Solid State Drive. What is an SSD drive and how to use it correctly. Linear reading speed

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are new and fast and a good alternative to HDD hard drives, but do you need one? Read on to see how we demystified solid state drive. The last few years have seen a noticeable increase in SSD production and a decrease in prices (although, of course, prices between SSDs and traditional hard drives cannot be compared in this way).

What is an SSD? In what ways will you benefit from purchasing an SSD drive? What should you do differently with an SSD? Read on to learn everything about solid state drives.

What is a solid state drive?

You may find it hard to believe, but SSDs are actually quite old technology. Solid state drives have been around for decades in various forms, the very first being RAM based and quite expensive, only appearing in ultra-high-end and super computers. In the 1990s, the first flash-based SSDs were made, but they were again too expensive for the consumer market and were barely noticeable outside of specialized computing circles. Throughout the 2000s, prices for flash memory continued to fall, and by the end of the decade, consumer SSDs had entered the personal computer market.

So what is a solid state drive? Here we must first highlight what a traditional hard drive (HDD) is. A hard drive is a collection of metal plates coated with a ferromagnetic material that spin on a spindle. Writing to the surface of magnetic plates is carried out by a tiny mechanical handle (drive lever) with a very thin tip (head). Data is stored when the polarity of the magnetic bits on the surface of the plates changes. This is, of course, a little more complicated, but suffice it to say that everything here is done by analogy with an automatic record player: its hand searches for a track on the record, and the drive handle and hard disk heads also search for data. When you want to write or read data from magnetic hard drives the plates rotate, the hand searches and finds data. It is as much a mechanical process as it is digital.

Solid state drives, on the other hand, have no moving parts. Although the scales are different, and the storage area on an HDD is much larger, and the SSD has much more in common with a simple portable flash drive than with a mechanical hard drive (and, of course, much more than ever with a tape recorder! ) The vast majority of SSDs on the market are NAND flash memory, type non-volatile memory, which does not require electricity to store data (unlike the RAM in your computer, which loses its stored data as soon as the power is turned off). NAND memory also provides significant speed increases far beyond mechanical ones. hard disks, since the time wasted when the plates are spinning and not looking for data is removed from the equation.

Comparison of SSDs with traditional hard drives

It's always good to know what SSDs are, but it's even more useful to compare them to the traditional hard drives you've been using for years. Let's look at a few key differences in a point-by-point comparison.

Spin Time: SSDs do not have a "spin" time; The drive has no moving parts. Hard drives have different spin times (usually a few seconds); when you hear a click-whirrrrrr for a minute or two when you boot your computer or when accessing rarely used files, you always hear rotation hard disk.

Data access time and latency: SSDs find data very quickly and are typically an order of magnitude 80-100 times faster than HDDs; bypassing mechanical spinning plates and data retrieval, so they can access data almost instantly. Quickly search for data on hard drives prevents physical movement of the armature and rotation of the plates.

Noise: SSDs are silent; no moving parts means no noise. Hard drives range from fairly quiet to very loud sound levels.

Reliability: some production issues aside ( bad disks, firmware, questions, etc.) SSD drives have taken the lead in terms of physical reliability. The vast majority of hard drive failures result from mechanical damage; At some point, after x tens of thousands of hours of operation, the mechanical drive simply wears out. In a sense, the read/write cycle of hard drives is limited.

On the other hand, SSDs have a limited number of write cycles. This limited number of write cycles is the main point of condemnation of SSDs, but the reality is that the average computer user is unlikely to be able to do many read and write cycles on an SSD. Intel's X25-M, for example, can process 20 GB of data for 5 years without failure. How often do you erase and write 20GB of data on your primary drive on a daily basis?

In addition, SSD drives can be used further; When NAND modules have reached the end of their write cycles they become read-only. The disk then reads the data from the damaged sector and writes it to a new part of the disk. Short of lightning or a catastrophic design flaw, SSD failure is more like “old age, why is my bones aching!” rather than a sudden “boom! bearings in HDD!” and its stop. You will have enough time for Reserve copy your data and to purchase a new drive.

Power Consumption: SSD drives consume 30-60% less power than traditional hard drives. Saving 6 or 10 watts doesn’t seem like much, but over the course of a year or two on a heavily used car, it all adds up.

Cost: SSDs are not cheap. Traditional hard drive prices have fallen by about five cents per gigabyte of data. SSDs are much cheaper than they were 10-20 years ago (when they were limited to dedicated computer systems), but they are still quite expensive. Depending on the size and model, you can expect to pay somewhere between $1.25-$2.00 per GB.

Caring for your SSD

In management operating system, storing data, and interacting with your computer, the only difference you will notice as an end user when operating an SSD drive is the increase in speed. When it comes to taking care of your drive, there are a few rules that are critical.

Don't defragment the disk. Defragmentation is useless for an SSD and reduces its lifespan. Defragmentation is a technique that finds pieces of files and optimizes them by placing them on hard drive platters to reduce search time and wear on the disk. SSDs are platterless and have almost instantaneous seek times. Their defragmentation consumes more write cycles. By default, defragmentation is disabled for SSDs in Windows 7.

Disable indexing services: If your OS has any search-added tool such as indexing service, disable it. Read times on SSD are fast, which you don't actually need to create a file index and the disk indexing and index writing process itself will be slow on SSD.

Your OS must support trimming. The TRIM command allows your OS to talk to the SSD and tell it which blocks are no longer in use. With this command, performance on the SSD will rapidly degrade. In this publication for Windows 7, Mac OS x 10.6.6+ and Linux with kernel 2.6.33+, support TRIM command. And registry hacks and additional programs exist to modify earlier versions of OS such as Windows XP to semi-support the TRIM command. Your SSD drive should be paired with a modern OS for maximum performance.

Leave part of the disk empty. Check the specifications for your device, most manufacturers recommend keeping 10-20% empty. This empty space helps the alignment algorithm (they transfer data through the NAND memory modules to minimize the total wear on the disk and ensure long term service and optimal drive characteristics). If you leave too little space, the alignment algorithms will cause premature wear on the disk over time.

Media to Second Drive: SSD drives are expensive, so there is no point in storing your massive media files on your expensive SSD drive. You can choose traditional 1 TB hard drives, and use a large additional disk(if possible) for storing large and static files (for example, movies, music collections and other multimedia files).

Invest in Memory: Compared to the costs of SSDs, RAM is cheap. The more RAM you have installed, the fewer disk write cycles there will be. You can extend the life of your expensive SSD by ensuring that your system has adequate RAM installed.

Solid State Drive for Me?

On this moment You've got a history lesson, a point-by-point comparison, and some tips for keeping your SSD in tip-top shape, but do you really need an SSD? Check all that apply and prepare for the following:

Near-instant boot time: You can go from cold boot to web browsing in seconds with an SSD; You could often get to this same window in more than a minute with a traditional hard drive.
You want fast access for common apps and games: We've said it many times before, but SSDs are super fast.
You want a quieter, less power-hungry computer: As highlighted above, SSD drives are silent and consume significantly less power.
You'll be able to use two drives: one for the OS and one for files: if you're only storing a few family photos and a CD-Rip or two, you'll need the more affordable traditional HDD to store large files.
You are willing to pay a significant amount for an SSD drive: this is the highest amount per gigabyte to date, but at the same time the performance increase is huge at 3000%.
If your list looks more full than empty, and you want speed when working, then an SSD is for you!

When upgrading a computer, users are increasingly tormented by doubts about what to choose: a hard drive or a solid-state drive. Both types of devices have their advantages and disadvantages.

For a long time, the cost of solid-state drives was too high, so only computer enthusiasts and avid gamers voted for them in rubles. For other users, the hard drive was considered a more rational choice, as it offered best ratio capacities and prices. But the cost of SSDs gradually decreased due to the transition to a more progressive technological process. In addition, the balance of forces in the market was significantly changed by the cataclysms that occurred in the countries of Southeast Asia in 2011. Severe flooding disrupted the entire production chain, resulting in a shortage of hard drives and prices nearly doubling worldwide. However, the cost of a gigabyte of “hard” memory is still higher than that of “hard” memory, but the difference is no longer so great that one can call it an undisputed favorite.

Who is who

Solid state drives, which, unlike hard drives, are built on the basis of flash memory rather than magnetic platters, are relatively new to the computer market. Previously, memory chips were used only in flash drives and memory cards, on which, nevertheless, craftsmen managed to install operating systems. Silent and shock-resistant flash drives really looked promising compared to hard drives, but the USB interface did not allow for high enough data transfer speeds, and it also significantly loaded the central processor during I/O operations. As you know, demand creates supply, so very soon it went on sale new type storage devices - SSD (solid-state drive).

In fact, a solid-state drive is nothing more than a large flash drive in size and capacity, in which the USB interface has given way to a faster and, most importantly, almost no load on the central processor SATA interface. The SSD controller also plays an important role, because it is often the bottleneck that limits the throughput of flash memory chips. The advantages of solid state drives include:

■ generally higher read and write speeds than hard drives, as well as minimal data access latency. And this is critically important, because the “weak link” modern computers often it is the disk subsystem;

elevated temperature, constant vibration and even strong blows;

■ variety of form factors. Among SSDs there are classic 3.5- and 2.5-inch, as well as rarer 1.8-inch drives, thin boards without a protective case and PCI Express expansion card, and even chips soldered directly to the motherboard.

Main design difference The difference between hard drives and solid-state drives is that they have moving parts. The rotation speed of magnetic plates, which are colloquially called “pancakes,” is usually in the range from 5400 to 7200 rpm, but there are exceptions - server models with 10,000 and even 15,000 rpm. This is why HDDs are more sensitive to shock than SSDs. And modern hard drives have much fewer form factors - only three: the widespread 3.5- and 2.5-inch ones, as well as 1.8-inch models, which are less common. But still, hard drives have undeniable advantages in front of SSDs:

■ more favorable price-capacity ratio: for example, for 3 thousand rubles. Now you can purchase either a 3.5-inch HDD with 500 GB or a SSD with 64 GB. Although just two years ago the gap was four times larger - 1000 GB to 32 GB;

■ availability of large volume models in retail sale – up to

4 TB. Thus, the volume of 550 for the consumer market is limited to 600 GB, and for server models - 2 TB;

■ long uptime, thanks to the ability to rewrite sectors multiple times magnetic disk, while flash memory blocks can withstand much fewer cycles.

Purpose

It is impossible to name the sole leader of the race between HDD and SSD. since for each specific task a suitable solution should be selected. We will look at the most common situations and recommend the optimal type and model of drive for each of them.

■ Netbook. Inexpensive compact laptops often have to work in “field conditions”. Frequent shaking and adverse weather obviously won't do any good hard drive— sooner or later, problematic sectors will appear on the plates or the spindle will completely jam. So in this case, solid-state drives, which are found in netbooks from many manufacturers, are preferable. Another thing is that, trying to reduce the cost of laptops to a minimum, manufacturers install SSDs with a capacity of 8 to 16 GB in them. For Windows 7 and a set of frequently used applications, this is clearly not enough, and not everyone is ready to put up with the pre-installed, less resource-intensive Linux operating system. Therefore, it is worth purchasing the cheapest available SSD with a capacity of at least 30 GB from your nearest electronics store. For example, a 30 GB OCZ Strata model with read and write speeds of 125 MB/s and 40 MB/s, respectively, will cost only 2 thousand rubles, but to connect it you may need an mSATA-SATA adapter. In addition, the device is much lighter than a 2.5-inch hard drive, which in the case of a netbook is an undoubted advantage. There is also no need to worry about the time between failures of a solid-state drive, since it will probably last longer than the case and display of a “travel” netbook.

■ Laptop. It is necessary to distinguish between at least two types of laptops: those that serve as a replacement for a desktop computer, and travel models. Laptops intended for use only at home often play a role file storages, and storing hundreds of gigabytes of movies, music and photos is too expensive. Therefore, if you decide to replace an old laptop hard drive or install a second one using a special adapter, sacrificing a DVD drive, rely on a 2.5-inch HDD. For example, model Western Digital Scorpio Blue with a capacity of 1 TB and a rotation speed of 5400 rpm. will cost 3.5 thousand rubles.

A travel laptop usually requires high performance and the ability to store professional software and unfinished work projects. Therefore, a cheap 30 GB SSD, as is the case with a netbook. This is not possible; a faster and more capacious model is needed. A good option would be the Kingston SSDNow V200 (Bundle Notebook version) 128 GB solid state drive with read and write speeds of 300 MB/s and 190 MB/s, respectively. For 4.8 thousand rubles. the buyer receives not only the SSD itself, but also a box where you can install the extracted laptop hard disk.

■ Desktop computer. Desktop owners should rely on two types of drives at once: install the operating system and frequently used applications on a fast SSD, and store multimedia content on a spacious HDD. And if your budget allows, it’s better not to save, but to choose one of best models in your class. Lovers of complete silence are advised to pay attention to the 3.5-inch 3-terabyte hard drive Western drive Digital Caviar Green with a reduced rotation speed, but for everyone else the Seagate Barracuda of the same volume will suit. Both options cost about 5.6 thousand rubles.

With solid-state drives, the choice is not so obvious: at least once a month, one of the industry leaders proudly announces the release of another record holder for read and write speeds. But goods of limited demand, which include the flagship 550, reach Russian retail with a noticeable delay. Now on the shelves you can easily find the following top models of solid-state drives with 120-128 GB worth 5-6 thousand rubles: OCZ Vertex 3 and Agility 3, Kingston HyperX SSD, A-Data S511. Corsair Force 3, etc. All of them are built on the SandForce controller, thanks to which they can boast a throughput of up to 500 Mb/s. but only when connected to a SATA3 connector.

The future of storage

We can already say with confidence that sooner or later hard drives will go into their well-deserved retirement, giving way to flash memory-based drives. Every year it becomes more and more difficult for hard drives to satisfy the growing performance needs of powerful computing systems, and they do not fit into the concept of the post-computer era at all. The near future for SSDs is beyond doubt, but scientists do not stop there and are already full voice call the name of the flash memory ranks receiver. The place of transistors, which are now used as memory cells, should be taken by memristors - passive electronic elements that can change their resistance. Theoretically, memristors can become the basis not only for faster and more capacious flash memory, but also for RAM, which will reduce the number of computer elements, making RAM and ROM a single whole.

We tried to figure out what an SSD drive is and how it differs from classic hard drives. Concluding the general description, today we will focus on the form factor of the drives. SSD sizes cannot be arbitrary, but are subject to certain standards. Let's see what they are.

What is form factor

This is a certain set of requirements that must be met during the production of a particular computer component. Power supplies, motherboards, disks, cases designed to install motherboards of one or another form factor, etc. have a form factor.

This ensures that when installing a disk, motherboard or power supply into the case, all mounting holes, the location of interface connectors (for drives) will be the same for all devices, regardless of manufacturer, model, functionality. Thus, motherboards of the mATX form factor of any brand have the same overall dimensions and location of holes for screwing to the case.

The same goes for disks. 2.5-inch drives, no matter hard drives or SSDs, have the same external dimensions, location of contacts and holes for fastening. The whole difference lies inside, in the filling.

There are several drive form factors in use today, with SSDs offering a wider variety of sizes. This is due to the lack of moving parts and the theoretical possibility of performing free form. Naturally, to be able practical application, this “form” must be standardized.

2.5 inch drives

The now familiar size of small laptop drives rivals traditional 3.5-inch drives. Most likely, there is no talk of active displacement of larger disks by compact analogues, but for SSD optimal It turned out to be exactly the size 2.5 inches.

Externally, an SDD differs from a HDD only in its weight (SSD is much lighter) and the absence of any visible printed circuit boards. This is a fairly simple, if not boring, box. The connection is made to the SATA interface. Considering the speed characteristics of solid-state drives, connecting to SATA below version 3 does not seem reasonable. In this case, the SSD will not reveal its potential.

It must be said that here, in fact, the analogy with conventional hard drives ends. All other variations are the prerogative of SSD drives.

mSATA drives

A variation of regular SATA, characterized by compact dimensions, which is why the SSD itself lost its housing and became very small. This made it possible to use such capacious boards in compact computers, as well as install in laptops, in addition to a regular hard drive, another drive, in this case an SSD.

In particular, on the laptop on which I am now writing these lines, in addition to a regular hard drive, there is an SSD drive in the mSATA format, which I use as a system drive. Even considering that I have a budget-class disk, the speed of operation, system loading, and programs has increased significantly.

This form factor for the mSATA connector did not last long, giving way to a more promising option.

M.2 drives

Perhaps the most interesting option SSD drives. The advantages are compactness, the ability to work not only on the SATA bus, but also on the significantly faster PCI-Express. This connector can now increasingly be found in laptops and motherboards for desktop computers.

If when assembling a regular PC the issue of saving space is not so relevant, then in the case of a laptop computer the ability to use a small, lightweight, energy-efficient and fast drive is a blessing.

When choosing M.2 drives, there is a little confusion, which is based on the fact that the drive can operate on different buses, i.e. use SATA or PCI-Express. Therefore, drives have different key, i.e. a cutout on the contact connector.

As a rule, SSD drives come with keys:

B-key. SSD drives for SATA or PCI-Express x2 interfaces. In reality, this option is extremely rare.
M-key. SSD drives for PCI-Express interface x You can use drives with an emulated SATA interface. A drive with such a key cannot be installed in a slot with a B-key operating on the SATA bus.
M&B (M+B) key. A universal option for SSD drives running on the SATA bus. Can be installed in both B-key and M-key slots.

The form factor for SSD M.2 is also regulated in terms of length and width. Typical sizes of SSD drives are 22 mm wide and long, ranging in size from 16 to 110 mm. Full list of acceptable length dimensions: 16, 26, 30, 38, 42, 60, 80, 110 mm. The most common are 42, 60 and 80 mm.

This is reflected in the labeling of SSD drives. So, if it is indicated that the M.2 drive is 2242, then this means that the dimensions of the drive are 22x42 mm. If M.2 is 2280, then, accordingly, 22x80 mm. It's simple!

Even if the motherboard does not have an M.2 connector installed, you can still use such drives. Many manufacturers offer drive models with an adapter card for a PCI-Express connector. Accordingly, the SSD itself is also designed to work with this bus. The “rate of fire” of such a disk will be very impressive. After it, the performance of a regular hard drive will be perceived as depressing.

Unfortunately, there is a small fly in the ointment in all of the “goodies” listed. The compact size of SSD drives limits storage capacity. This is due to the number of memory chips that can be placed on such small board. The maximum capacity of an M.2 SSD drive currently does not exceed 1 TB. This value will be increased by more capacious memory chips, which will undoubtedly appear.

PCIe Add-in Card (AIC)

These are drives made in the form of a board inserted into a PCI-Express slot, which can be standard or half size in both length and width, which allows them to be used in 2U rackmount enclosures. Actually, such SSDs belong to the corporate class and are intended primarily for installation in servers and storage systems (Data Storage Systems).

Drives usually use SLC memory, which is expensive in itself, but reliable and durable. Using such disks in a regular home computer is a luxury that not everyone can afford. True, there is no particular need for this.

SATA-Express drives

Finding such discs is almost impossible. This interface was planned to replace the good old SATA with its leisurely 600 MB/s maximum throughput. It was too tempting to use the faster PCI-Express bus. So this interface was planned to use 2 PCI-Express lines, which would allow achieving a maximum throughput of 2 GB/s.

Apparently, this interface will remain one of the stages that has not found implementation, since already now M.2 SSD drives can use 4 PCI-Express lanes with a peak throughput of 4 GB/s. A special cable is used for connection.

U.2 drives

There are also such SSD drives. This form factor allows you to use all the advantages of the high-speed PCI-Express bus, but not be limited to drives with an M.2 connector. Externally they resemble 2.5-inch drives, but with a thickness of up to 15 mm. 4 PCI-Express lanes are used.

The choice of such drives is very small, and they are mainly aimed at use in servers, storage systems (data storage systems), data centers, etc. If the motherboard has an M.2 connector on the PCI-Express bus, and there is SSD drive of U.2 form factor, then you will still be able to connect it. There are M.2 to U.2 adapters that will allow you to experience the full power of such a high-speed drive.

At the moment, this form factor is rather a thing of the future, and primarily it is relevant for servers.

DIMM drives

If we talk about the exotic, there are also sizes of SSD disks that are completely identical, coincide with the sizes of conventional memory modules, and are installed in a free RAM slot. This may be relevant for specific server platforms with big amount DIMM sockets.

There are different options that combine SSD and RAM on one module, or only a solid-state drive that is inserted into the RAM connector and receives power from it, but the data is transferred using a regular SATA cable connected to the module and the motherboard or controller.

This is of little interest for home computers, and it’s difficult to find them on sale.

SSD sizes. Conclusion

So, to briefly summarize, the size of SSD drives, i.e. the form factor, determines the physical dimensions of the drive, which also affects its characteristics. A 2.5-inch laptop hard drive can be easily replaced with the same SSD. It will fit both the location of the mounting holes and connectors - power supply and interface.

If your computer has an M.2 connector that supports, for example, 2242, 2260 and 2280 drives, then you can also install a suitable SSD. The main thing is not to make a mistake about which bus this interface uses and, accordingly, which key is in the connector. An SATA bus SSD with an M+B universal key can be used in any computer with an M.2 connector. If the SSD uses the PCI-Express bus, then it has an M-key, and can only be used in an M.2 slot running on this bus (also with an M key).

These are the 2 most common form factors of SSD drives at the moment. The choice in favor of one option or another is determined by layout considerations, necessity, cost and a number of other reasons.

This is where we’ll finish talking about the sizes of SSD drives, and in the next article we’ll get into the insides. We will look at the ones that are used in these drives, what they are like, how they differ, what are the advantages and disadvantages.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALL your questions regarding SSDs.

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

2. Which SSD manufacturer should you prefer?

3. Is Solid State Life Real? SSD drive very limited? After how many years of use will my SSD fail?

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

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

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

Comparing different SSDs in terms of performance

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

At SSD comparison various manufacturers in the AS SSD Benchmark program we can see the following result, for example:

My SSD Silicon Power V70 showed:

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

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

SSD from another manufacturer. As you can see, there is a high (higher than my SSD) sequential read and write speed of 484 MB/s (read), 299 MB/s (write), but there is a drop in reading/writing in 4 KB blocks, namely 17 MB/s (read), 53 MB/s (write).This means, this SSD no faster than mine, although the box of this SSD may show the numbers 500 MB/s.

SSD test in SiSoftware Sandra program

My SSD ranked first among similar models

I recommend purchasing an SSD drive with an optimal speed/reliability ratio of MLC or 3D NAND memory. Read/write speeds closer to 500/500 MB/s are considered quite high. The minimum recommended speed for more budget SSDs is 450/300 MB/s.

The best brands are: Intel, Samsung, Crucial and SanDisk. As more budget option You can consider: Plextor, Corsair and A-DATA. Among other manufacturers, problematic models are more common.

For a worker or multimedia computer(video, simple games) an SSD with a capacity of 120-128 GB will be sufficient, and here the A-Data Ultimate SU900 on MLC memory would be an excellent choice.
SSD A-Data Ultimate SU900 128GB

For gaming computer middle class requires a volume of at least 240-256 GB; an SSD from the A-Data Ultimate SU900 or Samsung 860 EVO series is also suitable.
SSD A-Data Ultimate SU900 256GB

SSD Samsung MZ-76E250BW

For a professional or powerful gaming computer, it is better to take a 480-512 GB SSD, for example Samsung SSD 860 EVO.
SSD Samsung MZ-76E500BW

For computers and laptops with an M.2 connector, a good option would be to install an ultra-fast SSD (1500-3000 MB/s) in the appropriate format.
SSD Samsung MZ-V7E500BW

When choosing a volume, be guided by your needs, but you should not neglect it for the sake of higher speed. If you doubt the correctness of your choice, we recommend reading reviews of specific models.

2. What is the difference between expensive and cheap SSDs

Inexperienced users may be confused why SSD drives of the same volume, with the same declared speed characteristics, differ so much in price, sometimes several times.

The point is that in different SSDs disks can be used different types memory, which in addition to speed indicators also affects reliability and durability. In addition, memory chips from different manufacturers also differ in quality. Naturally, cheap SSDs are equipped with the cheapest memory chips.

In addition to memory chips, the SSD disk has a so-called controller. This is a chip that controls the processes of reading/writing data into memory chips. Controllers are also produced by different companies and they can be either budget ones with lower speed and reliability, or higher quality ones. Cheap SSDs, as you understand, also have the worst controllers installed.

Many modern SSDs use fast DDR3 memory, just like computer RAM, as a clipboard to further improve performance. Most budget SSDs may not have a clipboard, making them marginally cheaper but significantly slower.

But that's not all, it even comes down to saving on such important components SSD drives are like capacitors needed to prevent data corruption and loss. When sudden shutdown electricity, the electricity stored in capacitors is used to complete writing from the clipboard to the memory chips. Unfortunately, not all even high-quality SSDs are equipped with backup capacitors.

The layout itself and the quality of the wiring printed circuit board are also different. More expensive models have more thoughtful circuit design, quality element base and wiring. Engineering solutions Most budget SSDs are based on outdated designs and leave much to be desired. The number of defects in cheap SSDs is also higher, which is due to assembly in cheaper factories and lower levels of production control.

And of course, the price depends on the brand; the more famous it is, the more expensive the SSD. Hence, there is an opinion that you should not overpay for a brand. But the fact is that often it is the brand name that determines the quality of an SSD drive. Most well-known manufacturers who value their reputation will not allow themselves to produce low-quality products. However, there are exceptions here, in the form of well-known and popular brands, which nevertheless should not be recommended for purchase.

We will briefly look at the main differences between SSDs that you need to focus on in this article, and you can easily choose the model that suits you.

3. VolumeSSDdisk

Volume is the most important parameter of an SSD disk.

If you only need an SSD to speed up Windows boot time, office programs and increasing the responsiveness of the system, then, in principle, a volume of 60-64 GB (gigabytes) will be enough.

If you want to speed up the work of serious professional applications (video editing, design systems, etc.), then you will need an SSD drive with a capacity of 120-128 GB.

For a gaming computer, it is advisable to purchase an SSD with a capacity of at least 240-256 GB, since modern games take up a lot of space (30-60 GB each).

In the future, focus on your needs (how much space you need for your programs, games, etc.) and financial opportunities. It is not advisable to use an SSD for data storage; for this you need a more capacious and cheaper hard drive (HDD) with a capacity of 1-4 TB (1000-4000 GB).

4. SSD read/write speed

Key indicators SSD speeds disk is read speed, write speed and access time.

According to statistics, the number of read operations per regular computers users exceeds the number of write operations by 20 times. Therefore, for us, reading speed is a much more important characteristic.

The read speed of most modern SSDs is in the range of 450-550 MB/s (megabytes per second). The higher this value, the better, but 450 MB/s is, in principle, quite enough, and taking an SSD with a lower read speed is not advisable, since the difference in price will be insignificant. But you shouldn’t blindly trust representatives of budget brands, since the speed of cheap SSDs can drop significantly as the disk space fills up. The speed of a particular SSD drive model in real conditions You can find out from tests on the Internet.

The write speed of most SSDs ranges from 350-550 MB/s. Again, the faster the better, this is understandable. But due to the fact that write operations are performed 20 times less frequently than read operations, this indicator is not so critical and the difference will not be very noticeable for most users. But the price of disks with more high speed records will be noticeably higher. Therefore, you can take 350 MB/s as the minimum recording speed. Purchasing an SSD with an even lower write speed will not bring significant savings, so it is not advisable. Please note that some manufacturers indicate the write speed for the entire line of SSD drives, which have different capacities. For example, Transcend has drives ranging from 32 to 1024 GB in its SSD370S line. The recording speed for the entire line is 460 MB/s. But in fact, only models with a capacity of 512 and 1024 GB have such speed. The photo below shows a fragment of the packaging of Transcend SSD370S with a capacity of 256 GB with real speed recording 370 Mb/s.

Access time determines how quickly the disk finds the required file after receiving a request from a program or operating system. For conventional hard drives, this indicator is in the range of 10-19 ms (milliseconds) and significantly affects the responsiveness of the system and the speed of copying small files. SSD drives, due to the absence of moving parts, have access speeds 100 times higher. Therefore, this parameter is usually not focused on; any SSD provides incredibly high access speeds. However, higher quality models can have an access time of about 0.1 ms, and the most budget 0.4 ms. The difference in access time by a factor of 4 is not in favor of budget SSDs. With this parameter, manufacturers of budget SSDs can also be disingenuous and indicate a theoretical value under ideal conditions.

Real speed SSD specifications disks can be found out from tests on the most authoritative technical portals. You can download a file with links to them at the end of the article in the “” section.

5. Memory types and SSD resource

Modern SSD drives use several types of memory - MLC, TLC and 3D NAND (V-NAND).

MLC is the most popular type of memory for SSD drives with an optimal price/speed/durability ratio and an estimated resource of 3000-5000 rewrite cycles.

TLC is a cheaper type of memory, found in budget SSDs, with a rewriting resource of about 1000 cycles.

3D NAND is a modern fast memory developed by Samsung with the longest rewriting resource. Installed in more expensive Samsung SSD models.

There is a myth that SSD drives wear out very quickly. Therefore, you need to choose models with the maximum possible resource and use all sorts of tricks in the operating system settings to extend SSD services disk, otherwise it will quickly exhaust its resource and fail.

In fact, the resource of modern SSDs matters only when installing them in servers, where the disks work for wear and tear around the clock. In such conditions, due to the colossal number of rewrite cycles, SSDs actually last an order of magnitude less than their older brothers - mechanical hard drives. But you and I already know that in the computers of ordinary users, the number of write operations, which cause wear and tear, is 20 times lower than read operations. Therefore, even with a relatively heavy load, the resource of any modern SSD will allow it to last 10 years or more.

Despite the fact that data on rapid wear and tear are highly exaggerated, you should not purchase an SSD based on the cheapest TLC memory, since the savings will be insignificant. Today's most the best option There will be an SSD disk with MLC type memory. And the actual service life of an SSD disk will depend more on the quality of production and. Pay more attention to the brand and warranty period.

6. Clipboard

Clipboard (cache) based on DDR3 memory speeds up SSD operation disk, but makes it somewhat more expensive. For every 1 GB of SSD capacity there should be 1 MB of DDR3 cache. Thus, an SSD with a capacity of 120-128 GB should have 128 MB DDR3, 240-256 GB - 256 MB DDR3, 500-512 GB - 512 MB DDR3, 960-1024 GB - 1024 MB DDR3.

Some models have a cache based on older DDR2 memory, but this does not significantly affect performance.

7. Blackout protection

It is desirable that a disk with DDR3 cache memory have protection against sudden power outages (Power Protection), which is usually based on tantalum capacitors and allows you to save data from the buffer to memory chips in the event of de-energizing SSD. But if you have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS, UPS), then blackout protection can be neglected.

SSDs without cache based on DDR3 memory do not require additional protection from blackout.

8. SSD controllers

There are many controllers for SSD drives. The most popular brands include Intel, Samsung, Marvell, SandForce, Phison, JMicron, Silicon Motion, Indilinx (OCZ, Toshiba).

The best SSD drives are built on Intel controllers, Samsung, Marvell. In the middle class, the long-proven SandForce and younger Phison controllers are more popular. Inexpensive SSD models are often content with old budget JMicron controllers and younger Silicon Motion controllers. Indilinx produced fairly reliable controllers and was bought by OCZ and then Toshiba for use in their mid-range SSDs.

But each manufacturer has both cheaper and more expensive controllers. Therefore, you need to navigate specific model controller, a review of which is easy to find on the Internet.

Most controllers in entry-level and mid-range SSDs are 4-channel. Top SSD models are equipped with faster and more modern 8-channel controllers. But don’t bother too much with controller models, it’s not always easy to figure it out. Focus primarily on the brand, the stated characteristics of the SSD drive and real tests specific model, which often also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the installed controller and other electronic components of the SSD.

In addition to the read/write speed, the controller also depends on support for various technologies designed to improve the performance of the SSD drive.

9. Supported technologies and TRIM function

An SSD disk, depending on the model and the controller installed in it, can support various technologies designed to improve its performance. Many manufacturers develop their own proprietary technologies that provide more marketing benefits than actual benefits to users. I will not list them; this information is in the descriptions of specific models.

Most important function The one that should be supported by any modern SSD is TRIM (garbage collection). Her job is as follows. An SSD drive can only write data to free memory cells. As long as there are enough free cells, the SSD disk writes data to them. As soon as there are few free cells, the SSD disk needs to clear cells from which data is no longer needed (the file has been deleted). An SSD without TRIM support clears these cells immediately before writing new data, which significantly increases the time of write operations. It turns out that as the disk fills up, the recording speed degrades. An SSD with TRIM support, having received a notification from the operating system about the deletion of data, also marks the cells in which they were as unused, but clears them not before writing new data, but in advance in free time (when the disk is not used very actively). This is called garbage collection. As a result, the write speed is always maintained at the highest possible level.

10. Hidden SSD area

Each SSD drive has a fairly large amount of hidden memory ( inaccessible to the user) areas. These cells are used to replace those that fail, so that disk space is not lost over time and the safety of data that is previously transferred by the disk from “sick” cells to “healthy” ones is ensured.

In high-quality SSDs, this hidden volume can reach 30% of the declared disk volume. Some manufacturers, in order to save money and gain a competitive advantage, make the hidden disk space smaller (up to 10%), and the amount available to the user is larger. Thanks to this, the user gets more available volume for the same money.

But this trick of manufacturers also has another negative side. The fact is that the hidden area is used not only as an untouchable reserve, but also for the operation of the TRIM function. Volume too small hidden area leads to a lack of memory required for background data transfer (cleaning up garbage) and the speed of the SSD disk at high capacity (80-90%) is greatly degraded, sometimes several times. This is the price of “free” additional space and this is why high-quality SSD drives have a large hidden area.

The TRIM function must be supported by the operating system. All versions starting from Windows 7 support the TRIM function.

11. SSD manufacturers

The best SSD manufacturer disk is Intel company, but their cost is very high and they are used mainly in the corporate sector for critical systems and servers.

The next leader in terms of technology is Samsung. Their SSDs cost on average higher than all others, but are distinguished by impeccable quality, reliability and speed.

SSD brands Crucial and Plextor were recognized as the best in terms of price/quality ratio ( trademark Samsung) and SanDisk.

Also, as a compromise option in terms of price/quality, you can consider SSDs from the reputable brands Corsair and A-DATA.

I do not recommend purchasing SSDs sold under the Kingston brand, since most of them do not meet the stated characteristics and their speed greatly degrades as they fill up. But this manufacturer also has SSDs from the top-end HyperX series, which are of higher quality and can be considered as an alternative to top-end expensive brands.

IN general case budget and unpopular brands are like a lottery, maybe you’ll get lucky, maybe not. Therefore, I recommend that you avoid purchasing them if possible. But it’s still better to look for reviews on models from recommended brands, since “even an old woman can get screwed.” I remind you that links to SSD reviews disks are in a file that can be downloaded in the “” section.

12. Form factor and SSD interface

The most popular today are SSDs of the 2.5″ form factor with a SATA3 (6 Gb/s) interface connector.

This SSD can be installed in a computer or laptop. The motherboard or laptop must have a SATA3 (6 Gb/s) or SATA2 (3 Gb/s) connector. Correct work when connected to the first version of SATA connector (1.5 Gbit/s), it is possible, but not guaranteed.

When connected to a SATA2 connector, the SSD read/write speed will be limited to around 280 MB/s. But you will still get a significant performance boost over a regular hard drive (HDD).

Plus, the access time will not go away, which is 100 times lower than that of an HDD, which will also significantly increase the responsiveness of the system and programs.

A more compact SSD form factor is mSATA, which is based on the SATA bus but has a different connector.

The use of such an SSD is justified in ultra-compact computers, laptops and mobile devices (tablets) with an mSATA connector, in which installing a conventional SSD is impossible or undesirable.

Another smaller SSD form factor is M.2. This connector replaces mSATA, but is based on the faster PCI-E bus.

The motherboard, laptop or mobile device (tablet) must also have the appropriate connector.

Well, another type of SSD is presented in the form of a PCI-E expansion card.

Such SSDs have very high speeds (3-10 times faster than SSDs with a SATA3 interface), but are significantly more expensive and are therefore used mainly in very demanding professional tasks.

13. Housing material

The SSD case is usually made of plastic or aluminum. It is believed that aluminum is better because it has higher thermal conductivity. But since the SSD does not heat up significantly at all, this does not matter much and may not be taken into account when choosing a model.

14. Equipment

If you are purchasing an SSD for a computer and the case does not have mounts for 2.5″ drives, then pay attention to the presence of a mounting frame in the kit.

Most SSDs do not come with a mounting frame or even screws. But the mount with screws included can be purchased separately.

The presence of fastening should not be a significant criterion when choosing an SSD, but sometimes a higher quality SSD complete with mount can be purchased for the same money as a budget SSD with a separate mount.

15. Setting up filters in the online store

Go to the “SSD drives” section on the seller’s website.
Choose recommended manufacturers (Crucial, Plextor, Samsung, SanDisk), you can also consider Corsair and A-DATA.
Select the desired volume (120-128, 240-256 GB).
Sort the selection by price.
Browse SSDs starting with the cheaper ones.
Choose several models suitable for price and speed (from 450/350 Mb/s).
Look for their reviews online and buy the best model.

Thus, you will receive an SSD disk that is optimal in size and speed, meeting high quality criteria, at the lowest possible cost.

16. Links

SSD Samsung MZ-76E250BW
SSD A-Data Ultimate SU650 240GB
SSD A-Data Ultimate SU650 120GB