1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

News IDC: SSD performance gap 'small'

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 17 Jul 2008.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

    Joined:
    3 Apr 2007
    Posts:
    11,346
    Likes Received:
    316
    CardJoe, 17 Jul 2008
    #1
  2. Dr. Strangelove

    Dr. Strangelove What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    13 Mar 2005
    Posts:
    345
    Likes Received:
    1
    If the SSD's could match the performance of the faster (less energy efficient?) mechanical drives would we not be seeing SSD drives for desktops already?
     
    Dr. Strangelove, 17 Jul 2008
    #2
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,131
    Likes Received:
    6,725
    The 2.5" SATA SSDs work fine in a desktop - but are much more expensive per gigabyte. If you're asking why there aren't any 3.5" SATA SSDs, it's because it's a relatively small market currently (the main advantage for SSDs, shock resistance, doesn't apply to desktop computing) and because there's no need to make a bigger unit that will only fit in a desktop when you can make a smaller unit that fits in both laptops and desktops.
     
    Gareth Halfacree, 17 Jul 2008
    #3
  4. Liquid K9

    Liquid K9 Human programmer.. heh

    Joined:
    1 Sep 2002
    Posts:
    3,111
    Likes Received:
    2
    SSD's are still as-good-as-theoretical while the price per gigabyte gap is so immense....

    thats a difference of 2.99eur per gigabyte - or a 2,400% premium. still sound like a viable option to you? not me.
     
    Liquid K9, 17 Jul 2008
    #4
  5. iwod

    iwod What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    22 Jul 2007
    Posts:
    86
    Likes Received:
    0
    One reason would be none of the current OS has optimization for SSD.
    SSD has a future for much greater speed. Intel has said their SSD is going to be 200+ MB/s ... although it still hasn't appeared yet.
     
    iwod, 17 Jul 2008
    #5
  6. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

    Joined:
    15 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    11,994
    Likes Received:
    714
    Windows is optimised.

    putting Vista on Raptor greatly increases Windows smoothness, so putting on a high performance SSD should increase it even more.

    the "small gap" is just saying in comparison to high speed HDD, it's not a large improvement. after-all, current high speed HDD (veloci-Raptor) is already very fast
     
    wyx087, 17 Jul 2008
    #6
  7. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,131
    Likes Received:
    6,725
    In no sense of the word is Windows 'optimised' for anything, much less SSDs. By default, Windows writes a large quantity of temporary files to the boot volume - along with a pagefile containing data swapped out of RAM. This constant read/write cycle impacts on the SSD due to the limited number of writes available to Flash memory. Basically, running an unmodified OS on an SSD will result in an expensive paperweight in a short length of time.

    Now, you can turn the pagefile off and reduce the number of temporary files created (or move both to a mechanical volume), but that's something you have to do. Likewise, you can do the same in Linux and, I assume, MacOS. That doesn't make either of those 'optimised' for SSD use either - unless someone has already done so and released a special version, such as the SSD-optimised Eeebuntu Ubuntu variant designed for the Asus Eee PC.
     
    Gareth Halfacree, 17 Jul 2008
    #7
  8. chicorasia

    chicorasia What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    8 Jan 2008
    Posts:
    84
    Likes Received:
    0
    All speed and lifecycle issues aside, has anyone ever tried to recover data from a damaged SSD?

    If a controller chip burns out, can you still recover your data? Is there such a thing as a block-by-block clone of the SSD? How do software tools such as Data Rescue II cope with SSDs?
     
    chicorasia, 17 Jul 2008
    #8
  9. desertstalker

    desertstalker What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    7 Feb 2004
    Posts:
    73
    Likes Received:
    0
    The manufacturers specify 10s of years if you write the entire contents of the SSD each day, (ie if you have a 128GB device and write 128GB of data to it each day it will last 10+ years). The problem of flash wearing out is almost a non issue these days.

    The wear levelling algorithms will ensure that individual sectors do not get prematurely destroyed by pagefiles etc.
     
    desertstalker, 18 Jul 2008
    #9
Tags: Add Tags

Share This Page