Solid State Drives June 29, 2009
Posted by cuyler in Hardware.trackback
I discovered an article on AnandTech that describes how solid state drives work. The article goes into the nitty gritty of the electronics involved which is probably more than most people want to know. However, the details are good because it provides a foundation for understanding this relatively new technology.
I can’t say I now understand all the physics of silicon, but the important thing to know is that a block of data in an Multi-Layer Cell (MLC) SSD can only be written 10,000 times before it wears out.
Single-Layer Cell (SLC) SSDs use a simpler technology which allows faster access and longer life span (about 100,000 erase/program cycles per block before wearing out). The downside is that they can only store half the data of an MLC SSD.
SSDs do not have any moving parts and have lightning fast access speeds. This makes them ideal for laptop storage. SSDs use a little less power than mechanical drives which gives a slight boost to a laptop’s battery life.
To show off their solid state drives, Samsung installed 24 SSDs in a RAID array. The results are fairly impressive:
Intel SSDs are still the favorite according to AnandTech’s March 2009 article. I liked Intel’s sales pitch, but I am holding off on a purchase because a 160GB drive currently goes for about $600 (half the cost of a new MacBook Pro).
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