Over the past sixty years, computer storage has been moving steadily away from solid-state drives (SSD) toward hard disk drives (HDD), which offer the advantages most computer owners need. For instance, an HDD will provide more storage per size of each unit you use at a much cheaper cost per gigabyte. Solid-state drives, on the other hand, had several limitations that prevented them from achieving the same success. For instance, SSDs formerly required a constant power supply to prevent a total data loss following a blackout or other accident—though recent advancements in technology have corrected this oversight, allowing SSD memory to be sustained long term without a power supply. The primary advantage of SSD has always been greatly accelerated load times, since the memory is written and accessed sequentially. Another huge draw could be its decreased energy consumption, since it doesn’t require moving parts to read or write its data, like an HDD would.
Perhaps the most familiar example of the advantages of each is a comparison of video game formats over the years. Through the 80s and 90s (up until Play Station took hold, at least), almost all home console video games were released on cartridges. As soon as you plugged in the cartridge and switched on the console, the entire game was loaded and ready to play. As the overall memory required to handle the enhanced graphics and textures of new games became more important than fast load times, console gaming switched from cartridge to disk format to take advantage of an HDD’s improved GB/space ratio. But this also meant that each individual level would need to be accessed and read before you could play it, resulting in load times. Theoretically, gaming could reach a phase where the GBs/second ratio required for ever-improving graphics will not be easily achieved on a standard disk, necessitating a switch back to a faster SSD-based cartridge system—but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
The main idea is that each technology has specific advantages, both with real life applications. The only problem is the focus was shifted to HDD so exclusively, that people ignored the advantages offered by SSD. Well, except a few people who saw the potential to apply the technology beyond a mere flash drive.
In 2008, Intel rectified this oversight by releasing a redesigned SSD controller—basically, the way the drive interfaces with a computer or other network—to take advantage of the format’s quicker loading and greater durability. The redesign also focused on consistent performance, completing regular self-maintenance to ensure the reliability of its data. Though the technology is still noticeably more expensive, it will satisfy anyone looking for durability, speed and energy conservation.
Just who might these dream customers be? Web hosts. Yes, with so many stops in between a website server and the viewer at home, a website can be slowed down to a crawl or halted altogether. Relying on an SSD to transfer the website will almost certainly boost the speed (and, therefore, enjoyability) for your visitors.
The new Intel SSD DC S3500 promises to offer all these solid-state advantages for cloud computing and web hosting at a smaller price tag than previous models. Their 80GB and 800GB models retail for $115 and $979 respectively, and both come with a five-year warranty. Though the price would be higher than an equivalent amount of HDD storage, the speed of transfer is worth noting: the S3500 blazes along at 500MB/s read time and 450MB/s write time, while a typical HDD speed is estimated anywhere between 50-120MB/s for each.
Obviously, the speed would be a nice luxury, but only really makes sense if you’d like to transfer information that quickly. For people who want to ensure the quality, speed and reliability of their pages, these new SSD solutions may be the best way to go. Will you make the switch to SSD? Let us know what you’re thinking below!
