Advantages and Disadvantages of Solid-State Drives (SSDs)

A Solid-State Drive (SSD), also recognized by electronic disk or solid-state disk, is a computer data storage device that utilizes flash memory chips as in USB drives, smartphones, and memory cards. There are no rotating parts existing on the SSD and keeps the data safe. This is the chief reason behind the better performance of an SSD when equated to hard disk drives (HDDs).

Furthermore, SSDs and HDDs have been rivals for many years. But in terms of market demands the SSDs have substantial advantages due to the technology used behind them. Even with all the advantages, many manufacturers and consumers favour HDDs as their main storage medium. There are numerous reasons for that. Hence, for any user to choose whether to opt for an SSD or not they have to be well-aware of the advantages and disadvantages of it.

Advantages of an SSD:

1. Speed:

Since an SSD doesn’t have any mechanical parts, it performs fast operations. A standard SSD is about 25-100x faster as compared to a traditional HDD. This surfaces the way for faster boot times, file transmission, application loading and other elementary computing works. Moreover, all the read/write functions take place within the flash memory chips. Due to this the regular read/write functions are improved and faster when compared to an HDD.

2. Durability:

Additional benefit of non-mechanical nature present in SSD is its resilience. Due to the absence of any manual components in SSD, it is not pretentious to external disturbances. Therefore, it is sturdier and more resistant to physical damage. Even in the occurrence of dropping, SSDs will not undergo any data loses making it more data secure.

3. Power Consumption:

Contrasting to an HDD where it depends on upon the magnetic coated platters disks for read/write operations, SSDs lack any moving parts. Due to this it commonly consumes lesser power. Hence it is considered to be highly energy efficient with lesser heat dissipation.

Disadvantages of an SSD:

1. Cost:

The main disadvantage of utilising an SSD is its cost. Equating the prices of HDD and the SSD, the value of an SSD is more than twice that of an HDD of comparable storage capacity. Ultimately the computers with the SSDs as their primary storage medium will be more expensive. Though, the inclusive lifetime cost of an SSD is pointedly lower.

2. Storage Space:

The storage space accessible by an SSD is restricted to certain values. An SSD offers a base storage capacity of 128 GB. SSDs offering greater storage capacities are difficult to find. Furthermore, when the storage capacity of a SSD goes up then inevitably the cost keeps increasing as well.

3. Lifespan:

The flash memories used in SSDs are restricted to specific number of writes. Because of this, the lifecycles present in an SSD is restricted. In order for inscribing data to an SSD, it undergoes a process identified as Write cycles. In this procedure when data is written on an SSD the preceding blocks present in them will be deleted. Whenever this process is finished it ultimately leads to cell decaying. Cell decaying fundamentally means that your SSD is gradually progressing towards failure.

Most of the people nowadays opt for SSDs as compared to HDDs. Even though the advantages of SSDs are numerous, one of the major disadvantages is data loss. In the occasion of a data deletion on a SSD, it is almost impossible to recuperate the data back. Even though this can be advantageous in terms of data security, this can lead to serious problems if there are no appropriate backups made. Without taking matters into your hand, it is advisable to reach out to Akitio Data Recovery for recovering your data.