Recent Articles
RealSSD P400m
The RealSSD P400m from Micron is a SATA III SSD aimed to provide storage solutions to enterprise workstations. This solid state drive is available in capacities of 100GB, 200GB and 400GB. The RealSSD P400m is capable of reaching a maximum sequential read speed of 380 MB/s and a maximum sequential write speed of 310 MB/s. [...]
Read Article ›Seagate 600
The Seagate 600 is the company’s first entry into the SSD market. There are two models, a 5mm and a 7mm, both with available capacities of 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB. All drives use the SATA III 6 GB/s interface and utilizes MLC NAND flash modules. Seagate avoids giving exact numbers for the [...]
Read Article ›Chronos GO Deluxe
The Chronos GO Deluxe is the second 1.8″ microSATA solid state drive from Mushkin, following Atlas. This SATA III drive is capable of reaching maximum sequential speeds of 560 MB/s and 525 MB/s for read and write respectively. Max IOPS is said to be 90,000 at low 4k aligned random write disk access. The Chronos [...]
Read Article ›Vertex 450
The Vertex 450 from OCZ is a solid state drive utilizing the SATA 3 interface. This drive is available in three capacities: 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. The maximum sequential read speed that the Vertex 450 can achieve is 540 MB/s while the maximum sequential write speed is 530 MB/s. Both figures are [...]
Read Article ›C8304 Pro
Biwin’s C8304 Pro is a 2.5″ drive utilizing the SATA II interface. Its advertised speed is 330 MB/s for sequential read and 529 MB/s for sequential write. This MLC Flash solid state drive is available in 60 GB and 120 GB. Running the show for the C8304 Pro SSD is SandForce’s SF-2241 controller. This drive [...]
Read Article ›S50
The S50 from Silicon Power is a SATA III 6 GBps drive capable of reaching maximum sequential speeds of 530 MB/s and 230 MB/s for read and write respectively. This solid state drive series includes four capacities, namely 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB. The S50′s form factor is said to be [...]
Read Article ›M5Pro Xtreme
The M5Pro Xtreme is an updated version of Plextor’s M5P series of solid state drives. There are a few differences between these two versions. The M5Pro Xtreme has maximum sequential write speeds of 330 MB/s, 460 MB/s, and 470 MB/s for the 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB models respectively while it’s 340, 450 [...]
Read Article ›525 Series
The 525 series are the mSATA versions of Intel’s 520 series of solid state drives. Like the 2.5″ variant, the 525 features SandForce’s SF-2281 controller and 25 nm NAND flash modules. This drive utilizes the SATA III 6 GBps interface and as such, it can reach a maximum sequential read speed of 550 MB/s and [...]
Read Article ›Vertex 3
Just like its 2.5″ version, the 3.5″ Vertex 3 SSD from OCZ is available at capacities of 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB. The maximum sequential read and write is also the same, at 550 MB/s and 520 MB/s respectively. 85,000 IOPS is the maximum 4k random write speed, achieved by the 120 and [...]
Read Article ›Mercury Viper
OWC’s Mercury Viper series of solid state drives are 3.5″ SATA III drives with a max sequential speed of 600 MB/s. Just like other OWC SSD’s, the Mercury Viper is made especially for Apple’s Mac computers although it would still run on Windows PCs. The form factor of the Mercury Viper would be ideal for [...]
Read Article ›Frequently Asked Questions
- SSDs vs. Hard Drives
A lot of questions have been raised about solid state drives or SSDs. Are they really that fast? Will they last for many years or are they easy to break? Will getting one be cost effective? Will they become the next staple in hard drive technology? All of these questions needs to be answered. This article will give you a short yet concise idea about the pros and cons of getting a solid state drive versus sticking to our old hard drive.
Solid state drives is an non-volatile array flash memory modules configured like a flash drive so that it retains memory even if there is no power. It is very much like your RAM but the RAM could not retain memory after power is taken away.
One of the key features of the SSD that makes it different from a conventional hard-disk drive is that it has no moving parts. The conventional hard drive relies on mechanical action to work. It has a magnetic platter that spins at really high rates (up to 7200 RPM) and a metal arm that writes and stores data on the platter.
With the SSD's architecture, booting your pc and accessing/storing data is faster because unlike the conventional HDDs , solid state drives can access data almost instantly for it does not wait for the platter to spin and for the arm to find where the data is located.
SSDs use less power mainly because it does not have a motor like the one used to spin the platter on an HDD. This is very good for notebooks because it will add more hours to battery life. Other advantages of not having mechanical parts is that they generate less heat and noise. It is also exempted from the wear and tear of those moving parts so it will have a longer lifespan.
How much longer depends on several factors including the controller and type of flash memory (SLC or MLC, 3x nm or 2x nm). This is mainly a factor for enterprise users, however; for most consumers, any modern solid state drive will likely outlive their computer's overall life span.