Driving a hard bargain?

July 26, 2010 - 12:00 pm

The right hard drive can transform your computer from a lethargic lump to a super speedy machine.   But are traditional hard drives a bargain or does SSD give you more bang for your buck?

Traditional hard drives have evolved since the first computers hit out homes, but now consumers can choose a flash-based storage in the form of a solid state drive (SSD) as prices are forced lower.  A standard hard drive has moving parts and a spinning disk where data is stored and retrieved , whereas new-fangled SSDs have no moving parts which bring speedy and reliable benefits.

Until now it was not financially-viable for most notebook PCs to use SSDs to handle primary storage requirements, but at only a little pricier than a bog-standard hard drive, SSDs have finally become competitive with 30GB to 80GB hard drives, for instance, Kingston’s SSDnow 500 that you can pop into your existing laptop.

Why upgrade?

On the whole, SSDs are faster than their conventional counterparts.  With no moving parts and therefore no mechanical delays, they usually ensure low access time and latency (the delay in your computer giving a command and actually doing it.)

You might not have time to make your coffee while booting up your machine with an SSD…it’s super speedy.  Similarly, whereas a traditional hard drive has to rotate its ‘disk platters’ to find information, an SSD allows you faster random access as there is no seeking motion.

Flash SSDs can retain memory (that important document you were writing) even during computer crashes.  With high mechanical reliability they also almost eliminate risk of mechanical failure- unlike conventional hard drives. Failures also occur less often when you erase or write data and consequently  there is a lower risk of irrecoverable data damage – hurrah!

Defragging computers might become a thing of the past, well nearly, as it has negligible effect on an SSD compared to a conventional hard drive.  SSDs are random access and can perform parallel reads on multiple sections of the drive, unlike the poor old hard drive which has to use seek time for each fragment.

SSDs are getting smaller and with no moving parts are silent, a quiet improvement on cumbersome hard drives.  There could even be energy-saving benefits attached to an SSD as they have a low power consumption and generate little heat when in use.  Some users say their battery lasts longer.

Who needs one?

Convinced?  Or is this a little extreme for your needs?  SSDs are ideal for people in a hurry- those keen laptop commuters who are forever  booting up their machines.  Students and professionals with lots of important data to store that they really, really can’t lose could also benefit from an SSD’s extra reliability.

And of course we can’t forget intrepid explorers or the extremely accident prone.  SSDs have a superior ability to endure extreme shock, vibration, altitude and seriously hot and cold temperatures.  So expect them to feature in rugged laptops, mobiles and gadgets Ray Mears would give his survival kit for!

So whether you’re an impatient surfer, diligent worker or just like getting your hands on the latest tech, chances are you’ll want to get your hands on an SSD and let the fun begin!