Hard drive ssd is different from hdd. Which is better: SSD or HDD? What is the difference between SSD and HDD? What and where is better

26.07.2020

Users are increasingly thinking about replacing a hard drive with a solid state drive. However, despite the same purpose of both devices, they still cannot be equivalent and do not replace each other for a number of reasons. Consider further why users purchase HDD and SSD.

Hard disk and solid state drive features

A computer uses read-only memory (ROM) to store and process data. They, in turn, are of two types.

HDD - several rotating magnetized plates enclosed in a small box, on which information is written, and reading heads, which, in fact, read this information.
SSDs are solid state drives based on memory chips.

HDD and SSD have a number of advantages and disadvantages, therefore, in order to help the average user not get lost in the abundance of offers and obscure technical characteristics, we will analyze in detail how they differ from each other and what type of drive to choose.

Principle of operation

Hard disk drives (HDDs) are made up of several magnetized spinning platters. Data is read using a head located a few micrometers from the surface of the platinum. The principle of operation is similar to a vinyl player, only improved. HDD differ from each other in the speed of rotation of the plates - from 5400 to 7200 (the most common). There are HDD speeds and 10,000 rpm and more, but they are mainly used in server equipment.

But in the SSD there are no rotating elements at all. Flash memory is used to store and process data. Essentially, an SSD is a large flash drive, but with incredible read and write speeds.

Speed

It would seem that the speed of the system also depends on the speed of rotation, but this is not entirely true. Important factors are recording density and random access time. In fact, the difference between two hard drives with different platter speeds in operation may not be noticeable.

The HDD can easily handle one large file, although here the SSD will do it many times faster. The hard drive has difficulties when working with a large number of small files: for example, when copying thousands of photos or when Photoshop loads plugins. Even the fastest hard drive is significantly inferior in terms of data processing speed to an SSD drive by tens or even more times.

Loading an operating system on a solid state drive is several times faster than on an HDD: for example, Windows 10, which has an instant start function, loads in 10 seconds, when the same operating system on a regular hard drive takes 30 seconds or more. The same applies to games, the average FPS: of course, it will not increase, but the response will be much faster. And also when working with resource-intensive applications such as Photoshop and other graphic editors, SSD gives a big performance boost. This is because a significant part of the time on a hard drive is spent searching for a sector with information, while on an SSD, data is accessed instantly.

Capacity

One of the most important selection criteria is capacity, the amount of information that we can store on the drive. In this regard, while SSD lose. Most computers are now sold with HDD memory from 500 GB to 4 TB, but you will not surprise anyone with a hard drive with a capacity of 128, 256 GB or more. At the same time, common SSD sizes range from 128 GB to 1 TB, and the price of a computer with a 1 TB SSD will be simply cosmic. Solid state drives are 5 times more expensive than conventional HDDs.

Noise

Hard drives create a certain amount of noise and squeaking due to rotating platters and movement of the read head. Sometimes this noise can cause some inconvenience. Unlike HDDs, SSDs don't have rotating parts at all, and therefore don't make any noise.

Form Factor

Hard drives vary in size.

3.5” - for a regular system unit.
2.5 ”- this size is usually used in laptops, but it can also be easily installed in the system unit.
The 2.5-inch size for solid state drives was adopted not because of any restrictions, but solely for the interchangeability of equipment.

Strength

SSDs are not afraid of bumps and drops, unlike hard drives. In them, during a fall or impact, the reading head can cause irreparable damage to the surface of the magnetized plate, there is a possibility of the formation of bad sectors or even failure of the device.

Durability

Solid state drives have a limited number of write cycles, but compared to the first models, their number has increased significantly. Modern models of medium size 240-256 GB can withstand up to 2 PB of information for rewriting, and the declared life of such a disk is 5-8 years. That is, if we take the minimum lifetime of 5 years, then a user can write more than 1 TB per day per day. However, it is important to note that these statistics only apply to SSDs from trusted and expensive manufacturers, such as the Samsung 960 EVO. More budget models like Kingston HyperX Savage have an average resource, and there are also very bad models with a low limit, usually these are unknown Chinese manufacturers. We advise you to search the Internet for a comparison of SSDs in terms of reliability and choose the best model based on the quality of testing and your budget for the purchase.

After the limit of rewriting cycles is exhausted, the information from such a hard disk will not go anywhere, you simply cannot write new information to it. HDDs in this regard have no read and write restrictions and, if used carefully, can last much longer.

Fragmentation

When data is fragmented on a hard disk, data processing speed is significantly reduced, since the head has to look for scattered fragments of files throughout the hard disk. Any hard drive requires periodic defragmentation, that is, ordering data to improve performance. SSDs do not require defragmentation, since the principle of writing and rewriting is different from hard drives and files are stored as a whole, not in pieces.

Data security

The SSD is fast, shock-resistant, but there is one thing, but - if you delete any file from the solid state drive, it can no longer be restored. In addition, the SSD fails entirely. If the hard drive gives “symptoms” in advance that it will soon fail, and you can make a backup and transfer data to another drive, then the SSD drive “dies” instantly. One power surge and it burns out completely, along with all the files. Only a small board will burn in the hard drive, and all the data will remain on the plates and, if desired, and at some cost, they can be restored. The same applies to accidental deletion, due to the high speed of the SSD, we may simply not have time to press the "Cancel" button, or, as with hard drives, using third-party software to recover information.

Pros and cons of SSD and HDD

We offer a short and visual comparison of the positive and negative sides of both types of information custodians:

Outcome

Of course, having an SSD on board is nice and useful, but for now, some people are stopped by the high price. However, let's not forget that progress does not stand still and developers are constantly finding ways to reduce the cost of production in order to reduce the cost of their cost. The time is not far off when solid state drives will cost the same as a regular HDD. While the price is one of the few disadvantages of this type of permanent storage device.

SSD and HDD are two types of hard drives used in computers. In this article we will analyze in detail their differences, pros and cons.

SSD hard drives

Thus, a hybrid hard drive consists of a conventional hard drive with a magnetic disk and built-in flash memory. Hybrid hard drives are priced on par with conventional hard drives, but the selection is much smaller. Price, this is a hard drive combined with flash memory and saves money.

The speed of HDDs is much lower than that of SDDs: the recording device is not so perfect, therefore it is not capable of recording information at the speed with which SDD performs a similar procedure. The drive, due to mechanical limitations, does not have the ability to move fast enough to compete with SSDs.

The speed is wrong.
So, about a third of that, theoretically.

Although these storage media still have a minimal resemblance to these devices, but now there is less and more storage space, and it has a completely new kind of hard drive.

The SSD drive has a completely different principle of operation. The principle of storing data in it is not mechanical (as in HDD), but electronic, using microcircuits. This design is used, for example, in flash drives that are actively used in life. An SSD type storage device can be based on either RAM or flash memory. They are mainly used on mobile devices, laptops, smartphones. To improve performance, storage devices can also be used in a personal computer, along with a magnetic hard drive. Some models combine the principle of both solid-state and magnetic storage.

Power Consumption: Rotating a magnetic disk is rather unpleasant.
Wear and damage.
Again, the spinning disk is a problem.
It is very susceptible to vibrations and wear can be expected due to turning.

The process of writing and reading is not mechanical.

Since this figure is quite high, it will take longer, but after several years of heavy use, performance and failure can be expected. Since the whole operating system should work much faster. It is much more stable and can therefore be well transported and hassle-free. What is your opinion on this topic? Do you have other advantages and disadvantages for the respective media?

Many believe that over time, SSDs will replace HDDs. And this is true to some extent, because they have a number of conceptual advantages. However, chip-based storage also has its drawbacks, which put a stop to the general phase out of magnetic hard drives.

What are the disadvantages of HDD drives and why do they strive to abandon them? Perhaps the main reason is the data transfer speed. Outdated mechanical methods cannot work with information as quickly as microcircuits. Therefore, SSD drives are many times faster. In addition, magnetic hard drives use several times more electricity, make noise (unlike silent SSDs), and are inherently fragile. Despite this, they remain in active use, due to the imperfection of storage devices with microcircuits.

In the current market, there are many varieties of hardware that can be installed on a computer. Each modification affects, to a lesser or greater extent, the efficiency of our equipment. And yes, we call them storage units because it depends on which one we can call "hard drive" or not. In fact, we have to look at each of the components and know how they behave with each other. In addition, when choosing a computer, we must think carefully about what it is going to use.

It's all right and it's not objectionable in any way, but we can say that it's not the best way to optimize your performance as you'll underutilize your capabilities. Physically, this is not a disk, but a storage unit. This doesn't work as they traditionally ran on disks, but they are static. In order to write or search for information, the hard disk must be spinning and the reader or needle must be looking for where the information is stored.

SSD and HDD are two types of hard drives used to build computers.

SSD (short for "Solid-State Drive")- A solid-state drive based on memory chips. It is quite perfect - it appeared in wide distribution only in 2009. There is a common drive created on the basis of this technology - the familiar flash card ("flash drive").

The SSD has a high speed of writing, deleting and reading data, clearly incomparable with similar parameters of the storage devices that preceded it. For the same reason, "flash drives" have become so widespread, completely displacing CDs.

In terms of ergonomic performance, SSD is out of competition. It does not heat up, does not make noises that sometimes irritate the ear and distract from business, and, most importantly, it does not vibrate.

The power consumption of an SSD is quite low. The use of such hard drives affects the budget as positively as the use of energy-saving lamps.

In everyday life, in which physical performance sometimes becomes a determining factor in the choice of goods, SSDs are invaluable due to their small size. In addition, storage technologies are ahead of the times, so the size of storage devices will rapidly decrease.

And the last criterion for comparison is the price. SSDs are considered high-tech, so they have a worthy price tag.

SSD (short for "Solid-State Drive")

HDD- a fundamentally different type of drives, more conservative among the current realities. Its main difference from "SDD" is the principle of operation - electronic-mechanical versus electronic. The design of the first one contains a rotating magnetic disk, on which information is recorded using a magnetic head - the solution is borrowed from the era of gramophone records, but has been significantly improved.

The speed of the HDD is not as high as the "SDD": the recording device is not as perfect, therefore, it is not able to record information at the speed with which the "SDD" performs a similar operation, and the disk, due to mechanical limitations, cannot move fast enough, to compete with SSDs.

A special flavor to this type of drive gives the noise characteristic of its operation in the form of clicks, sometimes accompanied by strong vibration. After a long period of use, the magnetic hard disk becomes hot.

HDD is more demanding on power supply - this fact cannot be disputed. As mentioned above, a magnetic drive tends to heat up, and to cool it down, you have to use fans (called "coolers" in computer jargon), which have a very immodest appetite.

HDD dimensions are clearly losing. This technology is already being used less and less in portable personal computers, as users have thoroughly fixed in their minds the mood to give preference to compact devices.

But despite the outdated principles of operation, in terms of retail cost, HDDs are in an advantageous position.

Findings site

SSD drives do not use the mechanics on which the HDD is based
SSDs process information faster than HDDs
SSDs are silent and don't get as hot as HDDs.
SSDs are less power hungry than HDDs
SSDs are smaller than HDDs
The cost of HDD is significantly lower than the cost of SSD

Difference between SSD and HDD is very large both in technological and software use. Solid drives and hard drives have begun to wage a real battle in the manufacturer's market, more and more new cheap and new versions of these devices are appearing.

In this article, we will analyze in detail what is the difference between SSD and HDD storage drives, their advantages and main disadvantages when used at home.

What are the main differences and difference between SSD and HDD?

Solid drives are coming into our lives very quickly, but we still need hard drives, and it's still not so easy to give them up. The main differences between SSD and HDD;

In terms of mechanical reliability, dropping the SSD from a height, even one meter will be nothing, and the screw will immediately come to an end.

SSDs can be used from minus ten to plus eighty. Under such conditions, HDD will not even have a living place, their comfort zone is from + 20 to +45 degrees.

The HDD has such a feature, it should only work in a horizontal position, since the SSD starts in any position without problems.

The SSD has a very big drawback - its microcircuits, which, having burned out, cannot be replaced, that is, the information stored on this device will be irretrievably lost. The HDD is much easier, there, something else can be done or changed.

An SSD has a limited number of writes, somewhere around 10,000 thousand times.

The speed of writing and reading information, SSD is much superior to HDD in this.

Knowing the main difference between SSD and HDD, if necessary, you can make the right choice for yourself.

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Hello! I propose today to raise the topic of SSD drives. More precisely, consider differencesHDD andSSD drives to help you make the right choice. You have probably already heard something about solid state drives and you are interested in this topic. Now we need to study it in more detail. So, HDD or SSD?

If you have Windows 7 installed, then you could not help but check the system performance index. And, if you have it installed, then most likely it is the weakest point of your computer. This happens because the technology of the mechanical work of the HDD does not allow it to keep up with the modern performance race of other components, such as: processors, RAM, video cards. They are getting faster with every generation, and HDDs are evolving at a tortoise pace. This type of media seems to have simply outlived itself.

If you have Windows 8 or 10, then you will have to use third-party applications to check the performance of the system. For example, Winaero WEI tool.

Hard disk (HDD, hard drive)

Magnetic hard drive It is a kind of mechanical device consisting of several disks (remotely resembling CDs), heads that read and write information to disks, as well as an electric drive. These disks rotate at a tremendous speed - at least 5400 rpm, but most often 7200 rpm, and sometimes the speed reaches above 10,000 rpm. And the magnetic heads, sliding on the surface of the disks, process the information. Can you imagine this design? Everything is mechanical, moving and noisy.

Solid state drive (SSD drive)

solid stateSSD drive (SolidStatedrive) is a storage device that is based on microchips. It has no rotating or moving parts. SSD drives are much smaller and lighter than their competitors. The read / write speed is many times higher than the speed of a conventional HDD hard drive.

SSD on the left, HDD on the right. It's easy to tell them apart visually.

HDD or SSD. Drive Comparison

In addition, I would like to note that the permissible operating temperature is higher for SSDs, although in fact they themselves practically do not heat up. Also, SSD drives are much more resistant to mechanical damage. And among the shortcomings of SSD drives, one can note the cost per 1GB and the limited rewrite cycles. Nevertheless, you can not be afraid to install them, because even if you overwrite 20 GB of information per day, you will theoretically have enough resource to use an SSD drive for at least 5 years.

When choosing an SSD for home use, you may come across such a characteristic as the type of memory used and wonder which is better - MLC or TLC (you may also come across other options for the memory type, such as V-NAND or 3D NAND ).

Types of Flash Memory Used in Home Use SSDs

SSDs use flash memory, which is specially organized semiconductor-based memory cells that can vary in type.

In general terms, the flash memory used in an SSD can be divided into the following types.

By the principle of read-write, almost all commercially available consumer SSDs are of the NAND type.
According to information storage technology, memory is divided into SLC (Single-level Cell) and MLC (Multi-level Cell). In the first case, a cell can store one bit of information, in the second - more than one bit. At the same time, in SSD for home use you will not find SLC memory, only MLC.

In turn, TLC also belongs to the MLC type, the difference is that instead of 2 bits of information it can store 3 bits of information in a memory cell (instead of TLC, you can see the designation 3-bit MLC or MLC-3). That is, TLC is a subspecies of MLC memory.

Which is better - MLC or TLC

In general, MLC memory has advantages over TLC, the main ones being:

Higher operating speed.
Longer service life.
Less power consumption.

The disadvantage is the higher price of MLC compared to TLC.

However, it should be borne in mind that we are talking about the “general case”, in real devices on sale you can see:

Equal speed (ceteris paribus) for SSDs with TLC and MLC memory connected via SATA-3 interface. Moreover, individual drives based on TLC memory with PCI-E NVMe interface can sometimes be faster than similarly priced drives with PCI-E MLC memory (however, if we talk about the "top", most expensive and fastest SSDs, they still usually MLC memory is used, but also not always).
Longer lifetime warranties (TBW) for one manufacturer's TLC memory (or one line of drives) compared to another manufacturer's MLC memory (or another line of SSDs).
Similarly with power consumption - for example, a SATA-3 drive with TLC memory can consume ten times less power than a PCI-E drive with MLC memory. Moreover, for one type of memory and one connection interface, the difference in power consumption is also very different depending on the specific drive.

And that's not all: speed, life and power consumption will also differ from the "generation" of the drive (newer ones are usually more advanced: SSDs continue to evolve and improve nowadays), its total volume and the amount of free space in use and even the temperature regime during use (for fast NVMe drives).

As a result, a strict and precise verdict that MLC is better than TLC cannot be made - for example, by purchasing a more capacious and new SSD with TLC and a better set of characteristics, you can win in all respects compared to purchasing an MLC drive at a similar price, t .e. you should take into account all the parameters, and start the analysis from the available budget for the purchase (for example, if we talk with a budget of up to 10,000 rubles, usually drives with TLC memory will be preferable to MLC for both SATA and PCI-E devices).

SSDs with V-NAND, 3D NAND, 3D TLC, etc.

In the descriptions of SSD drives (especially when it comes to Samsung and Intel) in stores and reviews, you can find the designations V-NAND, 3D-NAND and similar for memory types.

This designation indicates that flash memory cells are placed on chips in several layers (in simple chips, cells are placed in one layer, more details on Wikipedia), while this is the same TLC or MLC memory, but this is not explicitly indicated everywhere: for example, for a Samsung SSD, you will only see that V-NAND memory is used, but you will have to look for information that V-NAND TLC is used in the EVO line, and V-NAND MLC in the PRO line.

Is 3D NAND better than planar memory? It is cheaper to manufacture and tests show that the layered variant is generally more efficient and reliable for TLC memory today (in fact, Samsung claims that V-NAND TLC memory has better performance characteristics and service life than planar MLC). However, for MLC memory, including devices from the same manufacturer, this may not be the case.

Those. again, it all depends on the specific device, your budget, and other parameters that you should consider before buying an SSD.

Of course, I would be happy to recommend the Samsung 960 Pro at least 1 TB as a good option for a home computer or laptop, but usually cheaper drives are purchased, for which you have to carefully study the entire set of characteristics and compare them with what is required from the drive.

IntroductionSolid-state drives or SSD (solid-state drive), that is, those based not on magnetic platters, but on flash memory, have become one of the most impressive computer technologies of the last decade. Compared to classic hard drives, they offer noticeably higher data transfer rates and orders of magnitude lower response times, and therefore their use raises the responsiveness of the disk subsystem to a whole new level. As a result, a computer that uses a solid state drive offers the user a truly rapid response to common actions such as loading the operating system, launching applications and games, or opening files. And this means that there is no reason to ignore progress and not use an SSD when building new or upgrading old personal computers.

The emergence of such a breakthrough technology was appreciated by many users. Demand for consumer-grade SSDs has skyrocketed, with more and more companies joining the SSD industry, trying to snatch their share of a growing and promising market. On the one hand, this is good - high competition gives rise to the establishment of favorable prices for consumers. But on the other hand, there is a mess and confusion in the market for client SSDs. Dozens of manufacturers offer hundreds of SSDs with different characteristics, and it becomes very difficult to find a suitable solution for each specific case in such a variety, especially without a thorough knowledge of all the subtleties. In this article, we will try to highlight the main issues related to the choice of solid state drives, and give our recommendations that will allow you to make a more or less informed choice when buying an SSD and get at your disposal a product that will be quite a worthy option in terms of price and consumer qualities.

The selection algorithm we preach is not too difficult to understand. We suggest not to get hung up on the features of hardware platforms and controllers used in various SSD models. Moreover, their number has long gone beyond reasonable limits, and the difference in their consumer properties can often be traced only by specialists. Instead, it is preferable to build a choice based on really important factors - the interface used, the type of flash memory installed in a particular drive, and which company produced the final product. It makes sense to talk about controllers only in some cases, when it really matters, and we will describe such cases separately.

Form factors and interfaces

The first and most noticeable difference between solid state drives available on the market is that they can have different external designs and be connected to the system via different interfaces that use fundamentally different protocols for data transfer.

The most common SSDs have an interface SATA. This is exactly the same interface that is used in classic mechanical hard drives. This is why most SATA SSDs look similar to mobile HDDs: they are packaged in 2.5-inch cases with a height of 7 or 9 mm. Such an SSD can be installed in a laptop in place of an old 2.5-inch hard drive, or you can use it in a desktop computer instead of (or next to) a 3.5-inch HDD without any problems.

Solid state drives using the SATA interface have become a kind of successor to the HDD, and this leads to their ubiquity and the widest compatibility with existing platforms. However, the modern version of the SATA interface is designed for a maximum data transfer rate of only 6 Gb / s, which seems prohibitive for mechanical hard drives, but not for SSDs. Therefore, the performance of the most powerful SATA SSD models is determined not so much by their capabilities as by the interface bandwidth. This does not particularly prevent mass solid state drives from revealing their high speed, but the most productive SSD models for enthusiasts try to bypass the SATA interface. However, it is SATA SSD that is the most suitable option for a modern common system.

The SATA interface is also widely used in SSDs designed for compact mobile systems. They impose additional restrictions on the size of components, so drives for such applications can be produced in a specialized form factor mSATA. Solid state drives of this format are a small daughter card with soldered chips and are installed in special slots found in some laptops and nettops. The advantage of mSATA SSD lies solely in its miniature size, mSATA has no other advantages - these are exactly the same SATA SSDs that are available in 2.5-inch cases, but in a more compact design. Therefore, such drives should be purchased only for upgrading systems that have mSATA connectors.

In the same cases, when the bandwidth offered by the SATA interface seems to be insufficient, you can pay attention to solid state drives with an interface PCI Express. Depending on which version of the protocol and how many lines are used by the drive for data transfer, the throughput of this interface can reach values that are five times greater than the capabilities of SATA. Such drives usually use the most productive filling, and they significantly outperform the more familiar SATA solutions in terms of speed. True, PCIe SSDs are significantly more expensive, so they often fall into the most high-performance systems of the highest price category. And since PCIe SSDs are usually available as add-on cards installed in PCI Express slots, they are only suitable for full-sized desktop systems.

It should be noted that in recent years, drives with a PCI Express interface have become popular, operating under the protocol NVMe. This is a new software protocol for working with storage devices, which further increases system performance when interacting with a high-speed disk subsystem. Due to the optimizations made in it, this protocol really has the best efficiency, but today NVMe solutions need to be treated with caution: they are compatible only with the latest platforms and work only in new versions of operating systems.

While the bandwidth of the SATA interface is becoming insufficient for high-speed SSD models, and PCIe drives are bulky and require a separate full-size slot for their installation, drives made in the form factor M.2. It seems that M.2 SSDs have a chance to become the next standard, and they will be no less popular than SATA SSDs. However, you need to keep in mind that M.2 is not another new interface, but only a specification for the standard size of cards and the layout of the connector required for them. M.2 SSDs work on quite familiar SATA or PCI Express interfaces: depending on the specific implementation of the drive, either one or the other option is allowed.

M.2 cards are small daughterboards with components soldered onto them. The M.2 slots they require can be found on most modern motherboards today, as well as in many new laptops. Given that M.2 SSDs can also work through the PCI Express interface, it is precisely these M.2 drives that are most interesting from a practical point of view. However, at the moment the range of such models is not too large. Nevertheless, if we are talking about assembling or upgrading a modern high-performance system, in particular, a gaming desktop or laptop, we advise you to pay attention primarily to M.2 SSD models with a PCI Express interface.

By the way, if your desktop system is not equipped with an M.2 connector, but you still want to install such a drive, you can always do this using an adapter board. Such solutions are produced both by motherboard manufacturers and numerous small manufacturers of any peripherals.

Flash Memory Types and Drive Reliability

The second important question, which in any case will have to be dealt with when choosing, concerns the types of flash memory that can be found in current models of solid state drives. It is flash memory that determines the main consumer characteristics of SSDs: their performance, reliability and price.

Until very recently, the difference between different types of flash memory was only how many bits of data are stored in each NAND cell, and this divided the memory into three varieties: SLC, MLC and TLC. However, now manufacturers are adopting new approaches to cell layout and reliability in their semiconductor technologies, and the situation has become much more complicated. However, we will list the main flash memory options that can be found in today's solid state drives for ordinary users.

Should start with SLC NAND. This is the oldest and simplest type of memory. It involves the storage of one bit of data in each cell of the flash memory and due to this it has high speed characteristics and an exorbitant rewriting resource. The only problem is that storing one bit of information in each cell actively consumes the transistor budget, and this type of flash memory is very expensive. Therefore, SSDs based on such memory have not been produced for a long time, and they simply do not exist on the market.

A reasonable alternative to SLC memory with a higher storage density in semiconductor NAND chips and a lower price is MLC NAND. In such a memory, each cell already stores two bits of information. The speed of the logical structure of MLC-memory remains at a fairly good level, but endurance is reduced to about three thousand rewrite cycles. Nevertheless, MLC NAND is used today in the vast majority of high-performance solid-state drives, and its level of reliability is quite sufficient for SSD manufacturers not only to give their products a five-year or even ten-year warranty, but also promise the ability to overwrite the full capacity of the drive several hundred times. .

For the same applications where the intensity of write operations is very high, for example, for servers, SSD manufacturers assemble solutions based on a special eMLC NAND. In terms of operating principles, this is a complete analog of MLC NAND, but with increased resistance to constant overwriting. This memory is made from the finest, finest semiconductor crystals and can easily carry about three times the load than ordinary MLC memory.

At the same time, the desire to reduce prices for their mass products is forcing manufacturers to switch to cheaper memory compared to MLC NAND. In budget drives of the latest generations, it is often found TLC NAND- flash memory, each cell of which stores three bits of data. This memory is about one and a half times slower than MLC NAND, and its endurance is such that it is possible to overwrite information in it before the degradation of the semiconductor structure about a thousand times.

Nevertheless, even such a flimsy TLC NAND can be found quite often in today's drives. The number of SSD models based on it has already exceeded a dozen. The secret to the viability of such solutions lies in the fact that manufacturers add a small internal cache based on high-speed and highly reliable SLC NAND to them. In this way, both problems are solved at once - both with performance and with reliability. As a result, TLC NAND-based SSDs get speeds sufficient to saturate the SATA interface, and their endurance allows manufacturers to give end products a three-year warranty.

In the pursuit of cost reduction, manufacturers are looking to compress data within flash memory cells. This was the reason for the transition to MLC NAND and the spread of TLC memory drives that has now begun. Following this trend, we could soon encounter a QLC NAND-based SSD, in which each cell stores four bits of data, but what would be the reliability and speed of such a solution, one can only guess. Fortunately, the industry has found another way to increase the density of data storage in semiconductor chips, namely, their transfer to a three-dimensional layout.

Whereas in classical NAND memory, the cells are arranged exclusively planar, that is, in the form of a flat array, in 3D NAND the third dimension is introduced in the semiconductor structure, and the cells are located not only along the X and Y axes, but also in several tiers one above the other. This approach allows solving the main problem - the density of information storage in such a structure can be increased not by increasing the load on existing cells or by miniaturizing them, but by simply adding additional layers. In 3D NAND, the issue of endurance of flash memory is also successfully solved. The three-dimensional layout allows the use of production technologies with increased standards, which, on the one hand, provide a more stable semiconductor structure, and, on the other hand, eliminate the mutual influence of cells on each other. As a result, the resource of three-dimensional memory compared to planar can be improved by about an order of magnitude.

In other words, the three-dimensional structure of 3D NAND is ready to make a real revolution. The only problem is that it is somewhat more difficult to manufacture such memory than usual, so the start of its production was significantly extended in time. As a result, at the moment, only Samsung can boast of an established mass production of 3D NAND. The rest of the NAND manufacturers are just preparing to launch mass production of three-dimensional memory and will be able to offer commercial solutions only next year.

Speaking of Samsung's 3D memory, it currently uses a 32-layer design and is marketed under its own marketing name, V-NAND. According to the type of organization of cells in such a memory, it is divided into MLC V-NAND and TLC V-NAND- both are three-dimensional 3D NAND, but in the first case, each individual cell stores two bits of data, and in the second - three. Although the principle of operation in both cases is similar to conventional MLC and TLC NAND, due to the use of mature technical processes, its endurance is higher, which means that SSDs based on MLC V-NAND and TLC V-NAND are somewhat better in reliability than SSDs based on conventional MLC and TLC NAND.

However, speaking about the reliability of solid-state drives, it must be borne in mind that it depends only indirectly on the resource of the flash memory used in them. As practice shows, modern consumer SSDs, assembled on high-quality NAND memory of any type, are in reality capable of transferring the recording of hundreds of terabytes of information. And this more than covers the needs of most personal computer users. The failure of the drive when it runs out of memory resource is rather an out of the ordinary event, which can only be due to the fact that the SSD is used under too intense load, for which it was not actually intended initially. In most cases, SSD failures occur for completely different reasons, such as power outages or errors in their firmware.

Therefore, along with the type of flash memory, it is very important to pay attention to which company manufactured a particular drive. The largest manufacturers have more powerful engineering resources at their disposal and take better care of their reputation than small firms that are forced to compete with the giants primarily using the price argument. As a result, SSDs from large manufacturers are generally more reliable: they use known quality components, and thorough debugging of the firmware is one of the highest priorities. This is also confirmed by practice. The frequency of warranty claims (according to publicly available statistics from one of the European distributors) is less for those SSDs that are manufactured by larger companies, which we will discuss in more detail in the next section.

SSD Manufacturers to Know About

The consumer SSD market is very young and hasn't consolidated yet. Therefore, the number of manufacturers of solid state drives is very large - at least there are at least a hundred of them. But most of them are small companies that do not have their own engineering teams or semiconductor production, and in fact are engaged only in assembling their solutions from off-the-shelf components purchased from outside and their marketing support. Naturally, SSDs produced by such “assemblers” are inferior to products from real manufacturers who invest huge amounts of money in development and production. That is why, with a rational approach to the choice of solid-state drives, you should pay attention only to solutions produced by market leaders.

Among these "pillars" on which the entire solid-state drive market rests, only a few names can be named. And first of all it is Samsung, which currently owns a very impressive 44 percent market share. In other words, almost every second SSD sold is made by Samsung. And these successes are not accidental. The company not only makes flash memory for its SSDs on its own, but also does without any third-party participation in design and production. Its SSDs use hardware platforms designed from start to finish by in-house engineers and manufactured in-house. As a result, advanced Samsung drives often differ from competing products in their technological advancement - they can be found in such progressive solutions that appear much later in products from other companies. For example, drives based on 3D NAND are currently only available from Samsung. And that is why enthusiasts who are impressed by the technical novelty and high performance should pay attention to the SSD of this company.

Second largest manufacturer of consumer-grade SSDs - Kingston with approximately 10% market share. Unlike Samsung, this company is not engaged in the independent release of flash memory and does not develop controllers, but relies on the proposals of third-party NAND memory manufacturers and the solutions of independent engineering teams. However, this is what allows Kingston to compete with giants like Samsung: skillfully choosing partners in each case, Kingston offers a very versatile product line that meets the needs of different user groups well.

We would also advise you to pay attention to those solid state drives that are produced by companies SanDisk and Micron, which uses the trademark Crucial. Both of these companies have their own flash memory manufacturing facilities, which allows them to offer high-quality and technologically advanced SSDs with an excellent combination of price, reliability and speed. It is also important that when creating their products, these manufacturers rely on cooperation with Marvell, one of the best and largest controller developers. This approach allows SanDisk and Micron to consistently achieve a fairly high popularity of their products - their share of the SSD market reaches 9 and 5 percent, respectively.

At the end of the story about the main players in the solid state drive market, Intel should also be mentioned. But, unfortunately, not in the most positive way. Yes, it also produces flash memory itself and has an excellent engineering team at its disposal, capable of designing very interesting SSDs. However, Intel is focused primarily on the development of solid-state drives for servers, which are designed for intensive workloads, have a fairly high price and therefore are of little interest to ordinary users. Its client solutions are based on very old hardware platforms purchased on the side, and noticeably lose in their consumer qualities to the offers of competitors, which we talked about above. In other words, we do not recommend using Intel SSDs in modern personal computers. An exception for them can be made only in one case - when it comes to highly reliable drives with eMLC memory, which the microprocessor giant succeeds perfectly.

Performance and prices

If you have carefully read the first part of our material, then a meaningful choice of a solid state drive seems very simple. It is clear that you should choose from V-NAND or MLC NAND-based SSD models offered by the best manufacturers - market leaders, i.e. Crucial, Kingston, Samsung or SanDisk. However, even if we narrow the search to the offers of only these companies, it turns out that there are still a lot of them.

Therefore, additional parameters will have to be involved in the search criteria - performance and price. In today's SSD market, there has been a clear segmentation: the products offered belong to the lower, middle or upper level, and their price, performance, as well as the terms of warranty service directly depend on this. The most expensive SSDs are based on the most productive hardware platforms and use the highest quality and fastest flash memory, while the cheaper ones are based on stripped-down platforms and simpler NAND memory. Drives of the middle level are characterized by the fact that in them manufacturers are trying to strike a balance between performance and price.

As a result, budget drives sold in stores offer a unit price of $0.3-0.35 per gigabyte. Mid-range models are more expensive - their cost is $ 0.4-0.5 for each gigabyte of volume. The unit prices of flagship SSDs may well reach $0.8-1.0 per gigabyte. What is the difference?

Solutions of the upper price category, which are primarily aimed at an audience of enthusiasts, are high-performance SSDs that use the PCI Express bus for their inclusion in the system, which does not limit the maximum data transfer bandwidth. Such drives can be made in the form of M.2 or PCIe cards and provide speeds many times faster than any SATA drives. At the same time, they are based on specialized Samsung, Intel or Marvell controllers and the highest quality and fastest memory types MLC NAND or MLC V-NAND.

In the middle price segment, SATA drives play, connected via a SATA interface, but capable of using (almost) all of its bandwidth. Such SSDs can use different controllers developed by Samsung or Marvell and different quality MLC or V-NAND memory. However, in general, their performance is approximately the same, since it depends more on the interface than on the power of the drive filling. Such SSDs stand out against the background of cheaper solutions not only with performance, but also with extended warranty terms, the term of which is set at five or even ten years.

Budget drives are the largest group in which completely motley solutions find a place. However, they also have common features. So, controllers that are used in low-cost SSDs usually have a reduced level of parallelism. In addition, most often these are processors created by small Taiwanese engineering teams like Phison, Silicon Motion or JMicron, and not by world-famous development teams. In terms of their performance, low-end drives naturally fall short of higher-class solutions, which is especially noticeable during random operations. In addition, flash memory that falls into drives of the lower price range also, of course, does not belong to the highest level. Usually here you can find either cheap MLC NAND, released according to “thin” production standards, or TLC NAND in general. As a result, the warranty period for such SSDs has been reduced to three years, and the declared rewriting resource is also significantly lower. High Performance SSDs

Samsung 950 PRO. It is only natural that the best consumer-grade SSDs should be found in the assortment of a company that has a dominant position in the market. So if you're looking for a premium drive that's known to outperform any other SSD in terms of speed, you can get the latest Samsung 950 PRO. It is based on Samsung's own hardware platform, which uses the advanced second-generation MLC V-NAND. It provides not only high performance, but also good reliability. But keep in mind that the Samsung 950 PRO is connected to the system via the PCI Express 3.0 x4 bus and is designed as an M.2 form factor card. And there is another subtlety. This drive uses the NVMe protocol, which means it is only compatible with the latest platforms and operating systems.

Kingston HyperX Predator SSD. If you want to get the most hassle-free solution that is known to be compatible not only with the newest, but also with mature systems, then you should stop at the Kingston HyperX Predator SSD. This drive is slightly slower than the Samsung 950 PRO and uses the PCI Express 2.0 x4 bus, but it can always be made a bootable drive in absolutely any system without any problems. At the same time, the speeds it provides are in any case many times higher than those given by SATA SSDs. And another strength of the Kingston HyperX Predator SSD is that it is available in two versions: as M.2 form factor cards, or as PCIe cards installed in a familiar slot. True, the HyperX Predator also has unfortunate shortcomings. Its consumer properties are affected by the fact that the manufacturer purchases the basic components on the side. At the heart of the HyperX Predator SSD is a Marvell-designed controller and Toshiba flash memory. As a result, without having full control over the inside of their solution, Kingston is forced to issue a warranty on its premium SSD, reduced to three years.

Testing and review of Kingston HyperX Predator SSD.

Midrange SSDs

Samsung 850 EVO. Based on Samsung's own hardware platform, which includes the innovative TLC V-NAND flash memory, the Samsung 850 EVO offers an excellent combination of consumer features. At the same time, its reliability does not cause any complaints, and TurboWrite SLC caching technology allows you to fully utilize the bandwidth of the SATA interface. Particularly attractive are the Samsung 850 EVO variants with a capacity of 500 GB or more, which have a larger SLC cache. By the way, in this line there is also a unique SSD with a capacity of 2 TB, which has no analogues at all. To all of the above, it should be added that the Samsung 850 EVO is covered by a five-year warranty, and the owners of drives from this manufacturer can always contact any of the numerous service centers of this company scattered throughout the country.

SanDisk Extreme Pro. SanDisk makes its own flash memory for its drives, but buys controllers from outside. So, Extreme Pro is based on the controller developed by Marvell, but you can find a lot of know-how from SanDisk itself. The most interesting addition is the nCahce 2.0 SLC cache, which in Extreme Pro is implemented inside MLC NAND. As a result, the performance of the SATA drive is very impressive, and besides, few people will be left indifferent to the terms of the warranty, which is set at 10 years. In other words, SanDisk Extreme Pro is a very interesting and relevant option for mid-range systems.

SanDisk Extreme Pro Test and Review.

Crucial MX200. There is a very good mid-range SATA SSD and Micron assortment. The Crucial MX200 uses the company's MLC memory and, like the SanDisk Extreme Pro, is based on the Marvell controller. However, the MX200 model is further enhanced by Dynamic Write Acceleration SLC caching technology, which raises SSD performance above average. True, it is used only in models with a capacity of 128 and 256 GB, so they are primarily of interest. The Crucial MX200 also has a slightly worse warranty - its period is set to only three years, but as compensation, Micron sells its SSDs a little cheaper than its competitors.

Budget models

Kingston HyperX Savage SSD. Kingston offers a budget SSD based on a full-fledged eight-channel controller, which is what it captivates. True, HyperX Savage uses the development of Phison, not Marvell, but the flash memory is normal MLC NAND, which Kingston buys from Toshiba. As a result, the level of performance provided by HyperX Savage is slightly below average, and the warranty on it is three years, but among the budget offerings, this drive looks quite confident. In addition, HyperX Savage looks impressive and will be nice to install in a case with a window.

Testing and review of Kingston HyperX Savage SSD.

Crucial BX100. This drive is simpler than the Kingston HyperX Savage and is based on a stripped-down four-channel Silicon Motion controller, but despite this, the performance of the Crucial BX100 is not bad at all. In addition, Micron uses its own MLC NAND in this SSD, which ultimately makes this model a very interesting budget offer offered by a well-known manufacturer and does not cause users to claim reliability.

When choosing a new computer, many users are faced with an abbreviation unknown to them. That abbreviation is SSD. Some computers come with an SSD, some don't, and some have both an SSD and the more familiar HDD.

Because of this confusion, choosing a computer becomes much more difficult. In this article, we will try to explain in as much detail as possible how an SSD differs from an HDD and which is better.

Difference #1: An SSD is a Solid State Drive while an HDD is a Magnetic Disk Drive.

SSD is an abbreviation for the English phrase "solid-state drive". This phrase translates as solid state drive, and it means that this drive is based solely on chips. Actually, there are no "disks". There are only chips that are used to store information, a controller chip and a board.

While HDD is an abbreviation for the English "hard (magnetic) disk drive". This phrase translates as a hard disk drive. It is on a hard disk, because there used to be drives on soft disks, also known as floppy disks. In the HDD, information is stored on a magnetic disk. At the same time, a large amount of additional equipment is placed in the HDD to service this magnetic disk. This is a motor for rotating the disk, a drive for moving the reading heads, as well as a board for controlling all this equipment.

Internal SSD and HDD

In general, SSDs and HDDs are drives that work on two completely different principles, and these principles follow their other differences, which we will discuss below.

Difference #2: SSDs are much faster than HDDs.

Due to the fact that the SSD works exclusively on chips, these drives are characterized by high speed. An SSD is much faster at writing and reading data. Now even the most expensive and advanced HDDs cannot provide a read or write speed of more than 150 MB / s. Whereas even mid-range SSDs can deliver 550 MB/s, which is more than 3.5 times faster than an HDD. More expensive models of SSD drives that work through PCI Express lanes can deliver more than 1000 MB / s, which is completely incomparable with HDD speeds.

With this speed of reading and writing data, an SSD drive can significantly speed up the entire computer. If an SSD drive is installed on the computer, then such a computer turns on faster, launches programs faster and responds faster to all other user actions.

Difference #3: SSDs are more shock and shock resistant.

Everyone knows that HDD drives do not tolerate shocks, shocks, and any overload in general. It is worth dropping it on the floor and it can be carried to the trash, well, or to data recovery specialists. An average HDD drive can survive 70 G's during operation and 350 G's during storage. While for an SSD drive, even 1500 G is not a problem.

It may seem like it doesn't matter, because you don't throw your computer on the floor. But, if we are talking about a laptop, then such increased reliability will not be superfluous. The laptop is constantly subjected to small shocks and in some cases this leads to hard drive failure.

Difference #4: An SSD consumes a lot less power.

Another important difference between SSD and HDD is power consumption. The average HDD drive consumes about 4 watts of power during idle and 6 watts during active operation. While an SSD drive consumes about 0.5 - 1.3 watts during idle time and about 0.5 - 3 watts during active operation. The difference is very significant, especially when it comes to a laptop.

Difference #5: The SSD doesn't make any noise.

An SSD drive runs solely on chips and has no moving parts. Due to this, the SSD works absolutely silently.

Difference #6: An SSD weighs a lot less than an HDD.

Heavy weight is another disadvantage of HDDs, which is especially noticeable on laptops. The weight of an average hard drive for a laptop is about 100 grams, while the entire SSD drive is at least 2 times smaller.

Difference #7. HDD is more reliable.

But, HDDs also have advantages over SSDs. For example, HDD drives are more reliable. There is an opinion that HDD is much more reliable than SSD. Actually it is not. There is a slight advantage in reliability, but the difference is not as critical as it is sometimes said. Now there are SSD drives on sale, the manufacturer of which gives them a guarantee of 10 years, and this already says something. In any case, backing up important data should be done regardless of the type of drive you have.

Difference No. 8. HDD is noticeably cheaper.

Another important difference where HDD wins is the price. If we compare the cost of SSD and HDD, taking into account the amount of information they store, then HDD drives will always be cheaper.