PCMech readers and PCMech Live viewers have heard me wax on about how SSD is going to be the next big thing with computers. Why? One reason: Speed. And lots of it. Solid State Drives are where computers are going. If you wanted any indicator as to when to upgrade, SSD is it - no question.
And Samsung appears to be the company that’s going to bring it to us - this year.
How fast is fast? How about 160MB per second write-speed fast? It leaves rotating hard disks in the dust to say the least.
Personally speaking I’m pleased as punch this is happening now (as in this year) because it’s bringing us closer to the way computers used to be.
If you examine very old-school computers like the Commodore 64, TRS-80 and the like, their boot-up time is instantaneous. SSD brings us much closer to the simplicity that is: You turn it on and go. No waiting. And that’s just plain frickin’ cool all around.
One can only hope that the same will occur for optical drives as well (as in solid state media replacing rotating media.) We’ve thankfully been able to more or less get rid of the floppy drive, but the ancient optical tech is still around. The only reason we still use them is because flash-based media doesn’t have a low enough price point just yet compared to optical discs.
It is not uncommon to find a 50-pack of blank CD-ROMs for 10 US dollars. That’s 20¢ per each disc that can hold 700MB. Flash-based media isn’t that cheap just yet but it’s getting there.
It would be interesting if the computer industry made floppy-shaped flash-based media. The media would look just like a floppy diskette but would be a flash-based card that could hold a few GB’s of data at bare minimum. Media of this type would keep a familiar feel while providing modern portable storage.
Think it’s a crazy idea? Remember, the CD-ROM optical disc is a rounded version of the 5.25″ floppy diskette concerning it’s size. That’s why it fits perfectly in a 5.25″ sleeve.
[Source: Electronista]
Rich Menga is PCMech's video guy, an author and part-time host of PCMech LIVE.
Jim Lesher said:
5/28/2008 12:01 pm
David, in the 80s, I owned a TI99/4a, it had the operating system on a ROM, boot-up was also instantaneous and since it coulld not be written to,,,,,NO Virus. Today they could use an EEPROM, when MS came out with a new OS, they could either sell you a new chip or have the old one reprogrammed. Or they may figure out a way to sell you a new disk to reprogram it yourself. Of course this would put McAfee and Norton out of business.
Did you ever check into that solid state cooling device for the cpu, it has no moving parts, it works on the same principal as an RV refridgerator. Thanks for your newsletters
Jim
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Reese the Piece said:
5/28/2008 12:55 pm
Meh… I would have to disagree with you a little Rich. While yes, SSD is going to lead the market soon, SAS is still better/faster. While I can’t speak from experience, from what I’ve read it’s much faster. When I build my new unbeatable, amazing, beatiful, ridiculously expensive computer, I’ll pop a couple of Seagate’s 450GB 15000 RPM SAS drives that come out in June in there and the debate will begin…
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alliwant said:
5/31/2008 2:53 pm
As I understand it, not only are SSDs faster, they also don’t dissipate as much power, thereby cutting the expense of operation a bit. The failure rate is also significantly lower than for rotating drives. I’d like such a mass storage system just for the overall quiet, no drive whirring and less need for fans in the box.
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