Solid state drives – the future of the hard drive
By Dean • Apr 13th, 2010 • Category: Industry News
- Photo: Intel
As the moving parts hard drive is slowly being phased out, solid state drives, though still slightly more expensive, are becoming far more commonplace.
Solid state drives explained
A solid state drive is, as its name describes, a drive with no moving parts. Many people have come to know solid state drives as flash drives, due to the wide availability of flash drives, though they come in other formats such as SRAM and DRAM. The major advantage of SSDs over their predecessors is that the lack of moving parts means they are less prone to damage, and since there’s no mechanical movement, they often have far superior memory access times.
Intel X series
- Photo: Kingston
Intel’s range of SSDs has been widely praised by DRAMeXchange Technologies, a research company, with Intel’s X25-M 160GB SSD and their X25-M 80GB SSD taking top honours. The company recently introduced its 40GB X-25V, which it’s punting as an affordable drive at £83, showing just how much more expensive SSDs are than regular hard drives.
OCZ Technology
California-based OCZ has emerged as a major competitor in the solid state drives stakes, with a wide range of gear. Since emerging in 2000, the company has focused its efforts on the computer enthusiast market, with its relatively pricey solutions out of the range of the average consumer.
Kingston and Western Digital
- Photo: Intel
As with any sub-hardware market, the usual suspects make an appearance, with long-time hard drive maker Kingston making its play for the market with its SSDNow range, and Western Digital with its range of drives, too.
Buy now or wait?
The advantages SSDs present over traditional drives are considerable, and will be exaggerated as manufacturers continue to understand the technology more and more. For now, they offer better read speeds and are less prone to damage and long-term wear and tear. However, the price may make them unjustifiable for some. You can get far more mileage out of a regular hard drive for the price tag you’d pay for an SSD, but keep in mind you would be purchasing dying technology.
Tags for this article: hard drive, Intel SSD, Solid state drives, ssd
