What is a Solid State Drive?

A Solid State Drive quite simply is a

data storage device that stores data using solid state memory. Solid state is an electrical term that refers to electronic circuitry that is built entirely out of semiconductors. Solid state drive have no physically moving parts in them The key components of an SSD are the controller and the memory to store the data.

Ways to use a SSD ?

Serial ATA
PCI Express

Fibre Channel (servers)

USB Parallel ATA

Advantages of a SSD to a HDD :

Spin-up Time: SSDs have no spin up time; the drive has no moving

parts. HDDs have varying spin up times (usually a few seconds) Data Access Time and Latency: SSDs are lighting fast and generally seek on an order of 80-100 times faster than HDDs; by skipping the mechanical spin and seek routine they can access data almost instantly wherever it is on the disk. Noise: SSDs are silent; no moving parts means no noise. HDDs range from pretty-darn-quiet to very-clumsy-click-beetle levels of sound. Power Consumption: SSD drives consume 30-60% less energy than traditional HDDs. Saving an odd 6 or 10 watts here and there doesnt seem like a lot but over the course of a year or two on a heavily used machine it adds up.

 Consistent read performance : Read performance does not change

based on where data is stored on an SSD; If data is written in a fragmented way, reading back the data will have varying response times on a HDD. Magnetic susceptibility :Magnets or magnetic surges have no impact on flash memory ; surges can alter data on the HDD.

Disadvantages of a SDD
SSD hard drives are much more expensive: A SSD hard

drive costs roughly $3.50USD per gigabyte compare to $0.40USD per gigabyte for a traditional hard drive. Lower storage space: Since the SSD hard drives are newer, the maximum capacity of these drives is 500GB, compared to 2TB for current hard drives.

 Limited write cycles: Some SSD hard drives have a limited number

of write cycles that can easily be reached on very active machines. Software encryption limitations : SSD cant be overwritten, but have to be rewritten to previously erased blocks; HDDs can overwrite data directly on the drive in any particular sector. Write longevity : Flash-based SSDs have a limited number of writes (1-5 million ) over the life of the drive. Magnetic media do not have a similar limited number of writes but are susceptible to eventual mechanical failure.

The Care and Feeding of a Solid State Drive:

Dont defragment your drive :Defragmentation is useless on a SSD

and it decreases the lifespan. SSDs have no platters and have a nearly instantaneous seek time. All defragging them does is chew up more of your write cycles. Turn off Indexing Services: If your OS rocks any sort of searchsupplementation tool like an Indexing Service (Windows does), turn it off. The read time is so fast on SSDs that you dont really need to build a file index and the actual process of indexing the drive and writing the index is slow on SSDs. Leave a portion of the disk empty. Check the specs for your drive, most manufacturers recommend keeping 10-20% of the drive empty. This empty space is there to assist the leveling algorithms (they redistribute the data across the NAND modules to minimize the total wear on the drive and ensure a long life and optimum drive performance).

 Store media on a second drive: Until SSDs drop radically in price it

makes no sense to store your massive media files on your expensive SSD. You can pick up 1TB traditional HDDs for under $100 now; use a large secondary drive (when possible) for storing your large and static files (such as movies, music collections, and other media files).

Is a SSD for you ?

You want nearly instant boot time You want extremely fast access for general applications and

gaming You want a quieter and less power hungry computer Youre able to use two drives; one for your OS and one for your media You travel a lot : long journeys or bumpy roads preventing you from working.

Working :
Flash memory stores 0s and 1s in millions of miniature transistors,

each 1,000 times as thin as a human hair. If the transistor conducts current, the chip reads it as 1; if not, its 0. The current flows just underneath the transistor along the chips base, or substrate [A].

 When the chip is empty, all transistors

are set to 1. But when you hit save, the chip records data by blocking the current to some transistors, turning them into a 0. To do so, the chip briefly applies 20 volts to a piece of silicon called a control gate [B]. This pulls electrons onto another silicon bit called a floating gate [C], leaving a positively charged area directly belowand breaking up the usual path of electrical current. The only way to move the electrons and change the pattern of 1s and 0s thereby changing your datais by applying precise voltages to the transistors. That means even kicking your laptop wont erase your file.

TEST !!!!!

Reference :
http://www.ehow.com
http://pcplus.techradar.com http://www.howtogeek.com/ http://www.popsci.com http://www.about.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.makeuseof.com/ https://www.socialtext.net/

Thank YOU !