Currently, solid-state drives gradually displacing ordinary hard drives. If quite recently, SSDs were a small volume and, as a rule, were used to install the system, now there are already 1 terabyte discs and even more. The advantages of such drives are obvious - it is silent, high speed and reliability. Today we will give several tips on how to make a choice of CDS.
Several SSD seals
Before buying a new disk, you should pay attention to a number of parameters that will help choose a suitable device for your system:- Decide on the volume of SSD;
- Find out which connection methods are available on your system;
- Pay attention to the "filling" of the disk.
It is for these parameters that we will choose a drive, so let's consider each of them in more detail.
Disc volume
Solid state drives serve much longer than ordinary discs, which means that you will not acquire it for one year. That is why it is worth it to approach more responsibly to the selection of volume.
If it is planned to use CEDU under the system and program, then in this case a 128 GB drive is perfect. If you want to completely replace the usual disk, then in this case it is worth considering the devices with a volume of 512 GB.
In addition, oddly enough, the volume of the disk affects the service life, and the read / write speed. The fact is that with a large amount of drive, the controller has larger space to distribute the load on the memory cells.
Methods of connection
As in the case of any other device, SSD to work must be connected to a computer. The most common connection interfaces is SATA and PCIE. Discs with PCIe interface more speeds compared to SATA and are usually manufactured as a map. SATA drives have a more pleasant appearance, and are also universal, because they can connect both to the computer and to the laptop.
However, before buying a disk, it is worth checking if there is free PCIE or SATA connectors on the motherboard.
M.2 is another SSD connection interface that can use the SATA and PCI-Express (PCIE) bus. The main feature of the disks with such a connector is compactness. In total, there are two options for the connector - with the key B and M. They differ in the number of "cutouts". If in the first case (key c) there is one cut, then in the second - there are two of them.
If you compare the speed interfaces connectivity, the fastest is PCIE, where the data transfer rate can reach 3.2 GB / s. But SATA is up to 600 MB / s.
Memory type
Unlike conventional HDD, data is stored in solid-state drives in special memory. Now discs are available with two types of this memory - MLC and TLC. It is the type of memory that determines the resource and speed of the device. The highest rates will be at disks with MLC memory type, so it is better to use them if you often have to copy, delete or move large files. However, the cost of such discs is much higher.
See also: Comparison of NAND flash memory types
For most home computers, disks with TLC memory type are perfect. In speed, they are inferior to MLC, but still noticeably exceed the usual storage devices.
Chip manufacturers for controllers
Not the last role in the choice of discs plays chip manufacturers. Each of them has its pros and cons. So, controllers based on Sandforce chips are more popular. They have lower cost and good performance. The peculiarity of these chips is to use data compression when recording. In this case, there is a significant disadvantage - when filling out the disk more than half, read / write speed drops significantly.
MARVEL chips discs have an excellent speed on which the percentage of filling is not affected. The only flaw here is a high cost.
SAMSUNG also produces chips for solid-state drives. The feature is such - this encryption at the hardware level. However, they have a flaw. Due to the problems with the garbage assembly algorithm, read / write speed can decrease.
Fizon chips are characterized by high performance and low cost. There are no factors that influence the speed, but on the other hand, they poorly show themselves with an arbitrary record and reading.
LSI-Sandforce is another manufacturer of chips for solid-state drive controllers. Products of this manufacturer meet quite often. One feature is compression data during transmission to Nand Flash. As a result, the amount of recorded information is reduced, which in turn saves the resource directly. The disadvantage is to reduce the controller performance at maximum memory load.
And finally, the last manufacturer of chips is Intel. Controllers on the basis of these chips show themselves from all sides, but they are much more expensive than others.
In addition to the main manufacturers, there are others. For example, in budget models of disks, you can find controllers based on JMicron chips, which are well coped with their duties, although the indicators of these chips are lower than those of the rest.
Rating discs
Consider several disks that are the best in your category. As categories, take the volume of the drive itself.Discs up to 128 GB
In this category, two Samsung MZ-7KE128BW models can be distinguished in the price range up to 8000 thousand rubles and the cheaper Intel SSDSC2BM120A401, the cost of which varies in the range from 4,000 to 5,000 rubles.
The Samsung MZ-7KE128BW model is characterized by a high read / write speed in its category. Due to the thin case, it is perfect for installation in an ultrabook. It is possible to speed up the work through the allocation of RAM.
Main characteristics:
- Reading speed: 550 Mbps
- Record speed: 470 Mbps
- Random read speed: 100000 IOPS
- Random recording speed: 90000 IOPS
IOPS is the number of blocks that manage to sign up or read. The higher this indicator, the higher the performance of the device.
The Intel SSDSC2BM120A401 drive is one of the best among "state employees" with a volume of up to 128 GB. It is characterized by high reliability and perfectly suitable for installation in a ultrabook.
Main characteristics:
- Reading speed: 470 Mbps
- Record speed: 165 Mbps
- Random read speed: 80000 IOPS
- Random Speed: 80000 IOPS
Discs with a volume from 128 to 240-256 GB
Here the best representative is the SanDisk SDSSDXPS-240G-G25 drive, the cost of which reaches 12 thousand rubles. Cheaper, but no less high-quality model is OCZ VTR150-25SAT3-240G (up to 7 thousand rubles).
The main characteristics of CRUCIAL CT256MX100SSD1:
- Reading speed: 520 Mbps
- Record speed: 550 Mbps
- Random read speed: 90000 IOPS
- Random recording speed: 100000 IOPS
The main characteristics of the OCZ VTR150-25SAT3-240G:
- Reading speed: 550 Mbps
- Record speed: 530 Mbps
- Random read speed: 90000 IOPS
- Random recording speed: 95000 IOPS
Discs with a volume of 480 GB
In this category, the leader is CRUCIAL CT512MX100SSD1 with an average cost of 17 500 rubles. The cheaper analogue of the ADATA Premier SP610 512GB, its cost is 7,000 rubles.
The main characteristics of CRUCIAL CT512MX100SSD1:
- Reading speed: 550 Mbps
- Record speed: 500 Mbps
- Random read speed: 90000 IOPS
- Random Speed: 85000 IOPS
Key features of ADATA Premier SP610 512GB:
- Reading speed: 450 Mbps
- Record speed: 560 Mbps
- Random read speed: 72000 IOPS
- Random Speed: 73000 IOPS
Output
So, we considered several criteria for the choice of CDS. Now you can get acquainted with the proposal and using the information received, to decide which SSD is best suited for you and your system.