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Solid State Drives (New Technology) Vs. Hard Disk Drives (Old Technology)
It has been said that solid state disks (SSD – New Technology Hard Drive) are the next big thing for the technology industry. Like their predecessors, the conventional hard disk drives (HDD), are still predominantly being used. They still house all your data and provide the data within a reasonable amount of time. Old hard drive still fit the need for most PC users, but some PC users don’t know what they are missing.
What are the benefits of new hard drive technology over old hard drive technology?
Fail Rate and Reliability
Hard disk failure is a very common occurrence in today’s IT World. Everyone has heard a horror story from a friend or a relative, the hard drive that you depended on to last forever just dies. You now have to go out and replace the drive. Users don’t need to be “tech savvy” to know that disk drives will fail. Some last 5 minutes, others last 5 years. Typically, the old technology hard drives will last approximately 3 years. What sets new technology over the old technology is that there are no moving parts. The normal wear and tear is gone with new technology hard drives.
The new technology hard drives are ultra reliable with the absence of spinning platters and mechanical arms. They can withstand vibration, shock (we all know how this can affect a dropped laptop), cold and heat of -60 degrees C to 95 degrees C. This feature alone will make the new technology very attractive.
Speed and Heat
The new technology hard drives are burning up the old technology hard drives with access speeds of 35 to 100 micro-seconds. Old technology drives have access speeds around 5,000 to 10,000 micro-seconds. This makes the new drives right around 100 times faster than any of the old drives. Speed is very important to Banks, Government/Military, and Insurance companies. New technology drives provide the extra speed that “high speed” businesses needs for today’s “Gotta have it now” demand.
Heat is also a concern with old technology drive because; the creation of heat will be extensive. Laptops, in general have problems dissipating heat away from the processor (brain of the computer). The use of heat pads generally resolves this issue. With the new technology, the creation of heat will be significantly less. Therefore, engineers can create smaller, more mobile laptops that don’t have to use a heat pad to dispel heat.
Costs and Energy Consumption
Costs for the new technology are pricier than the old but, will continue to drop over time.
Current price ranges are:
New Technology Hard Drives
32 GB SSD – 2.5” - Laptop - $105.99
64 GB SSD – 2.5” – Laptop - $199.99
128 GB SSD – 2.5” – Laptop - $326.99
*Note: Prices do vary with different manufacturers
Energy Consumption with the old technology was very minimal. Compared to the new technology drives, the old are energy “Hogs”. The new technology drives will end up using about 100 times less than the older drives. With Laptop users, battery efficiency is a must. Increasing battery efficiency will create longer periods of where a battery charge is not needed.
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