The Advantages and Disadvantages of Solid State Drives (SSDs)

A Solid State Drive (SSD) is a type of computer storage drive which makes use of flash memory chips such as is found in smartphones, memory cards and USB drives.

In contrast, a mechanical Hard Disk Drive (HDD) possesses a platter on which data is stored, a motor which spins the platter (to speeds up to 7200 revolutions per minute), and an actuator arm which physically moves "read" and "write" heads which seek for and add data to the spinning platter. All these moving parts are the reasons why solid state drives perform better than hard disk drives. However, SSDs in spite of their advantages over HDDs still have notable disadvantages.

The pros and cons of solid states drives are discussed below:

Pros

1. More Durable: Subjecting a mechanical hard disk drive to shock such as by dropping it can cause considerable damage. For example, the actuator arm may break off or scratch the platter (leading to the loss of data located in the scratched area). An SSD can withstand such handling better than HDD because it lacks all the above mentioned moving parts. The lack of these parts in SSDs also means that less wear and tear occurs.

2. Better Computer Performance: Solid state drives improve the performance of a computer in the following ways:

- Faster Read and Write Speed: On a solid state drive you do not have to wait for the drive platter to be spun up by the hard drive's motor as occurs in a mechanical hard drive. You also do not have to wait for the actuator arm to move the read/write heads which physically seek for or add data to the drive. Reading and writing data to the flash memory chips which make up SSDs occurs instantly. This allows SSDs to have greatly faster read and write speeds than HDDs.

- File Fragmentation Has Little Impact: File fragmentation occurs on storage drives because data is not always stored at its original location especially when it constantly edited, changed or deleted. This reduces the performance of mechanical hard disks because the "read" head has to physically look for the required data in all the locations where it may be stored. File fragmentation is a non-issue in solid state drives because of the constant read performance of such drives. Data is instantaneously accessed no matter where it is stored.

- Faster Boot: Solid state drives allow a computer to boot faster as there is no need for the drive to spin up. The computer is ready as soon as it is turned on.

3. Permanent Data Deletion: When data is overwritten or deleted on a HDD, it can still be recovered using certain processes. This happens because the new data is not written in the exact same tracks as the old data and thus, some of the old data remains. On SSDs when data which is intended to be deleted permanently is deleted as such, no traces of the old data remain. For people and in situations in which the security of such data is highly paramount, solid state drives are a better option.

4. Produce less Noise: There are no moving parts in a solid state drive and no need for a motor to spin up the hard drive. Thus, an SSD is virtually silent.

5. Consume less Power: Solid state drives consume less power than mechanical hard disk drives because they lack moving parts and especially do not include a motor. This is especially useful in laptop computers and storage servers where minimal power consumption is important.

6. Generate Little Heat: Solid state drives also produce less heat than HDDs primarily because they do not have motors. This is a boon for laptop users as they can use their computers comfortably on their laps for long periods of time without worrying about burns.

Cons

Expensive: The main disadvantage of solid state drives is that they cost a lot more for the same amount of storage capacity as hard disk drives.

Limited Storage Capacity: SSDs are very expensive to produce and sell at exorbitant prices when compared to HDDs. Thus, they are usually available in smaller, more affordable storage sizes such as under 160GB.

Slower Write Speed on Some Models: Less expensive SSDs (MLC based types) typically have slower write speeds than read speeds. These speeds can be slower than the write speeds on HDDs.

Relatively Newer Technology: The increasing use of solid state drives is a recent development and so many issues need to be resolved before optimum performance can be obtained from using them. For instance, Windows operating systems before Windows 7 were not optimized to use SSDs. Using an SSD with an un-optimized OS such as Windows Vista will reduce performance and shorten the life span of the drive.

Unreliable Life Expectancy: Some types of solid state drives specifically those that make use of NAND flash memory chips have a limited number of times that they can be written to. SSDs that make use of DRAM technology do not have such a limitation but they are much more expensive.

Inability to Recover Lost Data: One of the advantages of SSDs is that they allow you to permanently and absolutely delete data from such drives. However, such permanent deletion may have irreparable consequences in situations where no backup has been created for the deleted data.