The Next Generation of Computer “Disk” Storage will be Solid State Disk (SSD)
It seems that the release of the one terabyte (1,000GB) Hard Disk Drive (HDD) (first released by Hitachi) may not sustain the development of this technology as it became more obvious that the next generation of computer storage will be the Solid State Disk (SSD). Solid state storage is commonly used before for RAM and card/USB removable drives but as the technology revolutionized, some computer manufacturers found its best application as a permanent computer storage device to replace the usual hard disk drive.
One of the first mainstream releases of SSD was the XO Laptop built under the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ project. It was manufactured by the Taiwanese computer company, Quanta Computer. The Asus’ Eee PC subnotebook released on October 16 2007 used a 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB SSD for various models. Other computer manufacturers like Dell and Acer also released subnotebooks using SSD.
The development of the capacity of SSD’s grows rapidly as its popularity. For example, from the 2GB SSD computers released by ASUS in late 2007, as of this article’s posting date or almost half a year later (I just don’t know the exact date of release but its earlier this year than today), they had already released a subnotebook within the same EEE PC series with 20 GB SSD (4GB built-in +16GB flash), This higher capacity gives flexibility on installing memory hungry software and applications, and data storage, as well.
The following are the major advantages of laptop computers using SSD over laptop computers using HDD, which drive SSD’s technological growth and popularity;
1. Speed. Data transfers using SSD is at electronic speed, which is very fast, while data transfers using SDD is limited by the mechanical speed of the components, like motor, that drives the HDD.
2. Reliability. Since SDD has no moving parts like, rotating disk for HDD, it is immune to the computer position and movement making it very suitable for mobile computers. In short, it is shock proof.
3. Wear and Tear. Again, since SDD has no mechanical moving components, it is more susceptible to physical damage than HDD.
4. Size. SDD can be made as smaller as possible depending on the development of electronic circuit fabrication.
Filed in: Personal Computers and Laptops
Local date: February, 2012