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20 December 2019

Advantages and disadvantages of solid state drive

SSD stands for solid-state drive, There is a trend that has been seen in the use of SSD replacing the traditional drive in many types of electronic devices. It became more attractive as an enterprise for data storage devices like desktops, laptops, servers, PCs, etc. While the hard disk is smarter, faster, reliable today than ever before, SSD has several features that make them viable alternatives. There are as many advantages to doing this as there are disadvantages or demerits making it difficult to choose a clear winner. So let us take a closer at the merits and demerits given below.

Advantages of solid-state drive(SDD):

  • A solid-state drive consumes less power as compared to a hard disk drive. 
  • Though the cost of hardware is lower with HDDs, the cost of bandwidth is much lower with SSDs.
  • SSDs allow faster booting of computers as the drive is not required to spin up thereby improving the performance of the computer.
  • SSD produces less noise because it uses computer chips and there are no moving parts. Since it is non-mechanical, there is virtually no more noise.
  • Solid-state drive lack motors, they generate less heat, unlike HDDs. This is an important feature for people using laptops as it allows them to use their laptops with more comfort o their laps for longer time periods with the least worry about burns.
  • The solid-state drive has better-reading ad and writing speed. Data reading and writing to flash chips occur instantly in SSD, allowing the SSDs to have better reading and writing speeds.
  • The constant read performance feature makes file fragmentation simple and a nonissue in an SSD. Data can be accessed anytime in an instant regardless of where it is stored.
  • SSD has no moving parts, It can keep the data safe in the event of dropping it. SSD is no mechanical failure in higher mechanical reliability. The SSD is lighter than an HDD and is resistant to shock and temperature change.

Disadvantages of solid-state drive(SDD):

  • One of the biggest disadvantages of a solid-state drive is the cost. SSD costs are much more than a conventional hard disk drive.
  • The SSDs are using DRAM technology and require more power, unlike conventional HDDs. These drives continue to consume power when the system starts while a conventional hard disk drive will not.
  • A solid-state drive is highly expensive and solid with a hefty price tag, unlike conventional HDDs.
  • Some of the solid-state drives especially those using NAND memory flash chips can be written only for a limited number of times. Solid-state drive using DRAM technology does not come with such a limitation, they cost more.
  • Some of the less expensive solid-state drives, especially the MLC-based types, come with slower write speeds when compared to read speeds. These speeds are relatively lower write speed on the conventional hard disk drive.
  • In recent times, the use of SSDs has increased leading to various issues. These issues have to e resolved before obtaining optimal performance from SSDs.
  • The Windows operating system that was used before Windows 7 were not optimized for SSDs. It reduced the drive performance and shorten its lifespan.
  • The SSD write/ erase cycle is limited. An HHD can stand up to a 1 to 5 million write cycle, whereas, An SSD averages 100000 cycles, meaning a decrease in the SSD performance over time. This limitation in write cycles causes more trouble.  
  • The inability to recover old data is one of the biggest disadvantages of SSD.
  • SSDs can access data quickly, they usually take more time to save data. The device on the SSD must first delete the old data in order to write the new one. This is a big disadvantage, which mostly goes unnoticed by an average user, for data systems that are involved in the transfer of large amounts of data.
  • In this drive, the data is permanently and completely deleted from the drive, though this is an advantage in terms of data security, still, permanent data deletion could lead to irreparable consequences in certain events where there is no backup for deleted data.
  • Due to the unique file system structure of an SSD, data extraction can be an extremely difficult and lengthy process. 
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