed.

These are, of course, not the only models that can collect “garbage” on their own. Over time, there are more such models, because successful solutions are replicated by other manufacturers.

There are disk models that, even after executing the TRIM command, do not return to the full rated write speed.

The TRIM command is most often disabled when using a RAID array.

Note! When using this function, it will be impossible to recover deleted files!

SSD drives by manufacturer

Personally, I divide all SSD drive manufacturers into two categories - the big eight and all the rest. The Big Eight are Intel, Plextor, Corsair, Samsung, Micron (under the Crucial brand), Toshiba, SanDisk, Hynix. Companies that sell good and excellent SSD drives. Each of them has its own advantages, for example Intel, Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk, Hynix and Micron make drives from their own flash memory. And Samsung uses not only its own memory in its SSD drives, but also its own controllers.

But in principle, you can buy any disc from any of these seven companies without going into details.

Everyone else is a pretty big list.

Intel. The company, together with Micron, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. It is no coincidence that they provide a 5-year warranty on their discs. Some models also have their own controllers - that is, 100% Intel - such models as Intel DC S3500, Intel DC S3700, Intel 730, Intel 545s, Intel 760p. Intel's drives are very good, but the company primarily targets the business segment of the market and therefore its drives are quite expensive.

But her CDs are worth the money. For example, server SSD drives DC S3500 and S3700 use not only selected memory, but also functions such as power loss protection and advanced checksum verification for stored data. This makes them very reliable means of storing data.

Micron(trademark Crucial). The company, together with Intel, produces flash memory. Thus, it makes its own disks from its own memory and selects the best memory copies for its disks. The difference from Intel drives is that Micron (Crucial) focuses on the budget segment of the market. Uses its own memory and Marvell controllers. In 2014, the company releases a disc that could become a new hit (like M4) - Crucial M550, Crucial MX500.

Samsung. One of the leaders in the SSD market. And not only in terms of sales volume, but also technologically. The company produces its own flash memory and its own controllers. The disks are 100% proprietary - both memory and controllers, everything is our own. As of the first half of 2014, the model Samsung 840 Pro This is the fastest SSD drive in the consumer segment of the market (drives for regular computers). The speed of this drive already exhausts the capabilities of the SATA 3 interface. New successful models are Samsung 850 and 860 EVO.

Plextor. The Japanese company is famous for its laser drives. In fact, the SSD is not made by itself - Lite-On makes them for it. But the discs are very good. Intel-Micron or Toshiba memory and Marvell controllers are used. Famous model Plextor M5 Pro despite the fact that it is no longer young and in 2014 remains one of the fastest SSD drives. In 2017, the company remains one of the market leaders in terms of disk speed with M.2 drives of the M8Pe G(N) series. Currently brand Plextor belongs to the Taiwanese company Lite-On, which previously manufactured drives for Plextor under contract.

Corsair. An American company known for the high quality of various products - RAM, power supplies. The company's products are aimed at so-called "enthusiasts", people willing to pay more for higher quality and speed. The company has several model lines - GS and GT drives on the SandForce controller, LS drives on the Phison controller, Neutron drives on the LAMD controller.

SanDisk- it has its own production of flash memory (shared with Toshiba) and some models of SSD drives from this company demonstrate very high performance. The company has a long and successful history of various types of flash drives (USB flash drives, memory cards).

Toshiba- it has its own production of flash memory (common with SanDisk). The company has a long and successful history of producing both flash memory and conventional (HDD) disks.

Hynix. This Korean company produces flash memory. And it recently bought a company that makes LAMD controllers. So now she has SSD drives from her own flash memory and with her own controller.

SSD disk lifespan

The time that an SSD drive will work is generally determined by the type of flash memory. That is, what type of cells is used and what process is used to make the memory. It was already written above that SLC type cells have the largest resource, followed by MLC and finally TLC.

What does the limit on the number of write cycles mean in a practical sense? And how can we roughly estimate the possible lifespan of a particular disk?

Let's take a conventional disk that uses MLC flash memory produced using a 19-nanometer technical process. Let's assume that the manufacturer of this memory specifies a write limit of 3000 cycles for it. This is an indicator for good MLC flash memory manufactured using 19 or 20 nanometer manufacturing processes.

Based on this memory, a disk with a capacity of 120 GB was manufactured. The 3000 cycle limit means you can completely write your disc 3000 times. If you fill it completely every day, then empty it completely and fill it completely again the next day, then theoretically the memory will live for 3000 days. That is more than 8 years. If you write only 60 gigabytes per day and erase the disk only once every two days, then the lifespan increases to 16 years.

Of course this is simplified. But it is clear that the lifespan of flash memory is quite long. Even if we take a TLC flash-based disk with a limit of 1000 write cycles, this gives a theoretical disk lifespan of at least 3 years, provided that it is completely filled every day.

That is, in all these complaints about the constantly decreasing recording limit, there is no serious basis.

So you can independently estimate the lifespan of a disk, knowing the type of flash memory that is used in this disk. You can more accurately determine it if you have information about the manufacturer of this memory, because flash memory manufacturers indicate write limits for their products.

Finally, many disk manufacturers, in their disk specifications, explicitly indicate disk write limits in gigabytes per day. For example, Samsung in the specifications of the 840 Pro drive writes: “A 5-year warranty is provided provided that no more than 40 gigabytes are written to the disc per day.” And Micron, for its Crucial M550 drive, specifies a recording limit of 72 terabytes, or approximately 66 gigabytes per day for three years.

However, in 2015, Samsung provides a 10-year warranty on some PRO series models.

In 2017, I can say from my own experience that none of the drives that I installed more than 3 years ago have yet broken. True, I have never installed SmartBuy disks. Only Plextor, SanDisk, Samsung, Toshiba, Intel.

Update 2019.

Firstly, the issue of unreliability of TLC memory can be said to be resolved. At least for market leaders. In 2019, the largest flash memory manufacturers, Intel, Micron, Samsung, declare the write resource for their TLC memory to be the same as what they gave for MLC memory several years ago. And this resource is such that it allows them to give a 5-year warranty on their SSD drives. And such a warranty period is very rarely available on an HDD.

Secondly, from my own experience, I can add that out of several dozen SSDs that I have installed in computers over the past 6 years, only one has failed - the budget Plextor model (model range S). And this Plextor did not die to the state of a brick - at the very least, it worked, so it was possible to copy data from there. For comparison, over the same years I replaced about a dozen HDD drives due to their failure. HDD drives in laptops die especially often.

So today SSD is more reliable than HDD. However, you need to keep in mind that we are talking about SSD drives from the best manufacturers (top eight). Discs like SmartBuy, Dexp and the like are, I think, a big lottery.

How to extend the life of an SSD drive

Free disk space. Don't fill it up completely - try to have 20 - 30 percent free space on the disk. The presence of free space allows the controller to level out the wear of memory cells. This free space should not be allocated, that is, not assigned to any partition with the file system. By the way, the presence of such an unmarked space also allows you not to bother about TRIM.

Uninterruptible power supply. If you are using an SSD in a regular computer, connect the computer via a UPS. If the SSD is in a laptop, monitor the battery condition - do not allow the laptop to turn off when the battery is completely discharged. SSD drives don't like sudden power loss. If there is an abnormal power outage on the disk, the data in the flash memory cells may be damaged. As an option, you can buy a disk model that has Power Loss Protection.

Refrigerate. SSD drives (like HDDs, like any electronics) do not like overheating. The higher the temperature of the disk, the faster it will fail. If you install an SSD in a laptop, then you can only hope that the designers of your laptop have provided for the possibility of sufficient heat removal from the disk.

But if you install an SSD in a regular computer, then your hands are free. The least you can do is use a metal adapter from 2.5" (SSD drive) to 3.5" (drive box in the case). The metal of the adapter will transfer heat from the disk to the body. However, for drives in a plastic case, a metal adapter is useless.

In the context of cooling, the big plus is the aluminum SSD case. If the disk is made wisely, then the metal case is used as a radiator to remove heat from the microcircuits.

In addition, you can install a fan - many cases even provide space for a special fan that blows air over the drive cage. Some cases even have this fan.

No need to defragment. File system fragmentation does not reduce the speed of the SSD. Therefore, by doing defragmentation you will not gain speed. However, by defragmenting, you will shorten the life of the disk by increasing write operations.

Installing an SSD on an old motherboard

You can breathe new life into your old computer by replacing the HDD with an SSD. All disk operations will be performed two to three times faster. And the computer performs a lot of disk operations - starting the OS, launching programs, opening files, using virtual memory (swap), caching in browsers, editing files, etc.

If you have an old motherboard with a SATA 2 (SATA 300) controller, then the new SSD drive will not work at full speed. There are two options to fix the matter:

Buy a SATA 3 controller on a PCI or PCI-e board.
Buy an SSD drive mounted on a PCI-e card, for example Plextor M6e.

Although, in my opinion, it’s easier to leave it as is. In real life, the difference in speed between connecting via SATA 2 and via SATA 3 may not be very large. It will only appear in operations that involve reading large amounts of data located sequentially on the disk. And accordingly, when recording large amounts of data sequentially. In practice, usually both writing and reading occur in small amounts in arbitrary (non-sequential) areas of the disk. And in this mode, most budget SSD drives provide speeds of less than 300 MB per second.

However, an SSD drive mounted on a PCI-e card is generally a good idea, as it will work faster than if connected via a SATA 3 controller. But this solution also has a drawback. A disk mounted on a PCI-e card cannot be installed in a laptop, but a simple SATA SSD can be used in any computer - a regular one, a laptop, an all-in-one computer, or a nettop.

Common mistakes when using SSD drives

Error one

Moving a large number of files to a regular mechanical magnetic disk (HDD). Some people install only the operating system and programs on an SSD drive, and transfer everything else to the HDD drive. Temporary file folders, browser cache folders, documents, and even the entire user profile.

They do this in order to save space on the SSD drive and increase its lifespan by reducing write operations. After all, for example, folders of temporary files are permanent write operations.

Indeed, space on the SSD is saved and the lifespan is increased. But this significantly reduces the speed of the computer. After all, the faster the disk reads or writes temporary files, documents, profile files, the faster the work is done.

My categorical opinion is that everything related to the OS and programs should be placed on an SSD drive. Working documents also need to be stored on an SSD drive. It makes sense to store only large amounts of data on the HDD - music, movies. Or data that is very rarely used - archives. Only in this case will you get the highest speed from your SSD drive. Don't forget - the main reason to buy an SSD drive is speed! And that means you need to squeeze this speed to the maximum.

Error two

Disk Defragmenter. Out of habit left over from using HDD drives, people also defragment SSD drives. There is no need to do this! The speed of access to arbitrary data blocks on an SSD disk is approximately two orders of magnitude higher compared to an HDD. Therefore, data fragmentation no longer affects the reading speed of this data.

Summary

Basic parameters of SSD drives

Manufacturer. The best manufacturers of SSD drives are Intel, Micron (Crucial brand), Samsung, Plextor, SanDisk, Toshiba, Corsair.
Disk capacity. The minimum disk size, which provides greater speed and a good supply of free space to extend life, is 240/256 gigabytes. For drives with a capacity of 60 - 128 GB, the write speed will almost certainly be below 200 MB per second. Although there are some models of such disks with a writing speed of more than 200 MB per second.
Controller. The best controllers today are Samsung, Marvell, Intel, Silicon Motion. Intel and Samsung controllers are used only in drives from these manufacturers. Marvell and Silicon Motion controllers are used in drives from different manufacturers.

Secondary parameters of SSD drives

Memory type. SLC memory “lives” the longest, but such memory is not available in retail today. MLC and TLC memory, in descending order, have a shorter lifespan. In 2018, there are already few disks with MLC memory; most disks use TLC memory.
Memory process technology. Memory crystals created using a 19 or 20 nanometer process have a shorter lifespan than crystals created using a 25 nanometer process. In 2018, memory is produced using a 14-nanometer technical process.
Hardware encryption with support for TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 standards.
Power Loss Protection.

Which SSD drive to choose

Something like this:

Manufacturer: Intel, Samsung, Plextor, Corsair, Micron (Crucial).
Memory type: NAND Flash MLC or TLC.
Disk capacity: ranging from 240 - 256 Gigabytes.

For example these models: Intel 730, Intel S3500, Plextor M5 Pro, Crucial M550, Samsung 840 Pro. From these models Samsung 840 Pro And Crucial M550 will give the highest writing and reading speeds to date. A disk Intel S3500 will provide the highest guarantee of data integrity and safety.

Attention! These are old models, no longer in production. See the update sections at the end of the article - the current models are listed there.

Of course, when choosing a disk, you need to take into account the tasks that will be performed on the computer. If this is an ordinary home or office computer on which the main work is the Internet and documents, then the cheapest SSD drive with a capacity of 120/128 GB will do.

If this is a gaming computer, then firstly you need to take a volume of at least 240/256 gigabytes, and secondly, select a high-speed model. Because one game sometimes takes up to ten gigabytes on the disk, and during the launch process and during the game, large amounts of information are read from the disk.

If you have a computer for video processing, you need a capacity of more than 240/256 gigabytes and a model with the highest sequential writing and reading speeds.

If the computer will store and process critical information that cannot be lost, then apparently the best choice would be Intel S3500 or even Intel S3700.

If you plan to use the SSD with an old OS, such as Windows XP, it makes sense to think about the effect of “speed degradation” and how to avoid it (more details in the section).

Data recovery

SSD drives have one drawback compared to HDD drives. In the event of a breakdown, recovering data from a “dead” SSD drive will be much more difficult, and most often completely impossible.

This is due to the fact that physically, pieces of data are stored in different cells and even in different flash memory chips. And only the disk controller “knows” how to get complete data from this “mess”. And the loss of some cells, especially those where service information is stored, can lead to the impossibility of data recovery.

There is one more feature. Even on a working SSD, recovering previously deleted files may not be possible. If TRIM is enabled for the drive, then the controller will destroy data from deleted files.

On HDD drives, data from deleted files is not destroyed until space is needed for new files. And this makes it possible to recover deleted files (not always, but often).

So, follow the most important computer rule - it is necessary to make copies of important data. This rule, however, applies to any type of disk in general, and not just to SSD. Any disk can die at any moment.

Update 2015

In rubles, SSDs have become more expensive and plus the general crisis is bad news.

The good news is that there are SSD drives with a 10-year warranty - these are some Samsung 850 Pro series models. And Intel even gives a 5-year warranty for its budget 535 series. Despite the fact that the smallest disks (120 GB) from these companies already cost around $100.

Prices (in dollars) go down, productivity goes up.

An interesting five of the inexpensive SSD drives at the end of 2015 (from the Yulmart assortment) in order of increasing price:

Samsung 650 MZ-650120Z
SanDisk Ultra II
Samsung 850 EVO Series, MZ-75E120BW
Intel 535, SSDSC2BW120H601
Samsung 850 PRO Series, MZ-7KE128BW

Update 2016

The good news is that SSD drives that use TLC memory can have a lifespan comparable to drives with MLC memory.

This became possible thanks to the development of a new algorithm for removing signals from memory cells - LDPC decoding. Today (in 2016) there are three controllers that support this algorithm:

Samsung MGX, SSD drives Samsung EVO 750 and 850.
Marvell 88SS1074, SSD drives Plextor M7V.
Silicon Motion SM2256

According to memory wear resistance tests, Samsung EVO 850 and Plextor M7V drives show very impressive results. On par with good drives with MLC memory.

And the speed of work is very good. For example Plextor M7V 128 GB, on an Intel SATA 3 controller, gives a read speed of 497 MB/sec, and a write speed of 247 MB/sec (measured in the proprietary Plextool program). But Plextor M7V is a budget model, one of the cheapest among all SSD drives in mid-2016.

A disk Samsung EVO 850(250 GB) gives speeds (measured in Samsung proprietary software):

On the SATA 2 controller (Intel ICH9): 268 MB/sec read and 250 MB/sec write. This speed was also confirmed by measurements in Ubuntu Linux.
On the SATA 3 controller (Intel): 540 MB/sec read and 505 MB/sec write.

On SATA 2, the speed is almost up to the limit of the SATA 2 standard itself. On SATA 3, the reading speed is also up to the limit of the standard. And at the same time, Samsung gives a 5-year warranty on drives of the line EVO 850. And the result is an extremely fast and very reliable disk.

Update 2017

Many SSD drives in the M.2 format have appeared on sale, at prices comparable to the 2.5" SATA format. But more importantly, motherboards with an M.2 connector have appeared.

However, a clarification needs to be made. Not all M.2 format drives can provide read and write speeds significantly higher than through SATA III, that is, significantly higher than 570 MB per second. There are models that, having the M.2 format, nevertheless provide speeds at the level of only SATA III.

Speeds closer to 1 GB per second (or higher) depend on whether both the drive and motherboard support the NVMe (NVM Express) protocol. This is a protocol for working with disks via the PCI-e bus. It is similar to the AHCI protocol, but has advantages over it. The NVMe protocol places an emphasis on parallelizing read and write operations. And it has a greater job queue depth.

Before purchasing, you need to check the specifications of the SSD drive and motherboard. To support NVMe on the motherboard, not only the SATA III line, but also the PCI-e lanes (2 or 4) must be connected to the M.2 connector.

Here, for example, are several motherboards with an M.2 connector and NVMe support:

ASUS H110M-A/M.2
ASUS H170M-PLUS
ASUS PRIME B250M-A
ASUS B150-PRO

And accordingly, for example, SSD drives with NVMe support:

Plextor M8Pe, PX-128M8PeG(N)
Samsung EVO NVMe M.2

In addition, to support NVMe you need to use a fairly recent version of the OS. Windows supports NVMe out of the box starting with version 8.1. For Windows 7, you need to install an update and this is non-trivial, because the driver needs to be integrated into the installation image. Microsoft has instructions. There is another instruction in this topic, in Russian.

On Linux you need to use kernel version 3.13 19 or higher.

What are the benefits of using an NVMe-enabled SSD drive? At a minimum, today, this is approximately twice the speed of operation compared to SATA III. And in reading mode, the speed is already 3-4 times higher than through SATA III. And over time, this gap will increase. So it makes sense to bother.

If you are buying a new computer in 2017, then I advise you to buy a motherboard and an SSD drive with NVMe support.

Update 2018

Cheap models

There are many SSDs on sale with the cheapest possible hardware platform. Manufacturers are reducing the number of processor cores, the number of memory channels, and removing the DRAM cache (the so-called DRAM-less controllers). For example, the Phison S11 controller is not only single-core, but also dual-channel and without DRAM cache. Such disks have a low price and beautiful figures for read and write speeds, in the specifications

Manufacturers of such SSD drives draw beautiful numbers in the specifications using a software trick called pseudo-SLC cache. The essence of this software solution is that part of the TLC flash memory operates in pseudo-SLC mode, that is, one bit is written to the cell instead of three. This makes it possible to significantly increase the recording speed. However, this only works as long as the write size does not exceed the size of this pseudo-SLC cache or until the disk is completely full so that there are no free cells for the pseudo-SLC cache. And then the disk produces real, sad performance. Under high recording load, such disks can be even slower than HDDs.

And of course, given the weak controller processor and the lack of a DRAM cache, such drives have low performance in access mode to arbitrary blocks with a queue depth of 1-4. And this is the most common operating mode for a disk in a home (non-gaming) and office computer.

Some of these models:

WD Green and Blue
Toshiba TR200
Kingston A400
Sandisk SSD Plus (SDSSDA)
GoodRam CL100
SmartBuy Jolt

Be that as it may, even such an SSD drive will generally be faster than an HDD.

SATA goes down in history

Of course, SSDs with the SATA interface will be produced for a long time. To replace HDD in work computers. But all major manufacturers make their best models in M.2 format and with NVMe support. The reason for this is that the SATA interface no longer allows for the data transfer speed that modern SSD drives provide. The speed limit for the SATA3 bus is approximately 570 MB per second. And modern SSD drives can transfer data at speeds of more than 1 GB per second.

So if you're looking to buy a new computer or upgrade, look for a motherboard with an M.2 connector and NVMe support. And put an M.2 NVMe SSD there. However, you need to take into account that a motherboard with an M.2 connector, or a disk in M.2 format, may not have support for the NVMe protocol - in this case, the disk will operate at SATA3 speed (SATA mode). It is necessary to clarify whether a specific motherboard and a specific M.2 SSD drive have NVMe support.

3D XPoint (Intel Optane memory)

The first disks (from Intel) made on a new type of memory - 3D XPoint - appeared in retail sales. This memory is fundamentally different from NAND flash memory. Firstly, it is not processed in blocks - each cell can be addressed individually. Secondly, the cells do not need to be erased before recording. Thirdly, it has a higher recording resource.

In linear read and write operations, these 3D XPoint memory drives provide speeds comparable to the fastest TLC NAND drives. But in operations of reading and writing small blocks at arbitrary addresses and with a short queue, 3D XPoint memory is faster than NAND flash. And this mode of disk operation is most common in practice.

The capacity of the first (for the retail market) 3D XPoint disks is not yet sufficient for their individual use (16 and 32 GB). And today Intel offers Optane memory technology for these drives. The 3D XPoint disk is installed in the M.2 slot and this disk is used as a cache for a regular HDD disk. It seems to me that this solution is too complicated to implement and insufficiently effective in terms of price. It's easier to use SATA or M.2 SSD. And if you use an M.2 NVMe SSD, it will also be faster than an Optane drive + HDD.

It will be interesting when Optane disks with a capacity of at least 60 GB and at a competitive (with NAND) price will appear in retail.

Good and inexpensive SSD drive models

SATA Samsung 850MZ-7LN120BW- just 850 without the EVO suffix. There is only one model in the line so far, 120 GB. Costs around 3,500 rubles (summer 2018). In this model, everything is mature - DRAM cache, a good controller, plus a new 64-layer TLC 3D V-NAND memory. The result is very good speed performance. A good recording resource is 75 Terabytes.

SATA Hynix SL308- the line includes models with 120, 250 and 500 GB. DRAM cache, own controller, own memory, aluminum case. Like Toshiba, Intel and Samsung, Hynix also produces SSD drives from its own components. The 120 GB model costs around 3,500 rubles.

SATA Crucial MX500- almost the twin brother of the disk Intel SSD 545s. The differences are that a dynamically variable pseudo-SLC cache is used and there are capacitors to protect against sudden power loss (so that the write operation can be completed).

SATA Crucial Micron 1100- the minimum volume in this model line is 256 GB. This model costs around 6,500 rubles. It uses a Marvell controller, DRAM cache and its own TLC 3D NAND memory.

M.2 NVMe Intel 760p- the minimum volume in this model line is 128 GB. The 256 GB model costs around 6,400 rubles and has a 5-year warranty. The disk has - DDR4 DRAM cache, 64-layer TLC 3D V-NAND Intel - Micron, 8-channel SM2262 controller. All together this gives fantastic read and write speeds: 3.2 and 1.3 Gigabytes per second. This is the speed of the first computers with DDR2 RAM! Of course, these are numbers when using a pseudo-SLC cache, but its size (in the 256 GB model) is approximately 6 GB, which covers requests during normal operation. Past the pseudo-SLC cache, the write speed is about 600 MB per second. According to tests, disks of this series give excellent results when performing operations with random blocks and short queues. As of summer 2018, this is the best option in the budget segment.

M.2 NVMe Samsung 960 EVO- the minimum volume in this model line is 250 GB. The 250 GB model costs around 7,000 rubles. It has the same impressive read and write speed figures: 3.2 and 1.5 Gigabytes per second. These are the numbers when using a pseudo-SLC cache, but its size changes dynamically and, if there is free space, in the 250 GB model, it can reach 13 GB. However, this disc is worse than Intel 760p, copes with reading and writing arbitrary blocks and a short queue. And this disk is option number two, if not available Intel 760p.

Update 2019

The good news is that good quality TLC memory has appeared, with a large recording resource. And SSD drives with TLC memory, on average, provide higher write and read speeds than drives with MLC memory. Moreover, they are also cheaper. A good 250 GB SATA SSD can now be purchased for $50-60.

So, now, in the budget segment, there are models that are more productive and more capacious than those in the premium segment a few years ago.

The bad news is that the number of frankly cheap SSD drives has increased. Which are of course very cheap, but buying them is very risky. Every year the number of “manufacturers” of SSD drives increases. And in these mountains of crap it is not easy to find a good product.

The best SATA SSD options for February 2019:

SATA Intel SSD 545s- 256 GB.
SATA Samsung 860 EVO MZ-76E250BW- 250 GB.

Cheap, capacious, fast disks. More details about these models in the 2018 section.

Ivan Sukhov, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 .

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