Advantage and Disadvantage of Solid State Drives (SSD) Compared to Hard Disks

There are a lots of advancement in SSD (Solid State Drive) products since it was launched and we should know that advantages and or disadvantages exist in this product.

Solid State Drive is basically a media to contain data using a solid state memory to hold data. SSD use the SATA interface but some SSD also use SRAM or DRAM (usuallu called RAM Drive).

Some advantages of the solid state drive are:

• The random access speed for reading is faster because it doesn't need a head to read or write data.
• The read latency is much lower, where application run through SSD will be much faster compared to a normal hard disk.
• Reading performance will be more stable because the data search doesn't depend on where the data is located.
• SSD is noiseless because it only use computer chips not moving parts such as hard disks.
• For smaller SSD devices, it requires minimum power and there is no heat produced.
• Mechanical reliability inside the SSD will be higher. Mechanical failure wouldn't happen. This means that the SSD is shock resistant and could resist temperature change. SSD could operate at a maximum temperature of 70 degrees Celcius.
• SSD has a lighter weight compared to hard disk.
• If the SSD fails, usually it happens during the writing or deleting process of data. Hard disk often fail during data reading.

Although the great advantages of the SSD, the disadvantages also exist. Here are some of them:

• The price of SSD is still high. Per gigabyte of SSD, it costs US $1.50 ~ US $3.45. A conventional hard disk only cost US $0.38 per gigabyte.
• The capacity available is not enough compared to conventional hard disks. Although there was a research to create 1 Terra Byte SSD but it doesn't exist yet in the market. A 1 TB conventional hard disk is available in the electronic market.
• The write/erase cycle for SSD is limited, it could only stand for 1,000 to 10,000 write cycle or a maximum of 100,000 cycles. A conventional hard disk could stand 1-5 million write cycles. This means that the performance of the SSD will decrease during time and usage.
• The writing speed of a SSD is slower compared to the conventional hard disk.
• DRAM based SSD needs higher power compared to conventional hard disks. It will continue consuming power when the computers starts while conventional hard disk wouldn't.

Basically, the usage of SSD is to replace the conventional hard disk especially in notebooks or netbooks, where nowadays smaller and lighter notebooks are preferred by consumers.

In the future SSD drives will be much more cheaper and will increase in terms of carrying capacity. Now it's up to you, if you prefer to use SSD now or later when it's cheaper.