What kind of ssd drive? Using SSD and HDD in a laptop. Dimensions and connection methods

Currently, solid-state drives are gradually replacing conventional hard drives. If quite recently SSDs were small in size and, as a rule, used to install the system, now there are already disks with a capacity of 1 terabyte and even more. The advantages of such drives are obvious - they are silent, high speed and reliable. Today we will give some tips on how to choose the right SSD.

Before purchasing a new drive, there are a number of things you should pay attention to to help you choose the right device for your system:

Decide on the volume of the SSD;
Find out what connection methods are available on your system;
Pay attention to the “filling” of the disk.

It is based on these parameters that we will choose a drive, so let's look at each of them in more detail.

Solid-state drives last much longer than conventional drives, which means you will be purchasing it for more than one year. That is why it is worth approaching the choice of volume more responsibly.

If you plan to use the SSD for the system and programs, then in this case a 128 GB drive is perfect. If you want to completely replace a regular drive, then in this case you should consider devices with a capacity of 512 GB or more.

In addition, oddly enough, disk size affects both service life and read/write speed. The fact is that with a large storage capacity, the controller has more space to distribute the load across memory cells.

Connection methods

As with any other device, an SSD must be connected to a computer to work. The most common connection interfaces are SATA and PCIe. Drives with the PCIe interface are faster than SATA and are usually manufactured in the form of a card. SATA drives have a nicer appearance and are also universal because they can be connected to both a computer and a laptop.

However, before you buy a drive, it's worth checking whether your motherboard has free PCIe or SATA slots.

M.2 is another interface for connecting SSD drives that can use the SATA bus and PCI-Express (PCIe). The main feature of drives with this connector is their compactness. In total, there are two connector options - with key B and M. They differ in the number of “cuts”. If in the first case (key B) there is one cutout, then in the second there are two.

If we compare connection interfaces in terms of speed, the fastest is PCIe, where data transfer speeds can reach 3.2 Gb/s. But SATA – up to 600 Mb/s.

Memory type

Unlike conventional HDDs, solid-state drives store data in special memory. Now discs are produced with two types of this memory - MLC and TLC. It is the type of memory that determines the resource and speed of the device. Disks with MLC memory type will have the highest performance, so they are best used if you often need to copy, delete, or move large files. However, the cost of such disks is much higher.

For most home computers, drives with TLC memory type are perfect. They are inferior in speed to MLC, but still noticeably superior to conventional storage devices.

Controller chip manufacturers

Chip manufacturers play an important role in disk selection. Each of them has its pros and cons. Thus, controllers based on SandForce chips are more popular. They have lower cost and good performance. The peculiarity of these chips is the use of data compression when recording. There is also a significant drawback - when the disk is more than half full, the read/write speed drops significantly.

Discs with Marvel chips have excellent speeds that are not affected by fill percentage. The only drawback here is the high cost.

Samsung also makes chips for solid-state drives. The peculiarity of these is encryption at the hardware level. However, they also have a drawback. Due to problems with the garbage collection algorithm, the read/write speed may be reduced.

Fizon chips are characterized by high performance and low cost. There are no factors that affect the speed, but on the other hand, they perform poorly during random writing and reading.

LSI-SandForce is another manufacturer of chips for solid-state drive controllers. Products from this manufacturer are quite common. One of the features is data compression during transmission to NAND Flash. As a result, the volume of recorded information is reduced, which in turn saves the resource of the drive itself. The disadvantage is a decrease in controller performance at maximum memory load.

And finally, the last chip manufacturer is Intel. Controllers based on these chips show excellent performance in all aspects, but they also cost much more than others.

In addition to the main manufacturers, there are others. For example, in budget drive models you can find controllers based on jMicron chips, which do a good job of their duties, although the performance of these chips is lower than that of others.

Disc rating

Let's look at a few drives that are the best in their category. As categories, let's take the volume of the drive itself.

Disks up to 128 GB

There are two models in this category Samsung MZ-7KE128BW in the price range up to 8,000 thousand rubles and cheaper Intel SSDSC2BM120A401, the cost of which varies from 4,000 to 5,000 rubles.

The Samsung MZ-7KE128BW model is characterized by high read/write speeds in its category. Thanks to its thin body, it is perfect for installation in an ultrabook. It is possible to speed up work by allocating RAM.

Main characteristics:

Read speed: 550 Mbps
Recording speed: 470 Mbps
Random read speed: 100000 IOPS
Random write speed: 90000 IOPS

IOPS is the number of blocks that can be written or read. The higher this indicator, the higher the performance of the device.

The Intel SSDSC2BM120A401 drive is one of the best among budget devices with a capacity of up to 128 GB. It is characterized by high reliability and is perfect for installation in an ultrabook.

Main characteristics:

Read speed: 470 Mbps
Recording speed: 165 Mbps
Random read speed: 80000 IOPS
Random write speed: 80000 IOPS

Disks with a capacity from 128 to 240-256 GB

The best representative here is the drive Sandisk SDSSDXPS-240G-G25, the cost of which reaches 12 thousand rubles. A cheaper, but no less high-quality model is OCZ VTR150-25SAT3-240G(up to 7 thousand rubles).

Crucial CT256MX100SSD1 Key Features:

Read speed: 520 Mbps
Recording speed: 550 Mbps
Random write speed: 100000 IOPS

Main characteristics of OCZ VTR150-25SAT3-240G:

Read speed: 550 Mbps
Recording speed: 530 Mbps
Random read speed: 90000 IOPS
Random write speed: 95000 IOPS

Disks with a capacity of 480 GB or more

The leader in this category is Crucial CT512MX100SSD1 with an average cost of 17,500 rubles. Cheaper analogue ADATA Premier SP610 512GB, its cost is 7,000 rubles.

Crucial CT512MX100SSD1 Key Features:

Read speed: 550 Mbps
Recording speed: 500 Mbps
Random read speed: 90000 IOPS
Random write speed: 85000 IOPS

Main characteristics of ADATA Premier SP610 512GB:

Read speed: 450 Mbps
Recording speed: 560 Mbps
Random read speed: 72000 IOPS
Random write speed: 73000 IOPS

Conclusion

So, we have considered several criteria for choosing an SSD. Now all you have to do is read the offer and, using the information received, decide which SSD is best for you and your system.

In recent years, the cost of SSD drives has dropped significantly and today, in 2017, you can buy a good SSD for less than $100. Of course, this will be a modest capacity, 120 or 128 gigabytes, but it’s quite enough for a system drive. So, it is already possible and even necessary to switch from old mechanical to new electronic disks.

Why you need to use SSD drives

Advantages of SSD drives over old HDDs:

Less electricity consumption.
Less heat generation.
No noise because there are no moving mechanical parts.
Higher reliability due to the absence of moving mechanical parts.
But the most important thing is several times higher writing and reading speeds. The best SSD models have read and write speeds that exceed even the throughput of the SATA III standard, which is approximately 570 MB per second. That is, the speed of the best SSD drives is higher than the speed of the SATA interface. For HDD speed limits are 130 - 140 MB per second.

Higher writing and reading speeds are the most important advantage of SSD drives, because it is the speed of the drives that has always been the bottleneck in the overall speed of a computer. Relatively speaking, if the disk can run three times faster, then the computer will run twice as fast. Moreover, using an SSD can give speeds even higher than the limit of the SATA interface. Since these are electronic disks and are essentially just boards with microcircuits, they can be made, for example, with a PCI-express interface, and this already provides speeds of more than a gigabyte per second.

For some time, at the beginning of the production of SSD drives, there was a problem with their short life (short compared to HDDs). But today, good models from the best manufacturers can work for years. It is not uncommon for a manufacturer's warranty on these discs to last 5 or even 10 years. So, the only argument against SSDs today is the higher price for 1 GB of capacity. One gigabyte of SSD capacity still costs six times more than HDD. However, this problem can be solved in the following way - use HDD to store large files (videos, etc.), and SSD for the system and programs.

How to choose a good SSD

Now let's move on to the topic of the article. When choosing an SSD, you need to look at two main characteristics - speed and reliability. Speed depends on the components (memory and controller) used in the drive. And reliability depends on the components (memory type) and the manufacturer. Further, this article will discuss in detail all the primary and secondary characteristics of electronic disks.

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 produces flash memory together with Intel. 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 wheels are good.
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.
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.
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.
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, the disks are made from its own flash memory.
Toshiba. The Japanese company is, among other things, a manufacturer of flash memory chips. Thus, the 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 in 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 88SS9187, 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

This part of the article describes the interfaces through which SSD drives are connected to a computer.

SATA

Today (2016) 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 speeds are more than 400 MB per second. This speed can be fully realized on computers with a SATA 3 controller (SATA 600), 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 2016) 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. And 128 GB of TLC memory is cheaper than the same amount of MLC.

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.

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 disk, 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 the 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.
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.

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 over the last couple of years Silicon Motion and Phison have been actively working in this segment.

The reason for this is that these companies 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 that 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
Windows 8
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.
Plextor M5S.

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.

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

The TRIM command may not work if the motherboard's SATA controller was set to IDE mode (for compatibility with an older OS or program).

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

SSD drives by manufacturer

Personally, I divide all SSD drive manufacturers into two categories - the big seven and all the rest. The Big Seven are Intel, Plextor, Corsair, Samsung, Micron (under the Crucial brand), Toshiba, SanDisk. Companies that sell good and excellent SSD drives. Each of them has its own advantages, for example Intel, Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk 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'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 produces flash memory together with Intel. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 last 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 2016, Samsung provides a 10-year warranty on some PRO series models. And for some models of its budget EVO line, it provides a 5-year warranty. This is despite the fact that EVO models use TLC type memory.

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. It is better if this free space is not allocated, that is, not assigned to any partition with the file system.

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.

A big plus is the aluminum SSD case. If the drive is designed correctly, the metal case is used as a heat sink to remove heat from the chips.

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.

High quality power supply. If you install the disk in a desktop computer, use a high-quality power supply. However, this point is relevant not only for extending the life of SSD drives, but also of all computer components in general. By the way, HDD drives also do not like “bad” power.

Don't 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, 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 sequentially recording large amounts of data. In practice, usually both writing and reading occur in small amounts in arbitrary (non-sequential) areas of the disk.

However, an SSD drive mounted on a PCI-e board is generally a good idea, since it will work faster than when connected even through a SATA 3 controller.

Common mistakes when using SSD drives

Error one

Moving a large number of files to a regular 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 and a swap file are permanent write operations.

Yes, and 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, laser disk images, etc. And also 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), 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 Marvell, Intel, Samsung.

Secondary parameters of SSD drives

Memory type. SLC memory “lives” the longest, MLC and TLC, in decreasing order, have a shorter lifespan.
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.
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. However, 120-128 GB is also a good option.

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 give the highest guarantee of data integrity and safety.

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).

Update 2016

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.

Another good news applies to TLC memory drives. Such disks can have a lifespan comparable to disks based on 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 is 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 practically rests on the limit of the SATA 2 standard itself. On SATA 3, the reading speed also rests on 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.

Interesting inexpensive SSD drives (120 and 128 GB), as of mid-2016 (from the Yulmart assortment) in order of increasing price:

SanDisk Z400s (5 years warranty).
Plextor M7V
Samsung 750 EVO Series
SanDisk Ultra II
Samsung 850 EVO Series
Intel 535 AND 540 (5 years warranty).

And the record holder, in terms of speed and warranty period, is Samsung 850 PRO Series (10 years warranty). Although not cheap.

Update 2017

Many M.2 format SSD drives 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 NVM Express technology.

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 processor of the controller 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).

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 drives 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 Intel SSD 545s- the minimum volume in this model line is 128 GB. The 256 GB model costs around 5,500 rubles. The drive has - DDR3 DRAM cache, 64-layer TLC 3D V-NAND Intel - Micron, 4-channel SM2259 controller, aluminum case. For the 256 GB model, read and write speeds are specified: 550 and 500 megabytes per second. These are the numbers when using a pseudo-SLC cache, its size (in the 256 GB model) is 3 GB. Past the SLC cache, the write speed is around 400 MB per second. As of summer 2018, this is the best option in the budget segment.

SATA Samsung 850MZ-7LN120BW- just 850 without the EVO suffix. There is only one model in the line so far, 120 GB. It costs around 3500 rubles. 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 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.

Pomoschnik.ru, 2016, 2017, 2018

For those who don't like to read large texts, you can jump straight to the conclusions - at the beginning of 2017, the Samsung 850 Evo SSD with a capacity of 256 or 512 gigabytes is still the best choice for most people. It's fast, reliable, comes with a long warranty, and comes with proprietary software to make the transition from a regular drive to an SSD easy.

Updated September 2018.: Samsung released an update to all of its SSDs this year Evo 860 And 860 Pro, transferring their production to new memory (64-layer TLC 3D V-NAND) and a new controller. However, from the point of view of the average user, the characteristics of the SSD have remained virtually unchanged, in some places even becoming slightly worse. However, the price of new SSDs remains the same, and old models are simply sold out until they run out. Therefore, you can safely buy either an old or a new model. However, it's important to keep in mind that the new 860 series no longer has a 120GB SSD. Therefore, if you need just such an SSD, you should hurry up with your purchase. Because the production of such SSDs has ceased

And now about this in more detail.

Why should you believe me?

As I mentioned in the site description, I have been writing about technology for the last ten years, or even more. I spend even more time fiddling with this technique. This means that almost every day I try something new, tweak something, reconfigure something, change something, and so on in the same spirit. This text is a generalization of my (and not only my, but also my colleagues) experience. So yes, you can trust me.

Who needsSSD?

If your computer or laptop is from 3 to 5 years old (earlier models may contain SATA-II connectors, in this case the purchase should be considered separately, see the corresponding section below), and your system runs on a regular hard drive, then it makes sense to think about purchasing an SSD. The dollar is quite high right now, so you should have good reasons to buy it.

What does SSD give? As a rule, it has three main advantages: almost instantaneous loading of the operating system (less than 10 seconds), fast loading of files and programs, and lower power consumption (the latter is relevant for laptops and allows them to last longer on battery power).

Thus, if the operation of your computer is limited by the performance of the disk system, purchasing an SSD is more than justified. With it, the system will simply “fly” and last significantly longer on battery power.

The picture above shows an example of just such a case. In this laptop, the bottleneck is two elements - the power of the built-in video card (there is nothing you can do about it) and the performance of the hard drive. The processor and memory are in perfect order. After installing the SSD, the system will become noticeably faster.

To whomDon't need an SSD?

If you have a relatively old computer (more than 5 years old), or are using an old SSD that is not very fast or has little memory, then there is little point for you to buy a new SSD. With this money, it is better to add memory or upgrade the processor. Well, or put it off for an upgrade. Yes, the system will boot faster and files will open much better. But opening a simple browser will turn your computer into a pumpkin again.

Update July 27, 2016: In the comments there is regularly a debate regarding whether an SSD can be used for downloading torrents. Since opinions vary, let's listen to the manufacturers themselves. In a recent post on the Geektimes website (an hardware project that broke away from the legendary Habrahabr), SSD manufacturer Kingston directly writes:

But if you have a lot to choose from, it’s better to download torrents on your hard drive. Because there are SUVs for fun, and there are SUVs for traveling in the mud. The HDD rather belongs to the second category.

Those. It's simple, if the SSD is the only disk in the system, then download it. You still have no choice. Moreover, it is truly a magical sight to watch how the download speed is not limited by the capabilities of the hard drive, and reaches enormous values. But if you do have a hard drive in your system, then it is better to record torrents there. Because the SSD resource is not rubber, and regular downloading, deleting, downloading still reduces it.

What volumeShould I choose an SSD drive?

For desktop computers, the minimum comfortable volume is 256 GB. There is no point in taking less for two reasons:

As a rule, 128 GB models operate at significantly lower write and read speeds.
In order for an SSD drive to work long and reliably, it must have at least 30% free space. This is due to the fact that the disk controller must evenly distribute the load between memory cells to ensure even wear.

Thus, 256 GB is the minimum size of an SSD disk for a desktop computer. To store files that do not require daily access, you can use a traditional hard drive (see).

With a laptop, things are a little more complicated. Since many laptops do not allow you to install both an SSD drive and a hard drive at the same time, the entire amount of information will have to be stored on the SSD. Therefore, 512 GB is the optimal solution that will suit most users. Unfortunately, the price of such a drive is impressive, but you get quick access to all files and noticeable savings in battery life. By the way, if for some reason your laptop has a DVD-ROM, you can remove it (this is done very simply) and replace it with a hard drive bay. In this case, you can replace the standard drive with an SSD, and connect the old drive instead of the DVD. This way you will speed up the system and expand the space.

Does it make sense to buy a SATA-2 SSD?

Judging by the comments, this point is worth discussing separately. So, if your motherboard supports SATA3, then the interface bandwidth is 6 Gb/s, SATA2 is only 3 Gb/s. Those. It would seem that the difference is twofold. However, as we said in the section about flash drives, it is not the linear speed that is important, but the speed of reading scattered files. Because when loading, the system assembles the OS into separate files, spread out haphazardly across the drive.

In order to answer the question of whether it is necessary to install a modern SSD drive in a system with SATA2, let’s turn to a thorough article from the THG.RU resource. The authors sequentially connected the Samsung 840 PRO drive, by the way, an excellent SSD of the previous generation, to SATA2 and 3 ports. To have something to compare with, the third one in the test was a very fast WD VelociRaptor hard drive. If you look at the linear write and read speed graph, the advantage of SATA 3 is more than noticeable.

Please note - in this case, the HDD practically does not lag behind the SSD connected via SATA-2. However, as we understand, linear writing and reading speed is not so important. In a real situation, we are more interested in the speed of an arbitrary (random sector). Let's see how the disks behave with a random sector size of 512 Kb.

As you can see, the difference is also twofold, while the hard drive begins to lag significantly. If you make the sector size 4Kb, the difference between SATA will practically disappear, but the HDD will generally become very slow. What does this lead to? Besides, say, loading your operating system from an HDD will take noticeably longer than from an SSD. Moreover, the difference in connection will not play a role. Windows will boot almost equally quickly.

What conclusion can be drawn? Everything is very simple - if you use the SSD exclusively as boot and system, there will not be much difference between SATA-2 and SATA-3. Both interfaces allow loading quite quickly. And even in this case, buying an SSD is justified.

And here's where the interesting part lies: if you have an old computer with only SATA-2, then you hardly need a modern high-speed SSD. It's not your problem. Yes, the system will boot noticeably faster. But the performance itself... Let's just say that for this money it is easier to buy additional memory and upgrade the motherboard and processor. The difference will be noticeable even on an old HDD. But if you have reached a bottleneck in terms of hard drive performance, and there is no desire to spend money on a significant upgrade, then yes, you can take a closer look at the purchase. But, again, it’s better to think about upgrading your computer, and then come here and choose a modern SSD that will reveal 100% of the potential of your system.

WhichIs SSD better to choose?

At the moment, the best choice would be to buy a Samsung 850 EVO SSD of the size you need (or a similar Samsung 860 EVO). At the start of sales, it was quite expensive, but now prices in dollars have dropped a little and the price has become more or less acceptable.

Why 850 or 860 EVO? The fact is that most modern consumer-grade SSDs have similar characteristics. Trust me, unless you are an SSD expert, in most cases you will not notice a difference in speed between different models. You will notice a significant difference between the performance of the hard drive and the SSD. But between different SSD models - no.

Then what comes to the fore if not speed? These are price, reliability, the ability to survive a large number of recording cycles, the quality of the controller, the quality of the firmware and proprietary software that makes life easier for the user.

In this regard, the Samsung 850 EVO currently has virtually no competitors.

It is relatively inexpensive (at the time of publication, an average of 8 thousand for a volume of 256 GB and 12 thousand for 500 GB);
it is fast (on average 516 Mb/s read and 426 Mb/s write);
it is reliable (Samsung itself is the manufacturer of both the memory and the controller);
it can pump up to 150 Tb of data through itself (this is a very large amount of data for most users);
it has a 5 year warranty.

In addition, if you use Windows, then the kit includes proprietary software that allows you, firstly, to conveniently migrate from a hard drive to an SSD, and secondly, and this is the best part, to use up to 4 GB of RAM as a cache for the disk. This allows you to work with the disk even faster.

Another advantage to the purchase may be the presence of hardware data encryption. Most users do not need this at all, but for some it may be critical.

And if there is no noticeable difference in speed, is there something cheaper?

If the price of the Samsung 850 EVO seems too expensive to you, then I would put the Crucial BX100 in second place.

It costs 2 thousand rubles cheaper. He is also fast, he is also reliable.

In fact, for a slightly lower price you get a slightly smaller warranty - only three years, a smaller amount of data that can be pumped through the disk (72 TB instead of 150 for Samsung, although this value is enough for the eyes). Additionally, it doesn't come with the same software as the 850 EVO. But no one is stopping you from using third-party programs, of which there are quite a few. You'll just have to tinker a little with the settings.

So, if that doesn't bother you, the Crucial BX100 is a great alternative to the 850 EVO. Moreover, the Crucial BX100 consumes less energy and the laptop will last at least a little longer (about 10 minutes).

M.2 SSD drive

Despite the fact that M.2 slots are appearing in more and more laptops and motherboards, and a) can be faster than a regular SSD, b) allow you to use both an SSD for Windows and a HDD for storing files at the same time, it is very difficult to advise anything here . The fact is that at the moment there are two versions of the M.2 standard. These are M.2 SATA and M.2 PCI. Each of them is divided into several substandards depending on the physical dimensions, and M.2 PCI is also divided into several substandards depending on the number of connected PCI lines.

Those. You can’t just go to the store and buy an M.2 disk. First, you need to study the documentation of your laptop or motherboard, understand which standard suits you, and only then buy something specific. Therefore, I repeat, it is very difficult to advise anything specific here. If you are still determined to buy an M.2 SSD, I advise you to go to this one, our website, where we tried to collect the most complete information on the compatibility of various drives with various hardware. And based on the data obtained, select a specific model.

If you have M.2 SATA size 2280, then you don’t have to think too much and take the same Samsung 850 EVO in M.2 format. In all other cases, you will have to look hard.

SSD for professionals

If your work involves processing a lot of photos in raw RAW format, or you constantly edit large amounts of video, work with 3D graphics, are a fan of heavy daily torrents, or run several virtual machines at the same time, then a regular SSD will not suit you. In this case, I would pay attention to the Samsung 850 Pro version.

Why is he better? First of all, it's faster. This is actually noticeable when working with large files in random read mode. During normal work the difference is not noticeable, but in the case of professional use, the difference can be felt. Secondly, it has a 10 year warranty. Thirdly, it was originally designed for such a harsh operating mode and has appropriate reliability. In fact, it has no competitors in its class. The price, unfortunately, is also 30% higher: 256 gigabytes cost 10-11 thousand rubles, 500 GB - about 16 thousand.

Who else likes Samsung Evo SSDs?

As you can see, the Samsung 850 EVO is the best choice in terms of price/performance ratio. A few quotes from the review authors:

Samsung 850PRO. This is the most productive and most technologically advanced SATA SSD, which is based on a unique three-dimensional MLC V-NAND. In addition to outstanding performance, this model also stands out for its high reliability, which is backed by a 10-year warranty. In addition, the Samsung 850 PRO boasts a whole bunch of different nice little things, for example, support for OS-controlled encryption and an excellent tool utility.
Samsung 850 EVO. The younger brother of the invincible 850 PRO also stands out from the competition. Yes, it is based on TLC V-NAND and therefore produces lower performance during write operations, but this does not prevent it from remaining one of the best SSDs in terms of weighted average performance and occupying a leading position in the mid-price category. In addition, the 850 EVO inherits from the 850 PRO the entire proprietary set of additional advantages: encryption support, high-quality software, etc.

More and more users are purchasing SSD drives for installation in PCs. They are used in parallel with HDD or instead of them. Solid state drives have many advantages over hard drives. Therefore, you need to know how to choose the right SSD drive for your computer.

What does it represent?

A solid state drive is a non-mechanical storage device. It is intended for installation on PCs, laptops, server equipment and is designed to replace HDDs. An SSD is created based on memory chips that are controlled by a special controller.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:

high data read/write speed and performance;
low heat generation and electricity consumption;
no noise due to the absence of moving parts;
small dimensions;
high resistance to mechanical damage (overload up to 1500g), magnetic fields, temperature changes;
stability of data reading time regardless of memory fragmentation.

Flaws:

limited number of rewrite cycles (1,000 – 100,000 times);
high price;
vulnerability to electrical damage;
the risk of complete loss of information without the possibility of its recovery.

Main characteristics

If you are buying an SSD to install on your computer, pay attention to its main characteristics.

When purchasing an SSD drive, first of all, pay attention to the volume and purpose of use. If you are purchasing it just to install the OS, choose a device with 60 GB or more memory.

Modern gamers prefer to install games on SSDs to increase performance. If you are one of them, then you need an option with a memory capacity of 120 GB.

If you are purchasing a solid state drive instead of a hard drive, base it on how much information is stored on the computer. But in this case, the capacity of the SSD disk should not be less than 250 GB.

Important! The cost of a solid-state drive directly depends on the volume. Therefore, if your budget is limited, use an SSD to install the operating system and a HDD to store data.

Most modern SSD drive models are sold in a 2.5-inch form factor and are built into a protective box. Because of this, they are similar to classic hard drives of the same size.

Good to know! To install a 2.5-inch SSD drive into a standard 3.5-inch mount inside a PC case, special adapters are used. Some case models provide sockets for a 2.5-inch form factor.

There are 1.8-inch and smaller SSDs on the market that are used in compact devices.

Connection interface

Solid state drives have several connection interface options:

SATA II;
SATA III;
PCIe;
mSATA;
PCIe + M.2.

The most common option is to connect using a SATA connector. There are still SATA II models on the market. They are no longer relevant, but even if you purchase such a device, thanks to the backward compatibility of the SATA interface, it will work with a motherboard that supports SATA III.

When using an SSD with a PCIe interface, you may need to install drivers, but the data transfer speed will be higher compared to a SATA connection.

mSATA models are used on compact devices, but work on the same principle as the standard SATA interface.

M.2 or NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) models are a continuation of the development of the mSATA line. They have smaller dimensions and greater flexibility for configuration by digital equipment manufacturers.

Read/Write Speed

The higher this value, the more productive the computer. Average speeds:

reading 450-550 MB/s;
recording 350-550 Mb/s.

Manufacturers may indicate the maximum read/write speed rather than the actual one. To find out the real numbers, look online for reviews of the model you are interested in.

In addition, pay attention to the access time. This is the time during which the disk finds the information required by the program or OS. The standard indicator is 10-19 ms. But because SSDs have no moving parts, they are significantly faster than HDDs.

Memory type and runtime to failure

There are several types of memory cells used in SSD drives:

MLC (Multi Level Cell);
SLC (Single Level Cell);
TLC (Three Level Cell);
3D V-NAND.

MLC is the most common type, which allows you to store two bits of information in one cell. It has a relatively short resource of rewrite cycles (3,000 - 5,000), but lower cost, due to which this type of cells is used for mass production of solid-state drives.

The SLC type stores only one bit of data per cell. These microcircuits are characterized by a long lifetime (up to 100,000 rewrite cycles), high data transfer rates, and minimal access time. But due to the high cost and small data storage volumes, they are used for server and industrial solutions.

The TLC type stores three bits of data. The main advantage is low production cost. Among the disadvantages: the number of rewrite cycles is 1,000 - 5,000 repetitions, and the read/write speed is significantly lower than the first two types of chips.

Healthy! Recently, manufacturers have managed to increase the lifetime of TLC discs to 3,000 rewrite cycles.

3D V-NAND models use 32-layer flash memory instead of standard MLC or TLC chips. The microchip has a three-dimensional structure, due to which the volume of recorded data per unit area is much higher. At the same time, the reliability of information storage increases by 2-10 times.

The reliability of the solid-state drive depends on the manufacturer. Famous companies produce high-quality devices with subsequent technical and hardware support. Their factories have high requirements, which ensures excellent quality of products.

Modern manufacturers of SSD drives: Samsung, OCZ (a division of Toshiba), Kingston, Crucial, Corsair, Plextor, GOODRAM, Silicon Power, Transcend.

TRIM function

The most important additional feature for an SSD is TRIM (garbage collection). It is as follows.

Information on the SSD is first written to free cells. If the disk writes data to a cell that was previously used, it first clears it (unlike an HDD, where data is written over existing information). If the model does not support TRIM, it clears the cell just before writing new information, causing the operation to slow down.

If the SSD supports TRIM, it receives a command from the OS to delete data in the cell and clears it not before overwriting, but during the “idle” of the disk. This is done in the background. This maintains the write speed at the level specified by the manufacturer.

Important! The TRIM function must be supported by the operating system.

Hidden area

This area is not accessible to the user and is used to replace failed cells. In high-quality solid-state drives it is up to 30% of the device volume. But some manufacturers, in order to reduce the cost of an SSD drive, reduce it to 10%, thereby increasing the amount of storage available to the user.

The flip side of this trick is that the hidden region is used by the TRIM function. If its volume is small, it will not be enough for background data transfer, which is why when the SSD “load” level is 80-90%, the writing speed will drop sharply.

Model overview

Below is a list of several popular models.

		Form Factor		Read/Write Speed		Those. process	Weight
Kingston HyperX Fury (SHFS37A/240G)	240 GB	2,5 inches	SATA-III	500/500 Mb/s	MLC	20 nm	90 g