Hello friends! Today I will tell you about SSD drives. In this article you will find out what they are and whether they are worth purchasing at all. We will also consider the positive and negative aspects of this device. Well, at the end of the article, you will be able to find out what parameters (characteristics) you need to choose when buying an SSD drive for your computer.

SSD drive is a computer storage device that does not contain mechanical elements. It uses memory chips to store information. That is, in other words, an SSD disk is the same, roughly speaking, a large flash drive. The advantages of this device are obvious: high speed of reading and writing information, noiselessness, and low power consumption.

To make it easier to understand, let's first understand what it is HDD. Hard disk (HDD) is a computer storage device in which information is stored all the time ( system files, video, music, games, etc.). This information is recorded or read thanks to magnetic plates located parallel to each other, and which rotate at enormous speed (5600 - 7200 rpm). A so-called carriage with a head also moves between the plates and above them at high speed, which reads the information.

SSD drive

Let's return to the SSD drive. This solid state drive It is functionally similar to a HDD, but instead of magnetic plates, a motor and a carriage, flash memory chips are used.

A silent device that is not susceptible to vibrations and has incredible write/read speeds, it can compete with a hard drive. However, like any detail, it has its own nuances. Let's take a closer look at the positive and negative aspects of using an SSD drive.

Advantages of SSD drives

Resistance to mechanical damage. As I said above, HDDs are susceptible to vibrations, especially shocks. In this situation, the hard drive can easily crumble. Unlike such drives, SSDs do not have plates spinning at enormous speed, because memory chips are used to store information. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about a laptop with an SSD drive when you’re walking around or on business trips.

Speed ​​of writing/reading information. Friends, this is an important factor, you will agree. After all, with the help of new drives we can observe speeds like never before. In some tests, SSDs are 80-100 times faster than HDDs when reading information. Can you imagine this? For example, operating room Windows system with an SSD drive can boot completely in seconds.

Silence of the device. When operating, the HDD makes some noise because, I repeat, magnetic plates rotate inside at high speed. As for SSDs, no matter how hard you try, unfortunately you won’t be able to hear any noise, because the chips are absolutely silent.

Economical power consumption. Powering an SSD drive requires much less energy than an HDD, so this positive point will be especially felt by laptop owners.

Disadvantages of SSD drives

Whatever the positive aspects of using an SSD, alas, there are also negative ones, as in principle with any computer device. Let's look at the most significant disadvantages.

Pricing. It so happened that SSD drive and is 4-6 times more expensive than a HDD of the same memory capacity, or even more. For example, a 512 Gb SATA 6Gb SSD with a capacity of 512 GB will cost around 15,000 rubles.

MTBF. This parameter means that the drive will operate for N number of hours. IN SSD specifications The operating time is always written, which on average fluctuates around 1.5 - 2 million hours. If you convert 1,500,000 hours per year, then theoretically the drive will last 171 years.

Poor OS compatibility. If you use Windows 7, 8 or 10, then you don’t have to worry too much about the SSD, since the system provides for disabling services that are dangerous for such drives (for example, indexing). If you use older Windows versions, then the SSD drive will wear out, which in turn will significantly reduce the operating time of this device.

Solid state drives are becoming more and more popular, and the price is slowly falling, thereby giving anyone the opportunity to purchase this gadget. This device can give your computer a second wind!

So, if you decide to buy yourself an SSD drive, then I will be happy to help in this matter. Read my tips to the end

1. Typically, the speed of an SSD depends on the amount of memory. This is not an unimportant point, believe me. That is, a 64 GB drive will work slower than a 128 GB SSD. The same goes for 256GB solid state devices. If you take even larger capacity drives, you won’t see much of a speed increase. Moreover, the larger the storage capacity, the larger its so-called reserve zone. Therefore, I would recommend choosing a drive with at least 128GB of storage.

2. When purchasing an SSD, consider the characteristics of the motherboard. If motherboard is quite old, then installing a solid-state drive would be an illogical solution.

3. To “feel” the full potential of SSD technology, I advise you to choose the SATA III or PCI-E interface. It is in this case that the speed of information transfer will be maximum.

4. Sometimes, purchasing two solid-state drives will reduce the risk of permanent loss of information. Let me explain: you buy the first SSD for the system drive, where the operating system will be installed and that’s it. necessary programs, the second will serve as storage of multimedia information. As you understand, this option involves significant financial costs.

5. I also advise you to choose an SSD with the longest warranty period. After all, the bigger it is, the better. This applies not only to SSDs, but also to any other computer equipment.

(Solid-State Drive). IN this device There are many positive aspects, but there are also some disadvantages. After switching from magnetic hard drive HDD to a disk with no moving parts, your computer will find new life. You will immediately notice a severalfold increase in productivity. For example, the system will boot almost instantly, the same with applications. Many graphics programs and heavy games will open faster than with the HDD.

With proper use of SSD drives, you will feel the speed of your computer increase several times, let's get the most out of this device.

Using an SSD as a system drive

To effectively use an SSD, you need to take into account that it can be installed as a system drive, in other words, Windows or another OS will be installed on it. Since the system often accesses the disk on which it is installed, when using SSD time requests will decrease several times.

Although SSDs are very fast devices, they are limited in volume. The price per gigabyte is very high, you can see this for yourself if you go to any store that sells SSDs. Many users cannot afford even the 250 GB version.

Another disadvantage is the reduction in disk performance due to the full capacity. That's the kind of technology. Therefore, I advise you to leave at least 30% or 40% of the total volume.

Even if you do not fill the disk with some files yourself, the system itself can do this without your knowledge. For example, when downloading files from the Internet, they are saved in the “Downloads” folder located on system disk. If you don't take care of this, sooner or later the disk will be full.

As a recommendation, I suggest installing only the operating system and a few important programs on the SSD; everything else can be stored on a regular hard drive. This solution is the most optimal; due to the low capacity of the SSD, you will not be able to store large files in any case. Let you have another hard drive of 500 GB or more.

In the case of a laptop, there is the option of replacing the internal hard drive with an SSD. If you have a disk drive, you can use it instead. If there is no disk drive, then you, of course, can replace the existing HDD with a faster, but less voluminous SSD, although you will have to use flash drives or flash drives as an additional drive for storing data. This method has the disadvantage that you can forget the external drive somewhere at any time.

Software Transfer

We have figured out all the nuances of storing data on an SSD. Let's move on to transferring programs to another disk. And then the question arises, how to do this? If we move some programs from one disk to another, they will no longer work correctly. Of course, this can be done with some software, but there are too many exceptions.

I want to say that Windows still allows you to transfer programs without consequences, for this there are “symbolic signs” that are created to indicate to Windows where it actually is installed program. For example, you have a program or game installed on C:\ProgrammFiles. We take this software from there and transfer it to an SSD with the same name, then the path will look like this: H:\ProrgammFiles. Now we're launching command line and use the mklink command. You need to enter the following:

mklink /d C:\ProrgammFiles H:\ProrgammFiles

Now it turns out that the program is on the C drive, but the system will think that it is on the H drive.

Moving system folders

There are so-called libraries in which files of one type or another are stored, for example, “Music”, “Video”, “Downloads”, “Documents” folders. These folders are system folders, but their location can be easily changed.

Typically the folders are located along the path C:\Users\Username. Here we find these folders, right-click on each one and go to "Properties", go to the tab "Location". Click on the button "Move" and select the required disk.

Cleaning junk on SSD

We've figured out how to transfer files to new disk. I would like to note that over time the disk will fill up more and more, and you are unlikely to do anything about it. As an example, we can cite various temporary browser files - cache, driver files from a video card, for example, Nvidia, they are saved in the Nvidia folder, which is located on the system drive.

The program is well suited as a cleaner of all kinds of garbage and temporary files. Outdated entries in , empty folders and leftovers from remote programs will be destroyed using this utility.

Last moments

In general, for those who don’t know, there is another point at which users abandon SSDs; it’s the number of rewrite cycles. The lifespan of a solid state drive is very limited; after the overwrite limit is reached, the drive will stop working. Of course, manufacturers are trying to get rid of this problem by increasing the rewrite cycle each time. Now SSDs can easily work for 5-6 years without interruption, I think there is nothing to worry about.

To reduce disk wear, you can restrict some software from using the disk, or specify another one as a buffer.

There is an opinion that it is not necessary for an SSD, but it is true, it should not be carried out under any circumstances, as this will shorten the life of the disk. It's just that this operation involves multiple read/write cycles, which is very dangerous.

I think this is where I will end this article. Now you know how to use an SSD correctly, how to transfer files from one drive to another, and also how to increase the lifespan of a drive.

Until recently, media operating on the principle of magnetic recording were used to store data. In the 70-80s of the last century, they were floppy disks, which then gave way to more reliable and capacious hard drives. This state of affairs was observed until the end of the last decade, until SSDs appeared on the market - solid-state electronic media, devoid of moving mechanical parts and characterized by high performance.

At first they were distinguished by their small capacity and at a high price. The service life of these devices also left much to be desired. Therefore, there was no clear answer to the question of why an SSD drive is needed. With a capacity of 32 or 64 GB and a price of several hundred dollars, these media seemed like an expensive toy to most. And the slight advantage in write/read speed (up to 1.5-2 times) made SSDs interesting only for “geeks” trying to squeeze maximum performance out of their PC.

But progress does not stand still, and soon more capacious and affordable solid-state drives went on sale, which attracted the attention of a wide audience. The question of why you need an SSD hard drive has become more relevant than ever.

Design features, advantages of SSD drives

To understand why install an SSD drive, you need to understand the main advantages of such drives. It doesn’t hurt to know the main disadvantages of these gadgets.

Design of HDD and SSD drives

The most important difference between SSD and traditional hard drives is a different principle of design and operation. Unlike HDDs, solid-state drives do not have any mechanical components in their design. High-speed flash memory arrays are used to record data, accessed by an internal controller. This design gives SSDs a number of advantages that are not available to classic HDDs.

• Silence. Due to the absence of moving elements, the SSD does not make sounds during operation.
• Shock resistance. Unlike an HDD, where moving the device or dropping it can scratch the surface of the disk (thus damaging it and the stored data), SSD is smaller vulnerable. Of course, as a result of a blow to the case, contact between components may be disrupted, but a drive hidden inside a computer or laptop is sufficiently protected from this.
• Low power consumption. The main energy consumer in a railway is the motor that drives the disks. It rotates at a speed of 5, 7 or 10 thousand revolutions per minute and consumes up to 95% of all electricity supplied to the drive. Thus, an SSD is up to 10 times more economical, which is especially important for thin laptops.
• High read/write speed. The magnetic method of data recording has reached the limit of perfection. It is impossible to get more than 100-200 MB/sec in sequential recording mode from a hard drive without reducing its service life, increasing its size, increasing power consumption and increasing its price. SSD flash memory does not have this minus and works up to 10 times faster.
• Stable operating speed. If information on a traditional hard drive is recorded on physically different disks (their designs are HDD 2 or more) or sections thereof, there is a delay caused by the need to move the reading head. Because of this, the speed of work is significantly reduced. A similar latency when reading cells in an SSD flash memory array is millionths of a second and does not significantly affect overall performance.

Disadvantages of SSD

Despite all the advantages, it is too early to talk about the perfection of SSD technology. The disadvantages of such drives are their insufficiently low cost (3-10 times more expensive than a HDD in terms of 1 GB of memory) and limited service life (from 10 thousand to 1 million rewrite cycles per cell). This indicator for HDDs is theoretically unlimited, but in practice reaches tens of millions of cycles.

Another disadvantage of solid-state drives is electrical vulnerability: when high voltage caused by a problem with the power supply, both the controller and the flash drive burn out.

SSD drives - why are they needed?

Knowing the main advantages of solid-state drives, answer the question “Why do you need an SSD drive in a computer?” much easier. Purchasing this gadget will, first of all, increase the comfort of using the gadget and extend its battery life (if it is a portable PC). High operating speed will have a positive effect on OS loading time, opening documents and gaming performance.

Why is an SSD drive needed in a laptop?

If it comes to a laptop, then the question “why do you need an SSD” can not be discussed at all. In any case, buying a solid-state drive will not make things worse. Energy-efficient technology will allow you to achieve longer operating time on a single charge, the absence of high voltage in the supply circuits minimizes the risk of permanent disk failure if the power supply fails, and the amount of memory in a laptop PC does not play as important a role as in a desktop one.

Regarding the smaller work resource, experience service centers shows: a laptop’s hard drive fails and undergoes premature wear several times more often and faster than in a desktop computer. This is due, first of all, to the significant large quantities dynamic loads to which the device is subjected during transportation and operation. If you accidentally drop a laptop from your lap while data is being written to the HDD, there is a high risk of damaging the drive, even if the computer is not visually damaged. Therefore, there is a high probability that the SSD will last even longer than the HDD.

Why an SSD drive in a gaming PC?

Gamers are the main this moment, some SSD buyers. The use of a solid state drive allows them to achieve better performance in 3D games by reducing their startup time. Loading levels, inventory, surrounding objects and other elements of the game world from files stored on disk is also much (up to 10 times) faster.

The difference is noticeable in "seamless" games such as Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto or Fallout. The inner world in them is located on one huge map, and to reduce the load on hardware in random access memory Only part of it is stored. This could be a situation, for example, within a radius of 200 meters around the character. As you move through the area, moving away objects are removed from RAM, and objects toward which the player is approaching are written in their place. Thus, reading from the hard drive occurs constantly and it is not difficult to guess that an SSD will allow you to supply data to the processor much faster and more efficiently than a hard drive.

For gamers, the high cost of a gigabyte of solid-state drive is not critical, since games take up relatively little space. If a collection of 100 movies in FullHD quality weighs approximately 1 TB, the same Fallout 4 requires less than 50 GB of free space.

Why do you need an SSD hard drive in a multimedia computer?

In a home PC used for web surfing and solving multimedia tasks(watching movies, listening to music) An SSD drive is the least needed. Only connoisseurs of Blue-Ray quality content may need such a disc. It takes a long time to wait until a 40 GB movie is written to the PC memory (about 10 minutes). But to store a selection of your favorite movies in FullHD, QHD or 4K UHD, capacious SSDs of 500, 1000 or 2000 GB are required. The cost of such drives exceeds a thousand dollars, and not everyone can afford such a purchase.

For undemanding PC users, a large SSD in a multimedia computer is unnecessary. The capabilities of classic (magnetic) hard drives are sufficient to satisfy the needs of 99% of users. However, a small (64 - 128 GB) solid state drive used as system storage (for Windows installations), will not be superfluous. It will significantly increase the overall performance of the PC and reduce noise levels system unit and use energy more economically.

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It's no secret that today the computer has become a very integral part of our lives and is almost an integral part of it. Every user would like to have a computer device that would combine great design, enormous performance and, of course, an insignificant price. However, this combination is quite rare. While a good design solution and a low price can still be combined, high performance and low cost are a rare occurrence. Therefore, one of the best options that will help increase the speed of your favorite computer is to purchase and install an SSD solid state drive.

Today, solid-state drives are used in almost all computer devices: laptops, smartphones, desktop computers, netbooks. In terms of power, they significantly exceed hard drives.

Why do you need a solid state drive?

If you compare the increase in RAM and the use of an SSD, you can see that in the first case the performance increases by only 10 percent, and in the second - three times.

If, for example, you “upgrade” an old laptop with a solid-state drive, then its operating efficiency will be equal to that of computer device modern model corresponding price category. Also, when using an SSD, the launch speed of all programs without exception increases significantly.

Solid state drives have a range of positive qualities, thanks to which they are quite popular among users. These qualities include:

1. stability:
2. absolutely silent operation;
3. high read or write speed;
4. low energy consumption;
5. small dimensions and weight.

SSDs, compared to hard drives, whose moving heads and rotating magnetic platters are sensitive to various types of damage, are practically unresponsive to the same damage and shock. Their memory chips have no moving parts and are therefore insensitive to negative influence from outside. For example, if a laptop, netbook or smartphone accidentally falls from a small height, then no data will be damaged.

If we talk about silent operation, it is worth noting that the presence of flash memory plays an important role in this. Thanks to it, data is transmitted with sufficient high speed, and the computer device itself operates absolutely silently.

SSD installation

In order for a solid-state drive to provide increased performance of a computer device, first of all, it must be installed correctly. Modern computers They have a special compartment for this. This allows you to use both an SSD and a hard drive at the same time. However, to improve performance, porting is necessary operating system from hard drive to solid state drive.

To simplify this process, manufacturing companies produce special computer programs. In addition, you can purchase external containers that facilitate the use of SSDs as removable storage. To do this, using a USB cable, information is transferred to a solid-state drive, then, after removing it from the external container, it is installed on a computer device. It is worth noting that all data from the hard drive remains in place.

Sometimes there are computer models that do not have a special compartment. Then the hard drive will simply have to be replaced with an SSD. In this case Information system transferred to an external hard drive using an SSD with an external container, and then replaced.

How to choose the right solid state drive

The choice of an SSD solid-state drive, as well as its installation, must be approached with the utmost seriousness. Since the performance of a computer device, be it a laptop, largely depends on this, desktop computer or smartphone.

The main characteristics that influence the increase in computer performance are:

1. solid state drive capacity;
2. excellent memory;
3. controller;
4. connector

So, for example, both the controller and flash memory have an extreme impact on data transfer rates. If a consumer wants to download a movie he likes, then, of course, it will be convenient for him when this happens as quickly as possible. Therefore, it is these two qualities that determine how long the movie will take to download – 45 seconds or one and a half minutes.

The SATA connector through which data is transferred is best suited for a solid-state drive. An SSD with a SATA3 or SATA2 interface also helps increase data transfer speeds. In this case, the speed of the drive is several times greater than the speed of the hard drive.

Increases the speed of the computer device and the capacity of the SSD. Of course, if the computer is equipped with a 500 gigabyte solid-state drive, then its performance will be much higher than that of a device equipped with a 250 or 120 gigabyte SSD.

It goes without saying that storage capacity is directly related to price, which increases as capacity increases. But it is worth noting that the money spent will be repaid in the future by the ability of the computer device to maintain its functionality for several years.

Leaders among solid state drives

The popular magazine Computer Bild conducted independent testing, which compared solid-state drives and identified the leading models. Depending on the speed of data transfer, performance, electrical energy consumption and heat dissipation, the Samsung 840 Pro SSD became the leader among drives with a capacity of 120 gigabytes. The first place among solid-state drives with a capacity of 250 and 500 gigabytes was taken by SSDs from the well-known company OCZ Vector series.

When choosing and installing an SSD, it is worth remembering that it does not help reduce power consumption and does not increase autonomous operation computer device. Despite replacing the hard drive with an SSD drive, these two indicators remain the same as before the replacement. However, this quality of a solid-state drive does not at all affect its relevance among modern users.

Today, some manufacturing companies are able to produce solid-state drives according to individual orders of consumers, thanks to which the latter will always be able to choose those SSDs that meet their requirements for design solutions and, of course, performance.

It's worth noting that the performance and efficiency levels of SSDs are evolving quite quickly, although the capacity remains the same. However, this indicator does not have a significant impact on changes in consumer attitudes towards this type of equipment. And, despite everything, the demand for solid-state drives is increasing every day. This means that the future belongs to SSDs!