Choosing an SSD drive for a laptop. Form factor M.2. Choosing an affordable SSD drive for a gaming PC and laptop

Hello GT! A high-quality SSD unlocks the potential of any laptop. It’s good if it’s installed right away, but what if not? We look at different options for solid-state drives and determine which one is best suited for upgrading a mobile computer.

The widespread use of solid-state drives in laptops began when Intel introduced the Ultrabook concept. Even small ultrabooks equipped with SSDs were much faster than devices with HDDs. And this has become the best motivation for laptop users to upgrade since removable processors and graphics accelerators in mobile computers disappeared as a class.

There are many reasons for choosing an SSD today - immunity to vibration and shock, performance, and low power consumption. Until recently, the main obstacle to switching to solid-state drives was the high price, but today it has dropped significantly, and the failure rate of memory cells has become so low that SSDs can be used for everyday work without worrying about your data at all.

Still, you shouldn’t buy the first SSD you come across: the drive should be selected wisely and take into account the system’s features. There are many products on the market in different price categories, and it is possible that a drive for 5 thousand rubles will give you the same result as its equivalent for 15. So is it worth spending the extra money? To better understand this issue, let's look at different types of SSDs.

M.2, PCIe, mSATA and SATA

In really old laptops, the interface for connecting solid-state drives can be anything, provided it is SATA. Almost every model (except the most compact) uses classic full-size SATA. It is also used to connect disks to desktop computers, and it is through SATA that the most affordable SSDs are connected. Depending on the antiquity of the laptop, this may be version SATA 1, 2 or 3. The most prehistoric laptops use SATA 1, and upgrading to an SSD in this case will be quite pointless - this interface barely provides the required speed for a regular drive, and many models SSDs do not support the SATA 1 protocol at all. However, the vast majority of modern laptops use the third version of the controller.

Data transfer speed via SATA 3 is up to 6 Gbit/s. This means that you can use a fairly modern SSD with it. In recent years, solid-state drives have developed like startups and have jumped over their heads more than once, as a result of which they have come up against the bandwidth limit of the SATA 3 interface.

Some laptops also have an mSATA interface. It allows you to install a solid-state drive without a housing - a flat board with chips soldered to it. This is practically the same SATA 3, only with a new banana flavor in a different form factor, so it is also suitable for installing an SSD in a laptop. Some laptops already have an mSATA interface, but it is either not used, or an outdated SSD is installed in it. Also, the system may often have a mini-PCI interface, which is intended for installing expansion cards (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth modules, 3G modems, and so on). It is very similar to mSATA, but they should not be confused. In any case, installing a new drive will qualitatively increase the speed of the system, and which port to use for this can be found out from the laptop manufacturer or by using the configurator on our website.

The most promising option is the M.2 connector. If you are using a modern laptop, then M.2 will allow the system to operate at maximum speed. M.2 is the bright future that was expected from mSATA. The new standard spread in laptops before mSATA gained popularity, and due to lower prices for drives, it was promoted almost immediately, and mSATA turned into an unpopular “legacy-storage”, for which manufacturers today produce one or two drive models - for example, just in case. In practice, M.2 is an output option for the PCI Express 3.0 bus with support for 4 lines at once. Thus, M.2 allows you to achieve data transfer speeds of up to 4 GB/s, which is much faster than any of the SATA versions.

But don’t get too excited ahead of time - even if the drive is installed in an M.2 connector, it can still use the SATA interface, which means it can operate at the same speed as with older connectors. However, there will still be an advantage, since the carrier will be able to reveal its full speed potential.

AHCI or NVMe?

The further into the forest, the more complex the specifications, because the interface is not everything. Drives with different types of controllers can operate on the same physical connector. In the era of the greatest popularity of hard drives, the AHCI controller learned to pump them by working with the NCQ (Native Command Queuing) command queue. But today it is a bottleneck between the disk and the processor, and its more modern competitor NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory) is actually a PCI device and, in theory, could run at the speed of the PCI Express bus itself. Consider the fact that NVMe can handle up to 65,536 requests, while AHCI mode only supports 32 simultaneous requests.

True, drives that use an NVMe controller consume 2-3 times more electricity than their AHCI-based brothers. Therefore, if we are talking about a mobile laptop with a long battery life, using a drive with an AHCI controller may be preferable, despite the higher performance of NVMe. In this case, disks with any of these controllers can be installed in the M.2 interface.

However, if you decide to purchase an NVMe drive, you need to check whether this specification is supported by the laptop manufacturer. If not, then you will not be able to install the operating system and boot from such a disk.

Installation details

But, if you want to install a solid-state drive in your laptop, you must first make sure that the board has a connector for installing it. This information can be found from the manufacturer, found in video reviews with inspection of the internals, using the configurator on our website, or ask about the possibility of an upgrade from Kingston technical support specialists. You can also open the laptop yourself to check the required dimensions of the mounting holes. There is usually a marking next to the M.2 interface that indicates the presence of mounting holes. For example, 2260 means that media 22 mm wide and 60 long are supported, 2280 means 22 wide and 80 long, and so on.

The M.2 interface is universal, but so that life doesn’t seem like honey, it has several varieties with different keys for installing expansion cards. Key B connector is distinguished by the missing pins 12 to 19 and is called M.2 Socket 2. It can work with SATA, USB 3.0, PCIe ×2, PCM, IUM, SSIC and I2C interfaces. When installing an M key with missing pins 59 to 66, the connector is called M.2 Socket 3 in the documentation. This version only supports PCIe x4 and SATA.

At the same time, there are different SSDs on sale - designed for installation in M.2 Socket 2, M.2 Socket 3 and universal ones, which have contacts for both keys. If you are not sure which M.2 connector your laptop has, it is best to purchase a universal drive. In particular, in the Kingston line, M.2 SATA models contain two keys at once and can be installed in any laptop with M.2 support.

Software level

But simply plugging a disk into a laptop is not enough. This is why many people take their laptop to a service center for an upgrade. By the way, if your machine is still under warranty, it is possible that in order to preserve it and at the same time replace the drive, contacting a service center will be a necessary condition. But many large manufacturers do not even mind replacing the disk yourself - you can always check this with your laptop’s technical support service. In addition, it is important to safely copy the contents of the old disk. If you decide to do this yourself, it's best to use the dedicated migration software that comes with many Kingston SSDs.

Leading manufacturers also have utilities for configuring optimal SSD performance, which you can use after starting the system on the new drive. For example, Kingston SSD Manager helps you monitor drive health, run self-diagnosis technologies, and update drive firmware.

Which drive should you choose?

For those whose laptop only has an mSATA connector, finding a suitable replacement model is quite difficult - there are not many mSATA drives on the market, and the only option from the Kingston line is

And so on. The time has finally come to move from words to action and see (or keep an eye on) which SSD drive for a laptop to choose for the planned upgrade. Because there is no need to convince anyone that in terms of speed characteristics, solid-state drives are preferable to conventional hard drives. I will divide the material into 2 parts, and in the first of them we will focus on SSD drives of the M.2 form factor.

Selection criteria

As usual, let's outline some criteria. First of all, let's decide on the purpose of the disk. The SSD drive will have to work as a system drive with all the ensuing consequences.

Next, I will consider those models that are currently on sale (end of April 2017), leaving out of the review semi- and completely unknown drives that are offered in abundance on Ali and other similar sites.

Another criterion is capacity. In my opinion, a 240-256 GB drive is by far the best option in terms of sufficient space and cost of such a drive. If you have the opportunity to buy a more capacious option, that’s good. As a last resort, you can stop at the 128 GB version, but this should be done with a limited purchase budget or if, in addition to the OS and the bare minimum of programs (office, browser, messenger), nothing else will be installed.

Perhaps that's all. Go.

Which interface do you prefer?

I have already written about SSD drive interfaces, in particular in the M.2 format, and I will briefly repeat that such drives can operate on two buses: SATA or PCI-express. They differ in the key in the connector, and also in the fact that if the laptop has an M.2 connector operating on the SATA bus, then drives designed specifically for this interface can be installed in it. Models designed for the PCIe bus will not be suitable, including mechanically.

If the installed M.2 connector operates on the PCIe bus, then, as a rule, you can use SSD drives with a SATA and PCIe interface. The possibility of installing a SATA drive must be clarified in the specifications. Another thing is that it is not entirely reasonable to attach a slow SATA drive to a high-speed interface.

If your laptop model is equipped with an M.2 connector that supports the PCIe bus, then it is better to use SSD drives designed for the same bus. They are much faster than their counterparts running on the SATA bus, although they are more expensive. True, not always, and we will see this when we look at specific models.

SATA

If we talk about ordinary hard drives, then the capabilities of this interface in the SATA III version are too many for them. Strictly speaking, even SATA II is quite enough for most hard drives.

SSD drives are another matter. They quickly exhausted the capabilities of this interface, which is clearly seen from the characteristics of solid-state drives. Almost all of them have a stated read speed that corresponds to the maximum interface throughput – approximately 520-560 MB/s. It must be said that the real reading speed, at least linear reading, is really close to the declared values.

The difference is manifested in the read/write speed on blocks of different lengths, with random read/write, as well as when working with a large request queue and with mixed loading, when read and write operations alternate. True, this no longer depends on the interface used, but on the characteristics of the memory used, the capabilities of the controller, the quality of firmware optimization, etc.

Models with memory made using TLC or MLC technology are available. Considering that one of the main tasks facing manufacturers is to reduce costs, the process of actively replacing MLC with TLC is underway, whether someone likes it or not. As reliability tests of drives with this type of memory show, including the test I conducted of the Plextor S2G drive, this memory is not as terrible as they say.

A few words should be said about capacity and why it makes sense to consider models with larger capacity. Most manufacturers offer SSD drives of different capacities within the same model. If you look closely at the characteristics, you will notice that such a parameter as the TB recording resource (also known as TBW), which shows the maximum amount of information that can be guaranteed to be written to the drive, changes.

So, for more capacious models this parameter is usually higher. For example, for a 128 GB capacity this parameter has a value of 75 TB, and for the same model, but with a capacity of 256 GB it is already 150 TB. Stress testing shows that these numbers have substance. So, my drive “gave up” after recording a little over 300 TB, and the tested 256 GB drive withstood more than 400 TB.

With some limitations, but we can say that the more capacious the drive, the more reliable it is, i.e. you pay not only for the available capacity, but also for more durable memory chips.

Let's move on to the review of the models.

And the table contains the main characteristics. Values ​​are for drives with a capacity of 240-275 GB. For modifications with other volumes, the numbers may differ.

Model	Intel 540s Series	Western Digital Green	Samsung CM871a	Western Digital Blue	Patriot Ignite M2
Available volumes, GB	120, 180, 240 , 360, 480, 960	120, 240	128, 256	250 , 500, 1000	120, 240 , 480
Controller	Silicon Motion SM2258	Silicon Motion SM2258XT	Samsung Maia	Marvell 88SS1074	Phison PS3110-S10
Memory	SK Hynix 16nm TLC NAND	SanDisk 15nm TLC NAND	TLC NAND	SanDisk 15nm TLC NAND	Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND
Buffer	DDR3-1600	—	—	LDDR3-1866,	DDR3-1600
Last read, MB/s	560	540	540	540	560
Last recording, MB/s	480	430	520	500	320
	74000	37000	97000	97000	90000
	85000	68000	57000	79000	70000
Resource (TBW), TB	—	80	—	100	—

Model	Crucial MX300	A-DATA Ultimate SU800	Plextor M7VG	Kingston SSDNow G2	Transcend MTS820
Available volumes, GB	275 , 525, 750, 1050	128, 256 , 512, 1024	128, 256 , 512	120, 240 , 480	120, 240	120, 250 , 500, 1000
Controller	Marvell 88SS1074	Silicon Motion SM2258	Marvell 88SS1074	Phison PS3110-S10	—	Samsung MGX
Memory	Micron TLC 3D NAND		Toshiba 15nm TLC NAND	Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND	TLC NAND	Samsung TLC V-NAND
Buffer	LDDR3-1600, 256 MB		DDR3-1600 256 MB	DDR3-1600	DDR3-1600, 256 MB	LPDDR2-1066,
Last read, MB/s	530	550	560	550	550	540
Last recording, MB/s	500	300	530	330	420	520
Production speed reads, IOPS	55000	50000	98000	79000	78000	98000
Production speed records, IOPS	83000	75000	84000	79000	78000	87000
Resource (TBW), TB	80	—	160	300	—	75

Intel 540s Series, estimated cost - 5500 rubles. One of the cheapest storage options based on the Silicon Motion SM2258 controller. The main advantage of this model is the price, and the main disadvantage is performance. This is one of the slowest drives on the market, and this is not due to the budget of the controller used. You can even get good performance out of it, as evidenced by the Plextor S2G SSD, for which the firmware has been significantly rewritten. As a result, performance has improved significantly, although the drive still remains in the budget class. In this case, only a big name can serve as an argument in favor of a purchase.

Western Digital Green, estimated cost - 5500 rubles. In fact, it’s practically analogous in capabilities to the previous drive from Intel.

SamsungCM871a, estimated cost - 6100 rubles. A budget option in everything, including speed.

WesternDigitalBlue, estimated cost - 6200 rubles. Unlike the very budget Green series, this model is positioned as a mid-level drive, which, in particular, can be indicated by the controller used - Marvell 88SS1074. The disc has good reading characteristics, a little worse at writing, but, nevertheless, fully corresponds to the positioning. It’s quite a solid mid-range product, and considering the recording resource (TBW) of 100 TB, it’s also a very reliable model. In general, a worthy candidate for purchase.

PatriotIgniteM2, estimated cost - 6200 rubles. The use of the Phison PS3110-S10 controller in this case means that this is a reference model from the manufacturer Phison, and Patriot only packages and sells a ready-made solution under its brand. Another strong mid-ranger, and one that works with the MLC memory type, if that’s important to anyone. Considering the potential reliability, performance and price, this model is highly recommended for consideration as an option.

Crucial MX300, approximate price – 6400 rub. A very worthy model for the money. It doesn't match the Samsung 850 EVO, but it outperforms many competitors using planar TLC memory. The used controller does a good job of autonomous “garbage collection,” which can be useful if the TRIM command cannot be used for one reason or another. It's worth taking a closer look at this drive.

A-DATA Ultimate SU800, approximate price – 6400 rub. This is the first drive with 3D memory from this manufacturer. If we talk about speed indicators, they are more than decent, and, starting with the 256 GB version, the drive shows everything that it is capable of. The younger version, with a capacity of 128 GB, loses in terms of speed due to the small volume and limitations of the degree of parallelism of flash memory (by the way, another argument in favor of not paying attention to the youngest modification of the SSD drive). Due to the weak controller, this model cannot correspond to the class of productivity solutions; however, the SU800 performs very well in mixed loads and in write operations. The disadvantages appear during random read operations. In this respect, it is similar to the Crucial MX300 drive, built on the same memory. Overall, a more than interesting model for reasonable money.

Plextor M7VG, approximate price – 6400 rub. The pluses are the Marvell 88SS1074 controller and its ability to automatically carry out such an operation as “garbage collection”, which is useful in those systems where the TRIM command does not work. Overall, it’s a very worthy model that doesn’t set any records, but is quite productive. Problems arise only under intense load; however, such modes are rare on a home computer. It's worth taking a closer look at this drive.

Kingston SSDNow G2, approximate price – 6500 rub. Based on the Phison PS3110-S10C controller, it has good read performance, a little worse write performance, but overall it is a balanced model based on a reliable type of memory.

Transcend MTS820, approximate price – 6700 rub. For some reason, the manufacturer is heavily “encrypted”, carefully hiding the controller used and the type of manufacturer of the memory used. In some places it is indicated that the controller is a Marvell 88NV1120, in others it is a Silicon Motion SM2256K. It’s also unclear about the memory; apparently, it’s a Samsung K9BFGD8U0D, made using a 16nm process. Memory, so to speak, is far from the fastest. The model does not stand out as anything special and, given the presence of competitors with similar performance and for less money, is not of great interest. The choice of SSD for this model, in my opinion, is very controversial.

Samsung 850 EVO, estimated price - 6900. For many manufacturers it remains a benchmark in terms of performance, although the model is no longer new at all. At the same time, it is one of the most expensive SSD drives; it justifies the cost with its capabilities. However, it must be noted that the younger models with capacities of 120 and 250 GB are not as fast as their more capacious counterparts. Nevertheless, if the issue of saving is not urgent, then you can take it, you won’t go wrong.

If we sum up the intermediate results of drives with the SATA interface, then using even the most budget-friendly of them will give a very noticeable increase in performance compared to a conventional hard drive. If we talk about purchasing options, then it probably makes sense to choose either the cheapest option, which will be enough for use as a system drive in a laptop in most cases, or take a closer look at the top options, which will allow you to achieve maximum performance and full using all the capabilities of the rather slow SATA bus.

PCI-Express

More and more laptops are appearing with an M.2 connector using the PCIe interface. There are several versions of it, these are PCIe 2.0 with two or four lanes, and the new PCIe 3.0 with four lanes and the NVMe protocol. These drives are for enthusiasts for whom SATA speeds are absolutely not enough, and who want to get everything these drives have to offer from an SSD drive.

Manufacturers of controllers, memory, and even SSD drives themselves are naturally “in trend”; all controller developers presented their models for this interface. Accordingly, drives are announced that differ in performance and price. This is good, because it allows you to choose a model that suits your “wants” and “wants”, that is, with the required level of performance and the allocated budget. So, let's see what the stores offer us. The transfer will be in ascending order of the average price.

First, I will summarize the main characteristics in a table. Speed ​​indicators, buffer memory capacity, etc. are indicated for versions with a capacity of 240-256 GB.

Model	Intel 600p	Patriot Hellfire	Samsung 960 EVO	PNY CS2030	Plextor M8PeGN
Available volumes, GB	128, 256 , 512, 1024	240 , 480	250 , 500, 1000	240 , 480	128, 256 , 512, 1024
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x4
NVMe	+
Controller	SMI SM2260	Phison PS5007-E7	Samsung Polaris	Phison PS5007-11	Marvell 88SS1093
Memory	Intel TLC 3D NAND	Toshiba MLC NAND	Samsung TLC 3D V-NAND	Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND	Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND
Buffer	LPDDR3-1600,		LPDDR3-1600,	—	LPDDR3-1600,
Last read, MB/s	770	2700	3200	2750	2000
Last recording, MB/s	450	1100	1500	1500	900
Production speed reads, IOPS	35000	130000	330000	201000	120000
Production speed records, IOPS	91500	205000	300000	215000	130000
Resource (TBW), TB	72	115	100	—	384

Model	Kingston HyperX Predator	Corsair Force MP500	Plextor M6e Gen2x	OCZ RD400	Samsung 950 Pro
Available volumes, GB	240 , 480, 960	120, 240 , 480	128, 256 , 512	128, 256 , 512, 1024	256 , 512
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x4	PCIe 3.0 x4	PCIe 2.0 x2	PCIe 3.0 x4
NVMe	—	+	—	+
Controller	Marvell 88SS9293	Phison PS5007-E7	Marvell 88SS9183	Toshiba TC58NCP070GSB	Samsung UBX
Memory	Toshiba 19nm MLC NAND	Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND	Toshiba 19nm MLC NAND	Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND	Samsung MLC V-NAND
Buffer	DDR3-1600	LPDDR3-1600,	DDR3-1600	LPDDR3-1600,	LPDDR3-1600,
Last read, MB/s	1400	3000	770	2600	2200
Last recording, MB/s	600	2400	580	1150	900
Production speed reads, IOPS	160000	250000	105000	21000	270000
Production speed records, IOPS	119000	210000	100000	140000	85000
Resource (TBW), TB	415	349	—	148	200

Intel 600pSeries, approximate price – 7200 rub. As in the case of SATA drives, the first product is from Intel. There is probably some kind of pattern in this, because in terms of price and performance this drive, although it uses high-speed PCI Express 3.0 with the NVMe protocol in addition, is rather a competitor to SATA drives. Its performance is rather dull, and it is prone to overheating. But the price... If the budget is very limited, but you definitely need a PCIe drive, then why not. There are no other arguments in favor of this disc.

PatriotHellfire, approximate price – 7700 rub. The weak point of the drive is reading with a small depth of requests, i.e. exactly the situation that is most typical for home computers. However, it doesn't go down to Intel 600p levels. We can say that this is a budget drive for the PCIe bus. Considering the price, a better option than the previous model.

Samsung 960EVOSeries, estimated cost - 8700 rubles. You expect incredible power from Samsung, but in this case it is a budget-class drive, with its own characteristics. One of its features is that in terms of speed, the younger model (250 GB) is the slowest. When recording, when the SLC cache is exhausted (admittedly, it is by no means small, 13 GB), the speed is very low, and in this parameter it is inferior even to the Samsung 850 PRO SATA drive. Although he is good at reading, he does not cope very well with a mixed load. And again, only the oldest version with a capacity of 1 TB shows decent results. Overall, I would think carefully before buying this particular drive, and if you decide in its favor, then take at least the 500 GB model. If you need a drive with a capacity of around 256 GB, then perhaps this is not the best option, primarily due to recording problems in the younger model. The terabyte version is very fast, as befits a Samsung. With all due respect to the manufacturer, in this case there are more interesting proposals.

PNY CS2030, approximate price – 9000 rub. The new model is very similar in configuration to the Patriot Hellfire. However, despite the same Phison PS5007-E7 controller, the performance is noticeably higher, and in general, the drive looks very, very attractive.

Plextor M8PeGN, approximate price – 9000 rub. Available in two versions, with and without a heat-dissipating cover. The drive is prone to overheating under heavy load, so a heatsink is desirable, although it increases the thickness of the drive, which may cause it to not fit into the intended slot in the laptop. Overall, it’s a very good option for quite reasonable money.

Kingston HyperX Predator, approximate price – 9000 rub. This is quite an old model, using not the latest Marvell 88SS9293 controller. With a comparable price to the same Plextor M8PeGN, it loses to the latter in all respects. At the moment, the drive no longer justifies its price, because there are more tempting offers.

Corsair Force MP500, volume – 240 GB, memory – MLC, estimated price – 10,000 rubles. Another model based on the rather successful Phison PS5007-E7 controller. The drive shows very good read/write performance. Although the 240GB model is slower than higher-capacity options, there are still pros and cons to choosing the 240GB SSD model.

Plextor M6eGen2x, approximate price - 11,300 rubles. Quite an old model, with good linear read/write performance, considering the fact that it uses PCIe 2.0 with two lanes. In my opinion, there are currently no arguments in favor of this particular drive; it has already outlived its usefulness.

OCZ RD400, approximate price - 11,400 rubles. The Toshiba controller is used, which is, in fact, a modified Marvell 88SS1093, which in itself is not bad. And even very good, because in terms of the totality of qualities it is inferior only to the recognized leader - Samsung 950 PRO, and in some disciplines it is even ahead of it. In particular, the RD400 performs very well in mixed loads, i.e. in the most typical situation encountered when operating a regular computer. A more than worthy candidate for purchase, if the price doesn’t bother you.

Manufacturers offer drives for the PCIe bus to suit every taste, at any price and with different levels of performance. The cheapest ones show results that are at the level of good SATA drives, the most advanced ones raise the performance bar to a completely different level. True, you have to pay a considerable amount for this. You should also take into account the fact that performance tends to increase with increasing capacity, and the same model, for example, 128 GB and 512 GB, can differ significantly.

I do not have a Samsung 960 PRO drive listed, because the minimum capacity is 512 GB, which does not fit into the selected criteria. However, if you are ready to shell out about 22,500 rubles. for the junior model, you will get a truly top-end drive with the highest operating speeds.

Conclusion. SSD drive for laptop in M.2 form factor

SATA has practically exhausted itself, and, by and large, there is no fundamental difference between SSD drives on this bus. Yes, MLC memory is faster and more reliable, but TLC is cheaper and, by and large, also quite reliable. There is practically no difference in reading, especially with linear reading; problems can only arise when writing, especially with mixed loads (which is typical for a home computer) or with a large queue of requests (which is NOT typical for a home computer).

The future belongs to the PCI-Express interface, which is confirmed by the increased interest of manufacturers in this segment. Surely in the near future we will see new models and modifications of such drives. Here the difference is much more noticeable, especially since such drives are often purchased by those who know exactly what and how much they want. If only for the sake of it, there are cheap options, although among them there are very interesting models; for those who are not ready to make compromises, there are top-end solutions. The only question is the cost.

The world of modern electronics is actively developing, and today you will not surprise anyone with the purchase of an SSD drive. This type of solid-state drive appeared quite recently, but it has spread incredibly quickly. When choosing an SSD drive, buyers often have a number of problems with a large assortment of different values. At the same time, it is quite difficult to find exact solutions for them without detailed investigation. In fact, it is enough to spend literally a few minutes to clearly understand how to choose the right SSD drive for a computer or laptop in 2018 - 2019, without overpaying for those sophisticated functions that your computer does not need.

Classic hard drives are officially called HDD (English: “Hard Disk Drive”). They have accompanied personal computers and laptops throughout almost the entire history of their existence. They are the most important components, since absolutely all files are stored on them, including the operating system. Accordingly, without these parts it was impossible to start the computer.

However, recently a new type of storage device has been actively spreading. We are, of course, talking about SSD (English: “Solid-State Drive”). Solid state drives are gradually winning the hearts of users with their speed and excellent technical parameters. Even computer manufacturers are switching to SSDs, using them either instead of or in conjunction with HDDs. So what's the difference?

When deciding whether it is better to choose a hard drive or an SSD for a computer, the user should have a clear picture of what the pros and cons of both options are. Of course, a solid-state drive has more advantages:

• increased speed of operation, in particular, reading and writing information;
• heat and energy efficiency;
• compactness;
• increased resistance to damage (overheating, mechanical shock);
• silent operation.

But the hard drive also has its advantages:

• protection against electrical damage;
• low cost;
• the ability to restore information if lost.

Speaking from a technical point of view, the difference between disks lies in specific characteristics. A detailed comparative analysis of this data is quite boring, so it is not worth presenting it (and there is no point in doing so), but the result is predictable; if your financial capabilities allow it, it is better to choose an SSD drive, since it will provide the greatest performance, speed and efficiency with the file system.

SSD selection criteria

Solid state drives (as well as hard drives) have a number of technical characteristics, which are also criteria for choosing an SSD. These include a number of parameters that determine the operation of the device: types and amounts of memory, connection methods, read and write speeds, service life to failure, as well as additional properties. It is worth noting that it is impossible to find the ideal combination of all parameters, but choosing a fast and high-quality SSD drive based on them is quite simple: you just need to familiarize yourself and understand its technical side.

Volume

The most popular criterion for an SSD drive is the choice based on the amount of data to be written. The amount of information that an SSD drive can store is one of the most important parameters. Classic hard drives of the HDD format are traditionally equipped with memory of 500 GB and higher (older models). However, SSDs have a smaller capacity. But there is a completely logical explanation for this.

In order to choose a good SSD drive, you need to determine its role. Most often you can find computers in which an SSD is installed along with a HDD, and the volume of the former is several times smaller than the latter. For example, a solid-state drive is rated at 60 GB, and a hard drive is rated at 500 GB. This suggests that the SSD is used only for the system, and the main one is the classic hard drive. However, laptops (usually gaming laptops) have either a separate 500 GB (less commonly 1000 GB) solid-state drive installed, or the same drive in combination with an HDD of about 1000 (1500) GB.

If you plan to use an SSD for the system, then buy a drive with a capacity of 64 GB to 128 GB; this will be more than enough and will not hurt your pocket!

Memory types

SSD drives are characterized by the use of different memory cells, which are divided into different types. There are four in total:

1. MLC. This species is the most widespread. It involves placing two bits of data in one cell. Its rewrite cycle is small (from 3,000 to 10,000 times), but the lower price eliminates this disadvantage.
2. SLC. In this case, there is one bit of information per cell. This architecture is suitable for powerful devices that constantly work with huge amounts of data. Rewriting cycles can reach 100,000 times, the operating speed is also at an excellent level, however, the cost of SSDs with this type of memory is much higher compared to others.
3. TLC. The architecture of the drive assumes that one cell corresponds to three bits of information. The number of rewrite acts does not exceed 3000 times (less often – 5000). The price of such a budget SSD is an order of magnitude lower, so those who like saving money should take a closer look at this option.
4. 3D-V-NAND. The latest development in data storage. It does not use MLC or TLC, but a special flash memory, thanks to which the amount of information to be recorded per unit area increases. This type is still rare, but in the near future it can make a splash.

Connection methods

A solid-state drive, like a hard drive, is connected inside the laptop or computer case using special interfaces. The latter can have different types, among which are:

• SATA II
• SATA III
• mSATA

Also, some programmers include M.2 here, but in fact it is a continuation of mSATA.

The most popular interfaces are SATA II and III. The first model is gradually going out of circulation, since the second one received a more technologically advanced connector and improved contacts, increasing the efficiency of interaction. mSATA works on the same principle, only the model is used in compact computers due to its reduced size. The most efficient option is PCIe, which uses third-party drivers to operate, making data transfer several times faster.

Write/read speed

As mentioned above, one of the advantages of an SSD drive for a PC is the high speed of writing and reading data. There are small reservations regarding this parameter, taking into account which will allow you to avoid unnecessary questions. The fact is that the read speed is usually slightly higher than the write speed, or equal to it. The range of indicators can be designated as:

• recording – 350 Mb/s
• read – 450 MB/s

You must always remember that the manufacturer can be a little tricky by indicating the maximum speed, which in the vast majority of cases is higher than the real one. To find out the actual picture, you can read reviews and customer reviews.

An important parameter when selecting a drive is an indicator such as IOPS (the number of random input/output operations per second); the higher this indicator, the better, which will ensure good speed when transferring large amounts of information.

For normal and comfortable operation, the IOPS value should vary between 45,000 – 55,000; in more expensive models, this figure can reach 90,000.

Service life to failure

It is impossible to purchase without knowing the performance of the drive. The classification by memory type has already been given above. It depends on it how many times the data can be rewritten. The shortest (and therefore most economical) option is TLC. It allows for 1000 to 3000 rewrite cycles. For MLC, this figure ranges from 3 to 5 thousand times, which is an average figure. And finally, solid-state drives with the SLC memory type, which can withstand up to 100 thousand rewrite cycles, have the longest service life.

When buying a good SSD drive, you should not get hung up on this parameter, since even the simplest drive will last you at least 10 years, or even more.

Additional functions

The main task of an SSD is to store files and provide the fastest and most reliable access to data. However, there are some other features as well. For example, TRIM option. It consists of deleting data that is overwritten in a specific cell. In a computer hard drive, when new data is written, old identical indicators remain, so to speak, “under the cells.” Before rewriting to the SSD, the system deletes data from the cell and only then writes new ones there. All modern SSDs support this feature, the only question is whether the OS supports it (available with MS Windows 7).

Another interesting feature is hidden area. Every high-quality SSD has it, but the user does not have access to it. The fact is that the cells in which information is stored tend to fail. However, when one of them “dies”, automatic replacement occurs. The volume of the hidden area can be about 30% of the drive capacity. But if you want to buy an inexpensive but reliable SSD drive, then on their packaging you will find an increased capacity and a reserve of only 10%. This allows the user to get more memory at a lower cost.

Equipment

Finding the answer to the question of which SSD drive is best to buy can often be helped by the configuration of the drive. When purchasing, the seller can offer both the device itself and the kit. If the goal is to buy an inexpensive but good SSD drive, then you may prefer the first option. However, it is best to take all the components. These include cables, mounting rails for the 3.5-inch slot, and a 2.5-inch USB housing. All this will allow you to install the drive without “dancing with a tambourine.”

Choosing an SSD drive brand

After all the most important parameters have been studied, you can begin the main action. Today, not every manufacturer can offer to buy a high-quality and fast SSD drive for your laptop or computer. The most popular among them is Kingston, which has been selling various types of PC components (including HDDs, USB drives) for many years. Only SSD drives from Sandisk, which entered the solid-state drive segment not so long ago, but has managed to prove itself from the best side. Premium quality, but quite expensive products are offered by famous companies Samsung, HP And Intel. Also reliable storage manufacturers include: ADATA And Transcend. The choice here depends more on the price preferences of the buyer.

Conclusion

Solid state drives are gradually expanding their “sphere of influence” and replacing classic hard drives. The model range is expanding, and component manufacturers are willingly joining this segment of the computer parts market. In view of these factors, the question of how to choose the best SSD drive for a computer in 2017 becomes particularly relevant. However, a systematic, meaningful approach to choice will not only allow you to get a reliable SSD drive in a price-to-quality ratio, but also save money that could be spent on unsuitable options purchased out of inexperience.

In the world of information technology, it is traditional to store data on disks: Windows, all programs, as well as documents, photos and videos, in most cases are located on one HDD. And if the hard drive goes on strike, then the computer first starts to slow down, and then it may even break down completely. An alternative to a disk is a solid-state drive. It stores data on chips rather than magnetic plates, and is not only completely silent, but also significantly faster. So which fast SSD is the best? And what do you need to know about them when buying?

The main advantage and benefit of purchasing an SSD is energy saving, faster startup of Windows and installed programs and games. Today you can buy solid-state drives at a reasonable price; they are slowly but surely approaching the cost of conventional HDDs. Currently they have particularly attractive prices. SSD drives from Samsung and OCZ, with choosing a solid state drive focus on these manufacturers. Even though Samsung has quite expensive solid state drive models (Samsung SSD 840 Pro), they have the best characteristics, which we will talk about today. And the most optimal purchase would be Samsung SSD 840 and Lite-On E-200. Returning to expensive models of solid-state drives, especially such as the Samsung 840 EV0 1 TV, one cannot fail to note its performance: extremely high results in terms of access time and the number of I/O operations per second. The model is a leader not only in performance, but also in average cost per gigabyte.

Accessories. Many manufacturers offer SSDs in two delivery options - Bulk and Kit. In the first case, you receive only a disk, and in the second, the kit may include a SATA/USB adapter, a bracket for installing an SSD, a SATA cable, special software and a power cable. The markup for these components can range from 500 to 3000 rubles.

Key factors for choosing an SSD

Of course, for many the main criterion for choosing an SSD there will be a price, but I advise you to pay attention to the following parameters:

• data transfer speed when reading and writing
• memory access time
• amount of electricity consumed

Pay attention to the packaging of the solid-state drive, as owners of older PCs may need a mobile chassis (or adapter) for 2.5-inch form factor drives, since the vast majority of SSD drives are 2.5-inch, while system drives On computer units, the basket is compatible with 3.5-inch HDDs. In addition, many SSD manufacturers supply data transfer software along with the disks. To transfer data from a regular hard drive to an SSD, you can use.

Important when choosing a solid state drive, which characterizes the operating speed of the SSD, has a version of the SATA interface. For modern SSD models, the most modern SATA III interface (SATA 600) is suitable. The optimal disk size for selection is up to 250 GB. There is enough disk space, and the price is reasonable. The benefits of purchasing an SSD will greatly depend on the write speed. Sufficiently fast SSD drive models are provided by Samsung and OCZ. Well, the last criterion is current consumption. Keep in mind that SSDs have no active components and should consume no more than 2 watts.

Speed

SSD is much faster and transfers more data per second. You will notice this when you turn on the computer.

Reliability

An SSD has no moving parts. Advantages: SSDs generally survive shocks and falls without serious consequences, regardless of whether they are running or turned off.

Silence

Although most modern hard drives are quite quiet, an SSD will make your dream of a silent laptop or work PC a reality.

How does an SSD work?

Solid state drives achieve incredible speeds thanks to technological ingenuity. SSD control electronics read and write data to multiple chips at the same time, so they are faster than, for example, memory cards. The control chip (microcontroller) and control software (firmware) are critical to speed.
Compared to reading, writing for an SSD is more labor-intensive, since the memory chips must be cleaned before writing. Therefore, manufacturers invest a lot of effort in developing recording technologies. Some SSDs can perform write tasks even faster than read ones.
Larger SSDs tend to be faster. Thus, the Toshiba Q Series Pro with a capacity of 128 GB records video files at speeds of up to 518 Mbps, while the other two models with larger capacities reach 538 Mbps.

A hard drive requires a motor to spin the drive unit and the recording head. SSDs don't need it. During testing, this difference could be clearly heard - with a solid-state drive, the Toshiba laptop ran almost silently.
The absence of moving parts in an SSD increases battery life. When playing video, a laptop with a hard drive lasted a couple of minutes less than with an SSD. But since the screen, processor and video card consume much more energy, this difference plays almost no role in practice.

Data from a solid-state drive is destroyed once and for all, unlike a hard drive, where files are first marked as deleted - in this case, they can be recovered using special programs.

SSD installation

In most cases, the process of replacing a hard drive with an SSD on laptops is quite simple: you need to remove the small cover on the bottom, unscrew the screws on the hard drive - and that's it, you can insert the SSD. No cords or cables are required; power and data connectors are located on the motherboard. Note that most SSDs are 7mm thick, which is thinner than regular hard drives (9.5mm), so to mount the SSD in the drive bay you may need an adapter, which is not always included.
But to install the drive into the desktop system unit you need a data cable, a power adapter, a retainer and screws. Available models often do not include a power adapter, and some manufacturers do not offer any additional equipment for their SSDs at all.

Data transfer

If you do not want to additionally install the operating system and programs on the SSD, then you will need special software to transfer data. It comes included with most models. Programs such as Acronis True Image HD, Intel Data Migration Software or Samsung Data Migration will copy all the contents of your disk and installed programs to the SSD almost automatically.

Since most laptops work with only one drive, before installation you must first transfer programs by connecting the SSD via USB (special adapter from 1000 rubles).

High speed

The fastest SSDs achieve high data transfer speeds - almost 550 MB/s. This is at least two times faster than the most productive 3.5-inch hard drives and four to five times faster than 2.5-inch laptop HDDs. They use the potential of modern SATA interface technology on computers to almost one hundred percent. However, unlike classic hard drives, the difference in speed of solid-state drives can be noticeably felt. The slowest models tested were no faster in writing than conventional hard drives.
The advantages of the fastest SSD drives are not only evident when copying large files: in everyday life they save a lot of time due to fast access to data. Thus, the leaders of our rating took significantly less time to load resource-intensive programs such as Photoshop - only five seconds, while a regular hard drive spent about 15 seconds.
The speed gain is noticeable not only when calling programs, but already when starting the computer. In both cases, he has to deal with a huge number of small files.

It is impossible to imagine a modern gaming or multimedia computer without an SSD drive. SSD drives provide a significant increase in computer speed, and their prices are falling every year. You will learn how to choose an SSD drive from this article.

Let me remind you that the SSD drive should be used as a system drive on which the operating system, programs and resource-intensive games will be installed.

Main characteristics of an SSD drive

Volume

First of all, when choosing an SSD drive, you need to decide on its capacity. SSD drives are more expensive than regular HDD drives. When choosing the size of your SSD drive, look at how much your partition with the operating system currently takes up. Think about how much more space you may need to install the program. If you play games, then add another 20 - 30 GB to this so that you can install several modern and resource-intensive games on the SSD drive.

Optimal volume ranges from 60 to 128 GB, depending on the expected amount of stored data. Prices for drives with this capacity are quite reasonable.

Form factor

There are SSD drives that are located in a “box” like regular HDDs. Form factor of which drives is 2.5”. There are SSD drives made in the form of a card (board), just like sound cards. Such drives are inserted into the motherboard into the PCIe slot.

SSD drives with a 2.5" form factor are more common. They should be chosen. When buying a drive with a 2.5” form factor, make sure that the kit includes a 2.5” – 3.5” adapter. If there is no such adapter, you will have to buy it separately, otherwise you will not insert the SSD drive into the system unit case.

An SSD drive can also be installed in a laptop as a main or second hard drive.

Interface

Depending on the form factor, SSD drives can be connected via PCIe or SATA (II or III) interface.

The maximum data transfer speed of the drive also depends on the interface. If you connect the hard drive via the SATA interface. It is better to connect it via SATA III (up to 6Gb/s). The speed of such a hard drive will be much faster than SATA II (up to 3Gb/s). Hence the conclusion - buySSDdrives with interface SATA III (up to 6Gb/s).

Speed

An SSD drive, just like any data storage device, has a read speed and a data write speed. When buying an SSD drive, pay attention to the specified speed parameters. Naturally, the higher the speed, the better.

But there is one caveat. Sellers often indicate the maximum speed value in the speed parameters, rather than the actual (real) speed. And it may turn out that a hard drive whose declared speed is higher will work slower than a drive whose declared speed was lower.

To find out the real speed, look for reviews or read what they write about this drive on forums. Real speed indicators will probably be presented there.

Failure time

Due to the nature of SSD technology, drives operate a certain number of read/write cycles. Typically this setting is 10,000 cycles. Manufacturers may indicate in the drive specifications how many hours the drive will operate. The characteristic is quite controversial, since the lifetime of the disk depends on many factors. So don’t rely too much on this parameter when choosing an SSD drive.

In addition, before installing an SSD drive into a computer, it must be flashed and configured. This will increase the speed of the drive and its lifespan.