![]() To understand what else is going on under the hood, let's consider the history of solid-state drives. There’s more to it than this basic summary. It then processes the information for the host computer to read. The flash controller reads that order by checking the charge of each cell. The memory chip is an enormous library of cells that holds millions of electrons captive in a specific order. The flash controller sends voltage down the wire to a group of cells in the memory chip, corralling the electrons into the correct gates. The main chips are the flash controller and the memory chip(s). Inside, an SSD looks like a circuit board with computer chips. The development of computer storage technology, from HDDs to SSDs. In fact, many SSDs offer tons of storage space at only a fraction of an HDD's size. On the outside, an SSD looks just like an HDD - because it’s been made to be conveniently interchangeable with what most computers are already using. The only real downside is that SSDs are considerably more expensive to produce, and so they’re more expensive to buy. The setup allows an operating system like Windows or macOS to load much more quickly than it otherwise would if stored on an HDD. No spinning disks or moving arms are needed - you just need to access the bit at row X, column Y. With everything organized into grids, information can be read much more quickly. That’s how we read and write data from an SSD. The gates can then read how many electrons are trapped there, providing a “1” or a “0” as an output. The transistors are set to specific electrical charges, which in turn are changed and preserved with “gates.”Ĭontrol gates and floating gates alter the current flowing through the transistors to trap electrons in specific places. The inside of an SSD is a system of microscopic transistor grids stacked on top of each other. What does an SSD do?Īn SSD counts ones and zeros using electrons - particles that are even smaller than atoms. You can think of an SSD like an extremely dense abacus. But how can we squeeze trillions of those ones and zeros into a tiny phone that fits in the palm of our hand? How does solid-state technology work? Let’s dig into how SSDs get the job done. You probably know that all the data you've saved can be written as ones and zeros. So, how do solid-state drives work? How solid-state drives work By reimagining the way data storage and access works, SSDs eliminate that problem, and now large files load much more quickly with an SSD than with an HDD. Unlike older hard-disk drives (HDD), SSDs don't have any moving parts, such as spinning disks or access arms that move around the disk.įor years, the physical mechanism of the hard-disk drive was the one thing standing in the way of faster read and write speeds. Our ultimate recommendation is the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, thanks to its reliability, insane performance, great warranty, and reasonable price.SSD stands for solid-state drive, but what is a solid-state drive? The basic definition is a storage device with non-volatile memory that works much faster than an HDD. If you can have an NVMe drive in your PC, then these will yield the best performance, and thankfully aren't that expensive anymore. If your storage requirements are smaller, an all-SSD system is a way to go. This way, you'll get a balance of price, performance, and space, and you'll have a well-rounded machine for all occasions. Our ultimate recommendation is to opt for a mixed system with HDD mass storage and an SSD boot drive for your OS. ![]() An efficient system would have an SSD to boot Windows from and one or more HDDs for mass storage. The price per gigabyte is still much less than SSDs, and larger capacities won't take all your money. PC cases usually have space for more than one drive, meaning you can stack up as much mass storage as you can stash, and your budget will allow. Have a lot of games or media to keep on your PC? No problem, you can get one or more drives over 1TB in size for a fraction of the cost of their SSD equivalents. This type of drive is cheaper than SSD and available in some quite massive sizes. Large capacity drives are still expensive, as are the highest performing ones, but generally speaking, they're more affordable than ever. SSD prices have come down a lot in recent times, too, with the price per gigabyte much lower than it once was. SSDs don't handle being written to as well over time, but a boot drive wouldn't suffer this. You're not looking at a short-term life, but compared to HDD storage, it is reduced. Many laptops only have SSD storage, for example. The lifespan of an SSD isn't as long as that of an HDD, but you can certainly use an SSD as your only drive on a PC. ![]()
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