Are SSD (Solid State Drives) Worth It?
Posted on August 29, 2011 at 6:50 am
Although SSD solid state drives have been on the market for quite some time now, there is still a relatively low percentage of computer users who own them. This is obviously due to their higher price compared to traditional HDD hard drives, and their value per gigabyte. Still, SSDs are continuously dropping in price and catching one on sale could be a decent investment. Here are some points to consider when it comes to solid state drive purchases.
Solid state drives are hell of expensive, so does $400 – $500 for 256GB justify the price? Well, that depends. The high majority of forums throughout the internet have comments that would argue yes and no. For the most part, buyers that have decided to go with SSDs say that there is a definite boost in speed, and buyers who have purchased a reliable solid state drive that was compatible with their particular computer do not have buyers remorse.
The main problem, when it comes to SSDs, is compatibility issues. Well, maybe not compatibility issues, but different compatibilities than traditional HDD hard drives. HDD compatibility is very broad, and as long as you get the correct connection type of drive (ex. IDE or SATA) and the correct size of drive (2.5 or 3.5), nearly any hard drive will work with nearly any computer.
SSDs on the other hand, are a bit different. Solid state drive compatibility is much narrower, meaning that many SSDs are only guaranteed to be compatible with certain computers or certain computer setups. Even if you purchase a 2.5” SATA SSD, and your Mac or PC has a 2.5” SATA drive bay, there is no guarantee that the SSD will work with your computer, not smoothly at least. If you are considering purchasing a SSD, be sure to scour the web for any possible compatibility issues with your exact make and model of computer, down to the exact model number. With SSDs, many drives just don’t support certain computers as of yet.
Above, it was mentioned that SSD buyers who purchased a compatible, reliable SSD for their particular computer had no buyers remorse. This is likely because of the speed increase from the newer technology. However, you should also note, that not all SSD buyers are glad they purchased one of these expensive drives, and that speed increase is only noticeable in certain situations.
For the most part, solid state drives will give your computer a boost in speed, but more so with certain tasks. With a good quality SSD, your computer will boot faster (nearly 50% faster), programs and apps will open instantaneously upon clicking on them, and shutdown will be faster. But… how much of your computing experience revolves around how fast your computer boots and shuts down?
And, does it really take a long time for apps and programs to open, if you have a computer with a decent processor and RAM memory? These are things you need to consider before purchasing a SSD? If your answer is that you would find that a faster boot, shutdown, and opening apps faster is worth it, there is a good probability that a SSD would be an excellent purchase for you? Much of the hype about solid state drives deals with boot times and app launching speed.
Of course, SSDs are much more than that. They will also perform certain tasks faster. Will webpages load faster or will songs play quicker when you click on them? No. Will Microsoft Word and Excel document editing become more efficient? No. Some things that will be noticeable, however, are video encoding and rendering, audio encoding and rendering, and other computer intensive tasks.
For the most part, SSDs have faster read and write speeds, so whenever you perform an operation that requires drive read and write, you will notice a difference. Copying files from an external hard drive to your hard drive will become faster, writing to an external hard drive will become faster, etc… Downloading a file will copy that file to your solid state drive faster than a hard drive, but you will not necessarily notice an increase in speed, because the speed at which a file is downloaded depends on other things, such as your internet service provider speed, hosted file speed, etc…
Solid state drives have also made the claim that they are more durable, and have a longer lifespan than traditional HDD hard drives, because they have no moving parts. This in many cases, is probably true, but SSDs are far from being reliable, and some lemons have definitely left some of the SSD manufacturers shops. Many SSD buyers have reported that their SSDs have randomly died within the first year of ownership, and in some cases, mere months. I’m sure that some SSDs will prove to be more reliable than HDD drives, but some have simply proven the opposite.
Aside from assuring compatibility between a SSD you are considering buying and your computer, it’s also wise to browse for some reviews on the specific model of SSD that you want to purchase. Consumer SSD ratings and reviews are very diverse, and websites like Newegg and Amazon have thousands of consumer reviews about the drives that they are selling.
Because solid state drives are a different type of drive than HDDs, they require no defragging. However, they have other gimmicks that can help them run more efficiently. Features like TRIM support are things that you want to research before purchasing a SSD.
Another selling point for SSDs has been the claim that, because they have no moving parts, they dissipate practically zero heat, and that they will make your computer cooler. While the part about having no moving parts is correct, the part claiming that they will make your computer cooler is not, in many cases. Although a traditional hard drive does have moving parts, and does get slightly warm, that is not what makes your computer lap burning hot. More than likely, it is the processor and GPU (video card) that heats up the computer.
As far as energy conservation, SSDs are going to save energy, and that is respectively important for those who are environmentally friendly. However, no matter how much you use your computer or how much your computer is powered on, you will not notice any significant dropping in fees on your energy bill by switching to an SSD. Instead, the main benefit from SSDs is with portable computers such as laptops. You can get better battery life from switching from a 7200 RPM HDD to a 5400 RPM HDD, so switching from any spinning drive to a SSD will give you a significant increase in battery life.
Another thing to consider when purchasing a SSD is future upgrading and selling value. Because solid state drives are still developing as a technology, there is going to be a faster, better, more efficient solid state drive coming out next year, that you are probably going to want to upgrade to. Traditional hard drives, on the other hand, have pretty much reached their potential. SSDs do hold their resale value fairly good, so if you ever decide to sell a SSD, you may be able to get a decent return.
Another technology that has yet to be mentioned is hybrid SSD, which offers a lower amount of SSD space, with mass storage going to a rotating platter, similar to traditional HDDs. For example, a hybrid SSD may only have 4GB of SSD storage, and the rest designated to HDD space. These drives can be faster than HDDs, but not nearly as fast as an actual SSD.
Overall, SSDs are a worthwhile purchase depending on who you ask. My opinion is that, for most computer users, a SSD is not worth it. They are just too costly for low amounts of storage, and they have yet to be proven as reliable. Most computer users don’t do enough computer intensive tasks and read and write enough files for a SSD to justify itself. On another note, the speed of a SSD may prove time efficient and worth the purchase for people who read and write a lot of computer data, do video or audio editing, etc.
Do you own a SSD? Are you glad that you invested in the faster drive? How does the SSD make your computing more efficient? Leave a comment!
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I am currently using 20+ year old 6 and 10 GB hard drives with an external adapter as geek who has to have the latest gadget would use a flash drive. If a spinning disk harddrive can last this long in this type of service. Why should I spend huge dollars for something of not much greater capacity? One day, SSDs will be practical and will probably become standard, but they are nothing but a super expensive toy at the present stage of development.